Basic Strategy: Known When to Hold’em
Much like the poker room version of the game, Ultimate Texas Hold’em offers players plenty of chances to flex their strategic muscles. The fact that there are several decision points during each hand complicates things greatly, and perfect, optimal strategy can be rather complicated. Remember that if you want to get better at developing your strategy in Ultimate Texas Holdem, practice and practice until you get a better feel of the game. That way it will be much easier for you to make the right moves.
However, it’s fairly simple to come up with a plan that will stop you from making any major mistakes. We’ve presented one here that should help you get started, allowing you to approach the table with confidence, knowing that you are playing well enough to avoid leaving very much money on the table in the long run.
Should You Make the Initial 4x Raise?
First, we need to decide whether or not we are going to make the initial 4x raise with our initial hand. We recommend raising with any of the following hands:
- Any Ace
- King-Three or higher
- Queen-Seven or higher
- Jack-Nine or higher
- All Pairs, Except for Twos
If you get to the flop (the first three community cards) without raising, you’ll have another chance to make a Play bet for 2x your Ante. You should do so any time you have the following:
- A pair that uses at least one of your hole cards
(again, excepting the case where you have a pair of twos as your hole cards and nothing else) - Any hand of two pair or better
- Four cards to a flush, if one of your hole cards is at least a ten
Fold or Play on the River?
If you still haven’t made a bet by the time you get to the river (when all five community cards are dealt), you’ll need to decide whether or not to fold or make the small Play bet. At this point, it is safe to make the bet if you have at least a pair that uses at least one of your hole cards. If you do not have that strong a hand, try to count how many single dealer cards could possibly beat you. If the total number of possible cards is 20 or less, you should make the bet; if it is 21 or more, it is time to fold.
If you are having trouble doing the math on this final decision, it is okay to estimate; anything around the cutoff point will be a fairly marginal situation. However, you do not want to pass up a situation where you have a big edge, or bet one when it is almost certain that the dealer has you beaten, so try to at least make a rough assessment of where you stand if you did not connect with the board at all.
Overall, the house edge in this game is only about 2.19%, which is very competitive when compared to the whole range of casino games. Using this strategy won’t get the casino’s advantage quite that low, but we’re confident that it will keep it well under 3%, meaning you won’t be giving up much by following only these simple suggestions.
