Poker Cheat Sheet: Hand Rankings, Starting Hands and Odds at a Glance

A poker cheat sheet puts the key facts of Texas Hold’em on one page: which hands beat which, which starting hands to play from each seat, and how likely you are to hit your draw. Keep it beside you while you learn, and within a few sessions most of it will stick.

This guide is a quick reference. It assumes you already know how a hand of Hold’em is dealt. If you don’t, start with our beginner’s guide to poker hand rankings and Texas Hold’em basics and come back here.

Below you’ll find the hand rankings with their real probabilities, a simplified starting hands chart, an outs and odds table, a pot odds method with worked examples, common preflop matchups and the mistakes these numbers help you avoid. We’ve checked every figure against the published probabilities.

In Texas Hold’em you make the best five-card hand from your two hole cards plus the five community cards. Suits never rank: two flushes are compared card by card, starting with the highest card. The table shows how often each hand turns up in a random five-card deal and how often it’s the best hand you can make from seven cards by the river.

The straight flush row doesn’t include royal flushes. Three points that catch beginners out:

• Ace low: A-2-3-4-5 is a straight, the lowest one. Q-K-A-2-3 is not a straight, because straights don’t wrap around.
• Kickers: when two players hold the same pair, the highest unpaired cards decide the pot. Only five cards count, so a sixth card never breaks a tie.
• Playing the board: if the five community cards are your best hand, everyone still in who can’t beat them splits the pot.

Most money is lost before the flop, by playing too many weak hands. The chart below is a simplified, deliberately tight guide for a full-ring or six-handed no-limit cash game when nobody has raised before you. It’s a starting point, not a solver-perfect strategy.

s = suited, o = offsuit. The later you act, the more hands you can play, because you see what everyone else does before you decide. Being suited adds less than people think. Two cards of the same suit appear in about 23.5% of starting hands (12/51), and from there you’ll make a flush by the river only around 6% of the time.

Against a raise, tighten up a lot. Hands like AJo and KQo do badly against an early-position raise because they’re often dominated (see the matchups section below).

These figures follow directly from a 52-card deck. They’re handy for judging how rare a hand really is:

• Being dealt any pocket pair: 3/51 = 5.9%, or about 1 hand in 17.
• Being dealt a specific pair (e.g. AA): 1 in 221 (0.45%).
• Flopping a set or better with a pocket pair: about 11.8%, or roughly 1 flop in 8.5.
• Flopping a flush with two suited cards: about 0.84%.
• Flopping a flush draw with two suited cards: about 10.9%.

The set figure matters for small pairs. You miss roughly seven flops out of eight, so calling big raises with 22–66 just to hit a set only pays off if you can win a lot when you do hit.

An out is any unseen card that should give you the best hand. After the flop there are 47 unseen cards. After the turn there are 46. Count your outs, then read across the table.

The rule of 2 and 4 is a quick shortcut. On the flop, multiply your outs by 4 to estimate your chance of hitting by the river. With one card to come, multiply by 2. A flush draw gives 9 × 4 = 36% (exact: 35.0%) and 9 × 2 = 18% (exact: 19.1%). The shortcut stays close up to about 14 outs. Above that, the ×4 rule overstates your chances: 15 × 4 = 60% against an exact 54.1%.

Discount outs that also help your opponent. If the board is paired, a flush card may give them a full house. If you hold a low straight draw, some of your outs may make a higher straight for someone else.

Pot odds tell you how often you need to win for a call to break even. The formula is:

Required equity = amount to call ÷ (pot after your call)

Example 1: your opponent is all-in on the flop. The pot is £40 and your opponent moves all-in for £20. You must call £20 to make the final pot £80, so you need to win 20 ÷ 80 = 25% of the time. With a flush draw you’ll see both the turn and the river, so you hit 35.0% of the time. The call is profitable in the long run.

Example 2: same pot, but your opponent still has chips behind. Now you might face another bet on the turn, so count only one card: 19.1%. That’s less than the 25% you need, so on immediate odds alone the call loses money. You’d need to expect to win extra chips when you hit (called implied odds) to justify it.

Example 3: a small bet. The pot is £100 and your opponent bets £25. You call £25 for a final pot of £150, so you need 25 ÷ 150 = 16.7%. An open-ended straight draw with one card to come (17.0%) just about makes the price.

Quick guide to common bet sizes: a half-pot bet needs 25% equity to call, a two-thirds-pot bet needs about 28.6%, and a full pot bet needs 33.3%.

When the money goes in before the flop, these rough all-in equities tell you where you stand. Exact numbers shift a little with the suits involved.

The lesson from the domination row: AQ, AJ and KQ look strong but are often beaten badly by a hand that holds the same high card with a better kicker. Be careful with them when a tight player raises.

• Overvaluing suited cards. J4s isn’t a playable hand just because it’s suited. Most of a hand’s value comes from its ranks.
• Chasing draws at the wrong price. Calling a pot-sized bet on the turn with a gutshot (8.7% to hit) when you need 33.3% is a long-term loser.
• Using the ×4 rule with one card to come. If there’s more betting to come on the turn, count only the next card.
• Ignoring position. The same hand can be a raise on the button and a fold under the gun.
• Misreading the board. Check for pairs, flush possibilities and straights on the board before you assume your hand is best.

Before you use a printed chart or odds table during real-money online play, check the poker site’s terms. Many rooms allow static reference material but ban software that gives advice in real time. If you’re still choosing a room, our guide to choosing an online poker casino covers what to look for, and our casino reviews show licensing and payment details.

The hand rankings above apply to almost every poker game you’ll find in an online casino. The strategy doesn’t always. In player-versus-player Hold’em you play against other people and the site takes a commission. In casino table games such as Casino Hold’em, and in many live dealer poker games, you play against the house. Those games have a fixed pay table and a built-in house edge, so the starting hands chart and pot odds don’t apply in the same way.

Video poker is different again: you play alone against a pay table, and the right play depends on the variant and its payouts. Our video poker guides cover those strategies. For more Hold’em material, browse all our poker guides.

• Learn the ten hand rankings first. Two pair and one pair are the hands that win most pots.
• Play fewer hands from early position and more from late position, and fold weak offsuit hands.
• Count your outs, use the rule of 2 and 4, and compare the result with your pot odds before calling.
• Remember that a flush draw hits by the river only about 35% of the time. Even good draws miss most of the time.

Knowing the odds helps you make better decisions, but it doesn’t guarantee profit. Short-term results swing a lot, and in house-banked casino poker games the house edge works against you over time. Poker is entertainment, not a way to make money. Play only with money you can afford to lose, set deposit and time limits before you start, and take a break if you find yourself chasing losses. Gambling is for adults aged 18 and over.