For those unfamiliar with poker rules and the game of Poker, along with others who might want a refresher, this is the most basic of basic poker. The various games are based on this.

• Hutchison Texas Hold'em Point System Various 'experts' may disagree on the relative importance of different factors in becoming a successful Texas Hold'em player, but high on everyone's list is the ability to make correct decisions about which starting hands are worth playing.
• Pair + 10 points = 42 points: King of Hear + 14 pointsQueen of Club + 13 points. Connected with 0 hands gap + 3 points = 30 points: Jack of Heart + 12 pointsNine of Heart + 9 points. Same Suit + 4 points. Connected with 1 hands gap + 2 points = 27 points.

Poker is a game of five card hands dealt from a 52 card deck of standard playing cards. All poker hands consist of exactly five cards. Most games, like seven card stud for example, give the players more than five cards to select from, but the final winning result goes to the one with the best five card poker hand. In the popular stud poker games, the players are all dealt one card at a time or in small groups and they bet money each time they get more cards. They bet that they will end up with the best hand. The players that don't want to bet on their hands any longer can 'fold' their hands, get out of the contest and forfeit all the bets they have made to that point. At the end, the player with the best poker hand wins all the bets. In draw poker the players bet, then replace the cards they don't like with new ones from the dealer and then bet again.

The best hand is determined by the Poker Hand Ranking chart below.

Mobile Users - I've created a special chart in universal .pdf format for easy viewing on narrow screens. The original large chart is also available for downloading, viewing or printing.

Mobile - hand-rankings-mobile.pdf
Tablet / Desktop - hand-rankings.pdf

Rules for the More Popular Poker Games

Basic Poker Resources

• Poker Terms - Before sitting down at a poker table, new players should check out my glossary and get familiar with some of the poker lingo.

Can you name thesePoker Legends?

In 1978, Doyle Brunson, two time winner of the 'World Championship of Poker' at Binions Horseshoe in Las Vegas, published probably the best ever written book on casino level poker games. This 600 page, 3 lb. volume is more like an encyclopedia reference than a typical poker book. The work is packed with sound professional advice with volumes of stats for advanced players and was strangely named 'How I Made Over $1,000,000 Playing Poker'. In reprint, it is now named 'Super System'.

For this classic, Brunson enlisted the services of some of the best professional poker players in the world, all champions in their own right, to collaborate the authoring of the game sections of their particular specialties. The cartoon of this world class poker game is shown on the books inside front cover. Here are the players and their game contributions.

1. DOYLE BRUNSON - No Limit Hold'em 2. MIKE CARO - Draw Poker 3. JOEY HAWTHORN - Five and Seven Card Lowball 4. DAVID SKLANSKY - Seven Card Stud, High-Low Split 5. CHIP REESE - Seven Card Stud 6. BOBBY BALDWIN - Limit Hold'em

Poker Basics and Hand Rankings. For those unfamiliar with poker rules and the game of Poker, along with others who might want a refresher, this is the most basic of basic poker.

Starting Hand Selection: Chen Formula : Sklansky Starting Hand Groups

The Chen formula is a system for scoring different starting hands in Texas Hold’em. It was created by Bill Chen for use in the book Hold’em Excellence by Lou Krieger. Bill Chen is also the guy that wrote The Mathematics of Poker.

The process looks a little tricky at first, but it’s really quite straightforward and logical after you have worked through a handful of examples.

The Chen formula.

1. Score your highest card only. Do not add any points for your lower card.
• A = 10 points.
• K = 8 points.
• Q = 7 points.
• J = 6 points.
• 10 to 2 = 1/2 of card value. (e.g. a 6 would be worth 3 points)
2. Multiply pairs by 2 of one card’s value. However, minimum score for a pair is 5.
• (e.g. KK = 16 points, 77 = 7 points, 22 = 5 points)
3. Add 2 points if cards are suited.
4. Subtract points if their is a gap between the two cards.
• No gap = -0 points.
• 1 card gap = -1 points.
• 2 card gap = -2 points.
• 3 card gap = -4 points.
• 4 card gap or more = -5 points. (Aces are high this step, so hands like A2, A3 etc. have a 4+ gap.)
5. Add 1 point if there is a 0 or 1 card gap and both cards are lower than a Q.(e.g. JT, 75, 32 etc, this bonus point does not apply to pocket pairs)
6. Round half point scores up.(e.g. 7.5 rounds up to 8)

For step 5, it’s easier to refer to this extra 1 point as a 'straight bonus' to save confusion between steps 4 and 5. Subtracting 1 point for 1 gap and then adding it back again for lower cards seems a bit awkward I know, but that’s the way it works.

Chen Formula calculator.

Chen formula hand example scores.

• A K
• A = +10 points.
• Suited = +2 points.
• Final score = 12 points.

• T T
• T = 10 x 1/2 = +5 points.
• Pair = multiply by 2.
• Final score = 10 points.

• 5 7
• 7 = 7 x 1/2 = +3.5 points.
• Suited = +2 points.
• 1 card gap = -1 point.
• 0 - 1 card gap, both cards under Q = +1 point.
• Final score = 6 points. (5.5 points rounded up)

• 2 7
• 7 = 7 x 1/2 = +3.5 points.
• 4+ card gap = -5 points.
• Final score = -1 point. (-1.5 points rounded up)

• A A
• A = +10 points.
• Pair = multiply by 2.
• Final score = 20 points.

So now we know how to work out how many points different hands are worth, what can we do with the numbers to help us with starting hand selection?

Using Chen formula hand points.

The main reason behind using the Chen formula for different starting hands was so that you can categorize them based on the Sklansky and Malmuth hand groups table.

That’s all well and good for helping you to compare the strength of different starting hand in Hold’em, but it doesn’t really do much in the way of strategy for starting hand selection. Therefore, I have done a little bit of work and created a starting hand strategy using the Chen formula.

Chen formula starting hand strategy.

• Only ever consider calling a raise with 10 points or more.
• Always raise or reraise with 12 points or more.

Short-handed strategy. (6 players)

Early position.

• Raise = 9 points or more.
• Fold = 8 points or less.

Mid position.

• Raise = 8 points or more.
• Fold = 7 points or less.

Late position.

• Raise = 7 points or more.
• Fold = 6 points or less.

Full-ring strategy. (10 players)

Early position.

Texas Holdem Odds Chart

• Raise = 10 points or more.
• Fold = 9 points or less.

Mid position.

• Raise = 9 points or more.
• Fold = 8 points or less.

Late position.

• Raise = 7 points or more.
• Fold = 6 points or less.

'Raise' = Raise if there have been no raises or calls before you.
'Fold' = Fold regardless if there has been a raise before you or not. Just fold.

About my Chen formula starting hand strategy.

As with any set of rules or guidelines in poker, this Chen formula starting hand strategy isn’t perfect and will have it’s flaws. However, I like to think that this is an easy-to-use and solid preflop strategy using the Chen formula.

Most of the strategy involves either raising or folding preflop, which is a solid approach to take as a new player and a style that you will grow accustomed to as your game progresses. The starting hand requirements are also a little tight, but that’s only to be expected if you’re using a guide and you haven’t quite found your feet when it comes to starting hand selection yet.

Texas Holdem Strategy Chart

I took inspiration from the Chen formula article at SimplyHoldem.com (no longer active) to create this starting hand strategy. I decided to develop my own because I believe that the guidelines at Simply Holdem were flawed because:

1. It does not distinguish between short and full ring games.
2. Just calling the big blind is not a profitable way to play NL Hold’em for the most part.

Online Gambling Texas Hold'em

Chen formula evaluation.

The Chen formula is never going to be a complete substitute for proper preflop starting hand strategy. It will also take a little getting used to if you want to work hand scores out on the fly. However, this is as good a formula as you are going to find for working out preflop starting hand strengths in NL Hold’em.

The starting hand strategy I worked out will also have its own flaws, but again this is as good as a simple guideline is going to get for those preflop decisions.

Go back to the awesome Texas Hold'em Strategy.

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