Poker Cheat Sheet - Have the Right Poker Bankroll. The next thing that you need is the correct poker bankroll. This is the total amount of money that you have available to play poker with. I recommend having at least 30 buyins for any limit that you choose to play these days. 1 buyin = 100bb (big blinds).

1. How To Play Texas Hold'em For Dummies
2. Poker Cheat Sheets
3. Texas Hold'em Poker Cheat Sheets

Only starting out with poker in 2020?

• Be honest: Don’t try to short-change the pot or otherwise cheat. Play quickly: No one likes a slow player. Be courteous and friendly: No one likes a whiner or a gloater. Be a good winner: Gloating and making fun of other players is a definite no-no. Be a good loser: We all lose.
• Poker hands Royal flush Straight flush Four of a kind Full house Flush Three of a kind Two pair Pair High card A royal flush is an ace high straight flush. A straight flush is a five-card straight, all in the same suit. Four of a kind, or quads, are four cards of equal value. A full house contains a set (3) of cards of one value and a pair of.

I remember when I started with poker, I found remembering the important parts of the game challenging.

But your journey can become easier with this printable poker cheat sheet for beginners (I wish I had this when starting out!).

Table Of Contents

• How To Use This Texas Holdem Poker Cheat Sheet.
• How To Use This Pot Odds Cheat Sheet – Facing River Bet Example
• How To Use This Pot Odds Cheat Sheet – Facing Flop Bet Example
• Poker Hands Cheat Sheet: Best Texas Hold em Hands

Poker Cheat Sheet For Texas Holdem:

Download the high-quality Poker Cheat Sheet printable (PDF) version:

The cheat sheet includes hyperlinks for further reading on any material you may not yet know.

Click here for more information on pre-flop and post-flop. We also discuss Texas Holdem bet sizing in the highlighted link.

If you like the cheat sheet, you may also enjoy these these awesome starting hand charts from upswing poker. They are a more detailed version of the starting hands section in the cheat sheet above which supplement it nicely. Amazingly they have been downloaded almost 200,000 times!

How To Use This Texas Holdem Poker Cheat Sheet.

Step 1: Find your hand on the chart (example KT suited)

Step 2: Determine whether you should follow coloured or number schematic.

Either:

• If first to raise (no other player has raised before you), follow the coloured schematic.
• If facing a raise or reraise, follow the numbered schematic.

Note: If playing on a 6max table (6 players as opposed to 9), the yellow coloured hands will also be able to be played from any position.

See the image below for the numbered and colour schematic.

Step 3: Take into account information give under headings preflop and post flop.

How to play poker preflop is a tough subject to cover in detail. There are many factors you need to take into account such as:

• Your position and your opponents position.
• Your opponents likely holdings
• Board texture
• Previous history

A brief explanation of why position is powerful and why we play fewer hands when there are more players left to act (still with a hand):

When playing on a fullring table, you will have to contend with nine players, who each have a chance of picking up a big hand. Therefore, when playing a full ring game, you will play fewer hands. You can read more on this concept at fullring vs. 6max.

The difference in player numbers is also why we play a wide range of hands from the Button, but very few hands from UTG (first position). When opening the Button, we only have two players left to act (unlikely for them to have a strong hand), whereas when playing from UTG in a full ring game, eight other players could potentially pick up a big hand.

For more in-depth details on this see Texas Holdem Strategy and Position is King!

Step 4: Take home some cash

Hopefully, this poker cheat sheet will help you ‘bring home the bacon' as they say, but there is always something more to learn in poker. Keep reading for some more cheat sheets which might be of use to you.

Get Your Miniature (Credit Card Sized) Texas Holdem Starting Hands Cheat Sheet

This cheat sheet only contains the most vital information you need so it can handily fit in your pocket. The legends have also been squeezed onto the hand chart in front of hands we always fold.

To download printable PDF which is scaled to credit card size, use the Facebook unlock button:

Poker Odds Cheat Sheet (for Texas Hold'em)

Get your pot odds cheat sheet below. You can use this to determine the number of outs required to continue based on the pot odds you are being offered. You can also use it to convert between percentages, required outs and ratios for all kinds of situations in poker. The pot odds cheat sheet is explained in more detail below:

Click here to get a high-quality printable pdf version of the Poker Odds Cheat Sheet.

When your opponent bets you will be offered odds based on the size of his bet. For example, if your opponent bets half pot you will be offered odds of 3:1 on a call (call 1 to win 3). Essentially, it is your risk to reward ratio.

Pot odds will tell you whether is it correct for you to call or fold based on what size our opponent bet and how many cards that will improve our hand.

If you are interested in the learning poker math, check out our best poker books recommendation page here for some awesome books on poker math.

How To Use This Pot Odds Cheat Sheet – Facing River Bet Example

1. Work out pot odds

In this hand, our opponent bets $26 into a $41.5 pot making the total pot size $67.5. This gives us odds of 67.5: 26 (67.5 = 41.5+26). Or approximately 2.6:1. You can also see how to convert this into a percentage in our article pot odds.

2. Find 2.6:1 on the card (or as close to it as possible).

We locate 2.6:1 on the chart tells us that 2.6:1 translates to 30.11% pot equity. In other words:

• if we win 30% of the time, we will break even,
• if we win > 30% of the time we will make a profit on average in this situation
• if we win <30% of the time, we will make a loss on average in this situation

3. Determine our actual equity

This is the tough part, unfortunately.

You have to estimate how often you are beaten by your opponent in order to determine if you can profitably call or not. To do this you can use a program such as equilab to plug in hands that you think your opponent may have and the hand that you currently hold. To learn more about estimating what your opponent may be holding see the article poker hand range: the comprehensive beginner guide. From the example above, we plug in some hands we think our opponent may have and see that we have 34% equity:

4. Determine if we can profitably call.

Since our equity is greater than our pot odds, we can profitably call the river bet. If our equity were less than the pot odds being offered, we would have to fold as we cannot c call.

How To Use This Pot Odds Cheat Sheet – Facing Flop Bet Example

Let's take a similar situation (confronted with a bet), except this time we are on the flop with KQs, and we have a flush draw with nine outs. A King and Queen which could be considered outs, but they aren't clean outs. This means even if we hit our hand we still may not win (say for example our opponent has AA).

1. Work out equity percentage:

Since we have nine clean outs, we can simply go to the number 9 on the card and then determine our equity.

This means that we need a minimum pot odds of 1.9:1 or 38% when we have nine outs on the flop with two cards still to come.

3. Compare pot odds to odds given by bettor.

Our equity is 38%, so we need pot odds of less than 38%. The lower the pot odds, the more profitable the call.

Our pot odds are 12.5/33 which is 37%, and hence we just about have the pot odds to call. However, we are also in positon (and will act last with more information) and have two overcards to the board (both a King and Queen will make top pair good kicker). So this is an easy call.

4. Further reading

We need seven outs to continue, and we have nine outs with a flush draw. See calculating outs for more details.

For more information on how to use this poker cheat sheet see poker and pot odds.

This video will also be useful to you:

Poker Hands Cheat Sheet: Best Texas Hold em Hands

In case you aren't familiar with the hand strengths, and hand rankings of poker check out the printout Texas Holdem hands cheat sheet:

(You may also be interested in the rules of texas hold em)

There are a few important things to remember when memorising at the poker hand rankings:

Best Five Cards Win

In poker, it is always the best five cards wins. This means it is not only the pairs that matter if there is no clear winner (nobody has a pair), the decision will go down to high card wins.

Kickers

Kickers decide the winning hand when two opponents have the same pair or three of a kind. For example, if one opponent has AQ (ace-queen) and another has AJ, the opponent with AQ would win on an A7522 board as he has the five card hand of AAQ75 whereas the second opponent has AAJ75.

Split Pots

Split pots occur when opponents have the same hand. For example, imagine one opponent has A4 and the other A3 on AQ752 board. Both opponents would have five card hand of AAQ75. Neither the 4 or 3 would play.

You can get more information about hand rankings on our web page here.

If you are more visually inclined, check out this video on poker hand rankings:

For more on Texas Hold'em strategy, see poker 101.

Make sure you check out the fan favourite posts:

Common poker mistakes & Texas Holdem Poker Tips

Good luck at the poker tables with your new poker cheat sheet!

Above - Antonio 'The Magician' Esfandiari shows his skills

If you’re new to the game, or still relatively inexperienced, then a cheat sheet is exactly what you need – a handy reference guide open next to you when you’re facing all those tricky decisions and unusual choices which poker will throw at you!

Which hand is strongest? How likely are you to turn your pair into a set on the flop? What are your chances of hitting that flush on the river? If you have pocket kings, what are the chances that someone has pocket aces?

Quick fact: Use the below cheat sheets at your own poker party at home!
Did you know that poker parties are getting more and more popular around the world?
Especially Norwegians love to play poker at online casinos and you are even legally allowed to hold gambling and poker parties at home unless you don't organize them for business purposes.

Below - Table position is often the difference between winning a hand and losing one.

Poker Hand rankings (best to worst)

Royal Flush

10, J, Q, K, A all of the same suit

e.g. AKQJ10

This is the best hand in poker – nothing else can beat it!

Straight Flush

5 cards in a row, all of the same suit

e.g. 56789

Not seen very often but the 2nd strongest hand in poker

Four of a Kind

4 cards of the same rank

e.g. 5555Q

Hold this hand and you’re extremely unlikely to lose

Full House

Three cards of the same rank plus a pair

e.g. KKK99

This is the strongest hand which you will see on a regular basis

Flush

5 cards of the same suit, but not in a row

e.g. KQ985

The higher your best card (e.g. if you hold the ace here) the stronger your flush is

Straight

5 cards in a row, but not all the same suit

How To Play Texas Hold'em For Dummies

e.g. 56789

Not as good as the ‘straight flush’ because it’s more likely to have this unsuited version of the hand

Three of a kind

3 cards of the same rank

e.g. 777102

Often a hand good enough to win a show-down

Two pair

2 lots of 2 cards of the same rank

e.g. QQ10109

Although it looks good, it’s not nearly as strong as you might think

One pair

Any 2 cards of the same rank

e.g. 77Q106

The higher your pair, the better – aces are always highest

High card

Exactly what it sounds like, a high card

e.g. 267JA

Below - Showdown: after the final round of betting, the remaining players reveal their cards to find out who has the best hand.

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Poker Betting Options

There are a few simple actions you need to know when it comes to playing your cards.

Fold: This ends your participation in a hand – you lose any money you have already and y invested in it.

Check: You don’t fold, but stay in the hand if no-one else has bet on any particular round.

Bet: You opt to put money into the pot. The amount can vary depending in the rules and/or personal choice.

Call: You match any bet already made by opponent(s) and therefore remain in the hand.

Raise: Putting extra money in the pot over and above that needed to simply call.

Below - Daniel Negreanu raising the stakes

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How a hand is played in No Limit Hold’em

Texas Hold’em is a fairly simple game and can be picked up very quickly. Our move-by-move poker cheat sheet described below should keep you right if you’re not sure what’s going on...

1. The blinds (small and big) are placed and the dealer shuffles the cards.
2. All players are dealt two cards face down, known as '­hol­e' cards.
3. The 1st round of bets are placed, moving clockwise after the blinds
4. Players must match the highest previous bet in the round or fold (see above)
5. The dealer discards –or ‘burns’- the top card on the deck
6. The dealer deals three ‘community’ cards face-up on the table-known as ‘the flop’
7. A 2nd round of betting takes place, beginning with the player to the left of the dealer
8. The dealer burns another card, then deals a single card face-up- known as ‘the turn’
9. A 3rd round of betting commences, in the same way as the 2nd round
10. The dealer burns another card, then deals a 5th card face-up – known as ‘the river’
11. Players make the best 5-card hand they can, using the table ‘community’ cards and their own hole cards
12. A final round of betting takes place, in the same way as the 2nd and 3rd rounds.
13. The players reveal their hands, clockwise from the last player called -the showdown. Players may ‘muck’ their cards (i.e. push them face-down to the dealer) if they know they are beaten and don’t want to show what they were holding
14. The winning hand takes the ‘pot’ (the money in the middle from the betting plus blinds)

Poker Cheat Sheets

Below - Phil Hellmuth victorious in $10K Razz for Bracelet Number 14

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The Numbers Game

Poker is a game which not only involves cards and bluffs and reading your opponents’ intentions – it also requires a knowledge of some numbers if you want to play the game well.

You hold a pocket pair

1. Probability/Odds of flopping a set or better10% (8.5-1)
2. Probability/Odds of flopping a set12% (7.5-1)
3. Probability/Odds of making a set or better by the river19% (19.2%)

Flop probability and odds

1. Probability/odds of hitting your flush by the river

e.g. you have AKand the flop comes 910434.5% (1.9-1)

2. Probability/odds a set will improve to a full house or better

e.g. you have 1010and the flop comes 108533.3% (2-1)

3. Probability/odds two pair will improve to a full house or better

e.g. you have JQand the flop comes JQ616.4% (5-1)

Turn probability and odds

1. Probability/odds of hitting your flush by the river 19.6% (4-1)

e.g. you have AKthe turn comes 91045

2. Probability/odds a set will improve to a full house or better 21.7% (3.6-1)

e.g. you have 1010 the turn comes 10857

3. Probability/odds two pair will improve to a full house or better 8.33% (11-1)

e.g. you have JQ the turn comes JQ65

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Starting hands guide

Which cards to play and when to play them?

If you try to play any two cards all the time, you’ll soon find yourself losing all your money! You need to learn which cards should be played and when.

Early position (seats 1,2 and 3): Here you need to remember that there are a lot of players to act after you, so make sure you play only the top percentage of cards, so:

AA – 99

AK-AJ suited or unsuited

KQ-KJ suited

Middle position (seats 4, 5 and 6): There are less players to act after you, so you can relax your starting hands a bit, e.g.

AA-77

AK-A9 suited or unsuited

KQ-K10 suited

QJ suited

Texas Hold'em Poker Cheat Sheets

Late position (seats 7, 8 and 9): Because there are very few players left to act after you, you can relax your requirements a lot more, so:

AA-55

KQ-K7 suited or unsuited

QJ-J10 suited or unsuited

These are quite tight requirements, but they’ll help you to understand the strength of hands which will appear at your table.

Note that if someone acts before you, you will have to tighten up which cards you play – a basic plan is to only play the top half of all these hands if someone has bet before you. If you plan to raise, do it with the top 20% of your starting hands.

If you are playing 6-max tables, simply shift the plan above to the left! Your middle position hands now become your early position cards (including all the bigger hands)

If you find yourself heads-up, pretty much every starting hand can be played, but to begin with you should stick to everything in the top 50% of hands until you get used to how it works with few players.

Below - Phil Ivey's hero call.

One important point to note is, you should never limp in – always raise! There are some tricky plays involving limping, but for those new to the game it’s simply a bad idea to get ‘fancy’. If your raise gets re-raised, then call or – with your very top 10% of hands – re-raise again. You can go all the way with your top 5% of cards.

Being bullied at the table is horrible, so you must get into the habit of fighting back! Choose your top 20% of cards per position and shove back against the table bully. You’ll lose a few, but the bully will soon learn you are not to be messed with.

This is especially true when you are in the Big Blind! Don’t allow the Small Blind to walk all over you.

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We hope you've enjoyed our ultimate Texas hold'em poker cheat sheet! It's definitely a useful starting point for you to get to grips with the hand values, numbers and playing of NoLimitHold’em. Keep this close to hand and you’ll find poker a far easier game.

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