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About NoFoldem Texas Holdem Poker Hole Cards I

Explains how the numbers were obtained for the NoFoldem Holdem Table.

To determine the relative winning potential for each of the 169 hole cards in Texas Hold 'em Poker, a NoFoldem Hold 'em game was dealt with no blinds, no betting, no raising, no bluffing, no button, no folding and no pot. All the players stayed for the showdown and the results of each round were tabulated.

Using a computer, of course, a deck of cards was randomly shuffled and two hole cards were dealt to each player. One was added to the occurrence total for each of the starting hands and one was added to the hands dealt total for each of the players at the simulated table. The flop, turn and river cards were then dealt and the best poker hand or hands were determined. If only one poker hand was best, one was added to the win total for that hand's hole cards. If two or more poker hands were best, one was added to the split total for each of the best poker hands' hole cards and nothing was added to the win totals. If the best poker hand was on the board, one was added to the split total for each of the hole cards dealt and nothing was added to the win totals. This procedure was repeated hundreds of millions of times.

The percentages were then calculated and inserted into the nofoldem hold 'em table and the table was sorted to make some sense of all those numbers.

The results in the nofoldem hold 'em table are for comparison only and show the relative winning potential for all 169 hole cards in Texas Hold 'em poker. The numbers cannot be used to calculate live play expectation. The nofoldem table shows that a pair of aces in the hole wins about 31% of the time in a nofoldem simulation, but in a live hold 'em poker game, pocket aces would endure fewer bad beats because some players would surely fold.

There are always exceptions, but usually, real live players will not stay with something like a long shot, backdoor, runner-runner, inside straight draw. In a nofoldem simulation, the players stay with every hand and occasionally a weak starting hand gives the better hands a bad beat. The nofoldem hold 'em simulation actually represents a worst case, bad beat Texas Hold 'em Poker game. In live play, the better hole cards will win more often than the nofoldem table indicates.

Many holdem players have a favorite hand. It's usually a couple of offsuit rags. They seem to believe their favorite hole cards are overlooked gems that magically win a lot of money. If you have a favorite hand, look it up in the nofoldem hold 'em table and see how good it really is.

The best use for the nofoldem hold 'em table is developing a hole card strategy that gets you an edge at the beginning of the hand. If you do not have an edge on the first round then you will be playing with a mathematical disadvantage for the rest of the hand. There are no skills that can overcome a long run disadvantage.

It is possible to begin the hand with an edge but lose that advantage with bad play. You will need all your hold 'em poker skills on the flop, turn and river to maintain your edge.

Even with today's relatively fast computers it takes hundreds of hours to get the data in a nofoldem hold 'em hole cards table. Without computers, it would take hundreds of lifetimes to get the same information. Computers can provide a lot of answers for hold 'em poker players if the players have the right questions.

Information for the completed poker hands can be seen at the end of the nofoldem table. Again, these numbers do not reflect live play. That little table is there for the incurably curious (like me).

The next page explains each column in the nofoldem hold 'em hole cards table.