My road to beating ultimate texas holdem
Okay everyone, firstly I'd like to say that I am not a gambler. I love to hang out at casinos but I know that every game there is -ev so i play table minimum for fun because i don't mind losing a little for a good time so this isn't a gambler trying to convince himself he can beat the casino. But I've been really studying this ultimate texas holdem game and i'm convinced that if you play an optimal strategy, it may be beat. I'm basing this pretty loosely that most players are playing a very bad strategy versus optimal, yet they can't possibly have less then a 10% disadvantage in the game or else losing runs would be extreme and no one would play. But there are so many ways you can improve yourself in that game that I believe with an optimal strategy you should be able to play at least 8-10% more efficiently then a player playing poorly.
For instance, most players don't realize that you are playing against a random hand, so they wait and wait until they hit a pair before they bet the 4x allowed preflop. What they should be doing is playing a random hand's range and anytime you are over 50% to a random hand, its 4x jam time.
What I would like to do is break down my strategy preflop:
any ace
any k5+, andy king suited
Q5s+, Q8+
J8s+, JT+
33+ for pocket pairs.
Now again, most players don't jam with these hands unless they have big A hands or medium pockets plus. so imagine how much of an edge we have versus them by taking these huge bets.
Post flop everyone plays pretty standard, assuming they didn't go all in for 4x preflop, they pretty much bet when they pair anything which is fine. But alot of equity is lost by most players by not knowing when to call on the river with high cards. I've actually pokerstoved certain cards against certain boards to determine when you should call or not. Its important to note that when the board pairs and doesn't pair makes a huge different.
In the game, when the board pairs you get paid 4-1 if you win by calling river. Not going to explain how you get 4-1, but anyone who has played the game and really thinks about it will see you get 4 to 1 by calling because when board pairs you get paid on the ante bet.
When the board doesn't pair is interesting, so lets say you call the river for 1 bet, well if the deal doesn't have a pair then you get your ante bet back. which means if the dealer doesn't pair you have a freeroll to win the hand since you put out a bet but get a bet back. the chances of the dealer not having a pair is 35%. Again if the dealer doesn't pair, you get 1 bet back.
So i did some pokerstoving and came out with a list of when you should call. Its kind of messy but hopefully it can be interpreted. Note that when I say a situation is close, that basically means you have to use your discretion on how drawy the board is. Anyone who plays the game I'd like to get some feed back and let me know what you think.
============================================
Non paired:
Any King
All queens except 1 cards to flush is close, OE is close if no over card. One over card is 10%
Any jack one over, no over is close. 1c to flush with 1 over is close.
Any ten 1 over. 2c to flush with straight possibility is close.
Nine 2 overs is close kicker above lower cards is better, go if no 2c to flush + straight possibilities. 3 overs is definite.
8 needs 3 overs.
7 needs 4 overs
IF BOARD PAIRS:
all kings unless 1 card to flush
all queens except 1c to flush unless 2 overs, 2c to flush is close. No overs is close 3%, with 3c to flush 2%. No overs kicker needs to be greater then one on board.
Jack 1 over is close 4%, no jack without an over. no jack if 1c to flush
Ten needs 2 overs, no go if 1c to flush.
==============================================
One final note. I'm very aware casino games for the most part can't be beat. So even if i'm wrong about this game it still would be pretty cool knowing you are extremely close to ev against the casino and with beers and comps might even come out ahead. Any insight would be appreciated.
8 Replies
a random story from UTH
A lady comes to the table and asks what this game is, and the dealer stops the game for a minute to explain to her.
Clearly, she doesn't understand anything but acts as if she understands everything. She buys with a fresh 100 note from the ATM.
She has the 4 green chips but doesn't do anything. The conversation goes like this.
dealer: you must bet if you want to play.
lady: (she pushes a green chip in front of her)
dealer: you must bet in the circles and it is 50 minimum in each circle.
lady: (she bets 50-50)
dealer gives the cards
lady: what do I do?
dealer: show your cards
lady: (she has ATo)
dealer: you can bet 150 or 200, otherwise you check and bet nothing more and wait to see more cards.
lady: (checks)
dealer: (flop nothing for the lady and suggests checking again)
The dealer opens the turn and the river and there is an ace and he suggests betting $50 because she has a pair of aces but the lady says she has no money. The dealer tells her that her only option then is to fold her hand by pushing it towards him, and that's what she does lol.
She still doesn't understand anything and is waiting for the result. The dealer tells her she lost. She gets up and wishes everyone “good luck” and leaves.
100% donation to the billionaire casino business.
i would buy her hand of course.
dealer could have tried harder to get through to her but he probably saved her money in the long run.
a random story from UTH
A lady comes to the table and asks what this game is, and the dealer stops the game for a minute to explain to her.
Clearly, she doesn't understand anything but acts as if she understands everything. She buys with a fresh 100 note from the ATM.
She has the 4 green chips but doesn't do anything. The conversation goes like this.
dealer: you must bet if you want to play.
lady: (she pushes a green chip in front of her)
dealer: you must bet in the circles and it is 50 minimum in
yes everyone is horrible...and you can bank the game in los angeles!!!!
.....so , i was reading the optimal strategy on wizard of odds website. And on the flop it says that :
Medium Raise: Make the 2X raise with any of the following:
Two pair or better.
Hidden pair*, except pocket deuces.
Four to a flush including a hidden 10 or better to that flush
1st point ----> 2 pairs or better ? ? ? ...like , u dont 2x with K3 on a flop K82 ? ? ? ? wtf , it doest make sens ...
2st point ----> u allready have 4x with 33toAA .
3rd point ----> I have always thought it was Q-hi flush ? ...but wtv.
-jpp
Hidden pair means any pair not on the board (aka 773 on flop with T5 is not a bet), not only pocket pairs. So that covers the Kx example. And all pocket pairs except 22 should have been 4x preflop anyways.
justa little 101k$ profit hand.
its from the X account of jonathan tamayo, the 2024 wsop me winner
-jpp
Not betting trips or bonus, smart guy! Nice that they can pay that out from the well, no waiting!
Sick that he is playing $200 and I've topped out at my local casinos max of $150 many times, and I've never won the main event.
Best I've done is a straight flush (K high w/ KQ) on a $50 bet.