Poker strategy that starts with the math.
Free tools and plain-English guides to hand rankings, odds, and betting decisions — for Texas Hold'em, Stud, and draw games. No fluff, no hype, just the numbers that win pots.
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Poker Hand Rankings
All 10 hands from royal flush to high card, with the odds of making each one.
Free toolOdds & Equity Calculator
Pick your cards, add the board, and see your exact win probability instantly.
Free chartPreflop Starting Hands Chart
Which hands to open-raise from every position at a 6-max table.
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The full poker hand rankings chart with combinations, probability and odds, plus tie-break rules for every hand and the three rankings people get wrong.
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Why start with the math?
Most poker advice online is either vague ("play tight, play smart") or buried under promotional hype. Neither helps at a table. What actually helps is knowing that a flush draw hits by the river 35% of the time, that a pocket pair flops a set once in 8.5 tries, and that pot odds decide whether either number justifies a call.
Those aren't trivia. They're the difference between calling because the price is right and calling because you have a feeling. Every guide here starts from the arithmetic and ends at a decision you can make quickly.
Where to begin
If you're new, learn the hand rankings cold — including the two that trip up nearly everyone (a flush beats a straight, and a straight beats three of a kind). Then work out which hands are worth playing and use the preflop chart for your position. Position is worth more than most players believe: the button profitably opens roughly three times as many hands as the seat under the gun, purely because it acts last after the flop.
When you want to check a specific spot, the odds calculator simulates 20,000 runouts in your browser and tells you exactly how often your hand wins. Nothing is uploaded — the cards you pick never leave your device.
Skill, chance, and playing responsibly
Poker rewards skill over a long enough sample and punishes everyone in the short run. Correct decisions lose constantly; that's variance, not a flaw in your play. It's also why bankroll discipline matters more than any tactic — and why we'd rather you read our responsible gaming page than any strategy article, if you only read one. This site teaches the game; it doesn't offer real-money gambling, and nothing here is financial advice.