Playing the Numbers: Basics

Poker is often thought of as a game of luck.  While there is some element of chance in the game, a large amount of skill can be applied in the utilization of mathematical rules of probability.  The following are a few of the most important such mathematical rules to remember:

Know the basics of the poker deck.

These are simple facts that most people know already, but they are nonetheless important to the casual or serious gambler.

• There are 52 cards in a deck.  There are 26 cards in half of a deck.
• There are 4 suits (spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs).  There are 13 cards of each suit.
• There is one card of each face value in each suit.  There are 4 cards of each face value in a deck.

Know the number of possible hands in your given game.

For each game variant of poker, the player should know the sheer number of possible card combinations.  Here are just a few:

• In a game with 3 cards to a hand there are 22,100.
• In a game with 5 cards to a hand there are 2,598,960.
• In a game with 7 cards to a hand there are 133,784,560.

Basic Probability of Drawing a Card

In any given number of cards drawn, the odds of drawing a card fitting specific criteria is:

(C/D)*N

C= Number of Cards Left in the Deck Fitting the Criteria

D= Number of Cards Left in the Deck

N= Number of Cards to be Drawn

For example, if you were dealt 5 cards, the odds of getting at least one 6 would be:

(4/52)*5

Or 5/13

A slightly more difficult calculation would be the odds, after being dealt a three of a kind, of drawing the last card of that value within the two cards you draw.

(1/47)*2

2/47

Or about 1/24

With this basic understanding of the math of poker, the determined player can master the art of knowing the odds of any given draw or hand improvement.

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