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In this video michael shackelford who is also known as the wizard of odds
and the author of gambling 102 explains all about ultimate texas
hold em
he tells you how the game is played, the various bet you can make, the casino
advantage on those bets and the best strategy for playing the game
before the flop. And now, here's michael shackelford
Let's talk about Ultimate Texas Hold 'em
this is a poker based game based on texas hold 'em poker
but the player plays only against the dealer.
The game starts where the player makes
an ante bet
and a blind bet, they must be exactly equal
and the player may also make an optional side bet called the trips bet.
after the players have made their wagers the dealer will give
each player two cards, two hole cards and deal five community cards
face down just like in
texas hold 'em
the player will check his own two cards
and at this point
either make
a raise bet equal to four times his ante wager
or he may check
If the player does make the raise wager he's done he can't do anymore raising
and the dealer will turn over
the flop, the first three community cards.
At this point if the player has not already made
a raise bet he may do one at this point but he can only do it for two
times
his ante bet.
Then the dealer will turn over the turn and the the river cards the fourth and the
fifth community cards
And at this point any player who has not already made either raise
may either raise
one-time his ante bet or he may fold.
Then the dealer will turn over his two hole cards and both the player in the
dealer will make their best five
card poker hand out of the seven cards
and the higher hand will win.
The dealer needs to have at least
a pair to open, if the dealer does not make at least a pair
the dealer will push back the players ante bets which will automatically push
Then if the dealer
does open
or whether or not he opens
the dealer will compare
his poker hand
to the player's poker hand, the higher one wins.
If the player has the higher poker hand
then the raise bet will pay even money
if the dealer has the better hand
the raise will lose
and if the dealer has
if it's a tie, then it will be a push
same thing
for the ante bet
assuming that the dealer opened. It pays even money if the player wins
Now the blind bet is a different story
there
it goes by a pay table
if the player has at least a straight
and beats the dealer
then
the blind bet will pay according to the pay table posted on the table
if the player does not have at least a straight which is most of the time
then if the player wins the blind bet will only push, if the dealer wins
the line bet will lose
So the blind bet obviously is where the
dealer's house advantage comes in.
Where the player's power comes in
is the player has
the ability to make a big raise bet early on if he gets a good hand.
The house advantage
in ultimate texas hold 'em which probably nobody knows perfectly
is
2.18%
that means that for every dollar the player bets on the ante
he can expect to lose 2.18 cents
The trips bet
pay is based only on the poker value of the player's hand
and to win on the trips bet the player needs to get at least a three of a
kind.
The usual pay table
on the trips bet goes three, four, seven, eight, thirty, forty, fifty
If you see that pay table which you probably will in a live game
the house advantage on that bet is 3.50%
On some
of the
units that don't have a live dealer but have a big video screen and you play
against a computer monitor
then they have a stingier pay table that goes three, five, six, seven, twenty, forty,
fifty.
That pay table has a house advantage of 6.18 percent.
Next let's talk about the strategy for ultimate texas hold 'em
I'm only gonna talk about
the strategy for the first decision point because it gets really complicated
at the second and the third decision points
at the first decision point, the player is allowed to raise three times or four
times
his ante bet
but the player should never make the small three x
raise because
if he gets
really good
hole cards to begin with
he should always make the full
four x raise much like if you double down in blackjack
you should never double for less if you've got a good hand
put out all the money you can out there
here are the hands for you should make
the
raise bet after you see your two hole cards and before the flop
if you have any pair
except duces
if you have
an ace high
if you have unsuited king
five or better
unsuited queen eight or better
or unsuited jack ten
if you have a suited king high
if you have to be suited queen six or better
or a suited jack
eight or better
if you don't have any of those hands that i just said
then you should check
and the dealer will turn over the flop
and then eventually the river and turn so you may be making one of the
smaller raise bets later
the strategy
for the second and third decision points are pretty complicated
i have some really complicated strategies on my website
that advise on when to do it
however
through the las vegas advisor
they sell strategy cards for ultimate texas holdem
is a very concise and powerful strategy which i highly recommend i regret i
didn't think
of this strategy myself
but this is a great strategy available through the las vegas advisor
If you want to know more about me or hundreds of different casino games it's
all on my website wizardofodds.com and my book gambling 102
has strategies for the most popular casino games
Don't forget that you can see more of our educational gambling videos on our
youtube channel
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