Hold’em vs. Dealer strategy

The numbers

Ante and blind count as two antes; the play bet adds 1 to 4 more. Trips is a separate bet and isn’t included.

Before the flop

Raise 4x or check, for every starting hand. Never raise 3x: whenever raising beats checking, 4x beats 3x. This chart is both the simple strategy and the exact perfect play: all 169 hands match.

• Any pair of 3s or higher
• Any ace
• King: any suited, K-5 offsuit or better
• Queen: Q-6 suited or better, Q-8 offsuit or better
• Jack: J-8 suited or better, J-10 offsuit

The closest calls

The hands where raising and checking are worth almost the same, in chips per 1-chip ante.

On the flop

If you checked, you can bet 2x now or check again. A hidden pair means one of your own cards makes the pair, so the dealer doesn’t share it. Two pair or better counts even when the board makes it on its own, so trips on the flop are a bet too.

• Two pair or better, even trips on the board
• A hidden pair (one of your cards pairs), except pocket 2s
• Four to a flush, with a 10 or higher of that suit in your hand

At the river

With all five cards out, count the dealer’s outs: unseen cards that would beat you if the dealer held one. There are 45 unseen cards. Fewer than 21 outs, bet 1x; 21 or more, fold. A hidden pair or better is always worth the bet, as long as your cards make a better kind of hand than the board alone: pocket 3s under two higher pairs on the board don’t count.

• A hidden pair or better that improves on the board
• Fewer than 21 dealer outs: unseen cards that would beat you if the dealer held one

Example

You hold 9♥ 4♣ and the board is K♣ 7♣ 2♥ A♣ 10♠. Any ace, king, 10, 7 or 2 pairs the board and beats you (15 cards), and any jack or queen out-kicks your 9 (8 cards): 23 outs, so fold. Betting 1x averages -2.136 antes against −2 for folding.

Paytables

Rules used here

• One 52-card deck, shuffled every hand. You and the dealer get two cards each and share five community cards.
• Ante and blind are equal. Raise 3x or 4x before the flop, 2x after the flop or 1x after the river; one raise per hand. Folding is only possible at the river and loses ante and blind.
• The dealer qualifies with a pair or better. If not, the ante pushes; the blind and play bets are still settled against the dealer’s hand.
• Winning hands pay the ante (if the dealer qualifies) and the play bet 1 to 1, and the blind by its paytable. Ties push everything.

How these numbers were computed

Every figure here is exact, not simulated: our engine plays out every deal, all 1,755 distinct flops (up to suit symmetry), every turn and river and every dealer hand, and picks the best decision at each point. The optimal house edge matches the published 2.185%. The simple strategy is the Wizard of Odds’ “Wizard strategy”; enumerating it exactly gives 2.433%, matching the 2.43% quoted there.

Hold’em vs. Dealer follows the rules of the game known commercially as Ultimate Texas Hold’em. This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by its owner.