Ok, so very few are visiting MY section . . . .So, I'll just escape from my cage, and post elsewhere.


For anyone out there, who wishes to be successful in no limit tournametns . . . FOR GOD
SAKE!! If you don't know by heart, all the most pertinant matchups


LEARN THEM!! GEEEEEEZE, there won't be time to use the card calculator, in the heat of the moment. Ha ha, a past student who wanted to know how to be more successful, told me "yeah, I'm going to get around to that"

Gee, I guees that guy just doesn't like money.


I cannot imagine ANYONE who plays no limit tournaments, not knowing the major matchup odds!!!!


You should know the following"

AK vrs pair (varies a LITTLE, depending on pair)

AKs vrs Pair

AK vrs weaker ace

AK vrs two undercards

Ak vrs two undercrds, suited and connecting with maximum strecth (such as j10s)

AA vrs other pair

AA vrs good suited connector

AA vrs AK or other ace hand

AK vrs KK

AK vrs QQ or less


small pair, vrs to overcards

small pair, vrs quality suited connecting overcards


These are the most important.

And, of course, you should look at my famous chart, showing your pair, your position and the odds of anyone having a better pair.


Next, you should be aware of the various flop matchups: such as



Top pair vrs overpair

Set vrs flush draw

Pari vrs flush draw

Pair vrs pair and flush draw

Pair vrs double overcard flush draw

pair vrs double overcard open straight

pair vrs flush draw and gutterball straight draw and overcard


two pair, vrs pocket over pair

made straight vrs gut overstraight and flush draw


overpair vrs small pair plus flush draw (like the one KELLER beat the Martin DeKnefe)


And, any other ones that you can think of.



Of course, you will have to get good at putting your opponent on a hand, but when you do, you had

%^@&#$%&@$%^ BETTER know these odds.


My God, am I giving away the whole store, or what.

Soon, I will have nothing left for books.

I'm not great at remembering stuff, so I have no chance of remembering the exact percentages based on who is suited, whether the kicker is a certain rank etc..

I just have some rules of thumb, which round up or down to the nearest 5% or .5, odds-wise.

OK, so my math will be a slightly off, but that's the price I have to pay for having a bad memory.. It also makes for easier on-the-fly calculations.

So here are my condensed 'rules of thumb'. Please correct them if there are massive mistakes, but remember they are supposed to be broad generalizations.

pair vs no pair (your pair same rank as opponent's highest card) -> ~90/10 (9:1)
pair vs two undercards -> ~80/20 (4:1)
pair vs underpair -> ~80/20 (4:1)
pair vs one overcard -> ~70/30 (2.5:1)
pair vs two overcards -> ~55/45 (11:9)

no pair, one shared card, you have better kicker -> ~75/25 (3:1)
no pair vs two undercards -> ~60/40 (1.5:1)
no pair vs one overcard -> ~45/55 (9:11)
no pair vs two overcards -> ~40/60

Adam, if you'll write them up or direct me to a web page that has em (& is reliable in your expert opinion), I will promise to memorize them!!

Ha ha, why don't I just write a 1000 page book, and just let everyone have it, for free.

I am here to help, but I also have to make a living too. Questions that require an hour to answer, are best addressed in a private manner.

I have to save SOMETHING, for my eventual books.

The information you seek, is available out there,

All you need to do is find the poker odds calculator at cardplayer ( I'm no way affiliated with them so not spam) and enter an example of each of Adam's recommendations. Or you could use what was posted by tetsuo, its close and of value. This is on my list of things to memorize very soon!

Hey, thanks Atorvastatin (by God that's hard to type).

I did indeed get those (rounded) calculations from the card player calculator.

Alternatively, and for those of us, like me, who are mathematically challenged, Mike Caro's odds tables (http://www.poker1.com/mcu/mculib_odds.asp) have some very useful odds for specific situations.

BTW, we will be putting our own odds page together very soon.