Introduction

• There are 1326 possible unique starting hands in Texas hold'em poker.
• However, in pre-flop analysis the suits do not matter:
  • K♥Q♥ is equivalent to K♣Q♣
• All that matters is the ranks of the two cards and whether they are suited.
• This reduces the unique starting hands down to only 169.
• The ranks can be labelled as:
  • The Major Rank
    • This is the larger of the two ranks.
    • If the hole cards are K♥Q♥ then the major rank would be K.
  • The Minor Rank
    • This is the smaller of the two ranks.
    • If the hole cards are K♥Q♥ then the major rank would be Q.

Notation

• The standard notation for partial hole cards is:
  • Major Rank, e.g. K
  • Minor Rank, e.g. Q
  • Suitedness
    • s if the cards are suited
    • o if the cards are offsuit
    • If the cards are a pair, then the suitedness can be omitted
• For example:
  • K♥Q♥ = KQs
  • K♥Q♣ = KQo
  • K♥K♣ = KK

Expanding

• Suited:
  • If the partial hole cards are suited then they can be expanded into 4 different hole card combinations.
  • E.g. KQs can be expanded into K♥Q♥, K♦Q♦, K♣Q♣, K♠Q♠
• Offsuit:
  • If the partial hole cards are offsuit then they can be expanded into 6 different hole card combinations.
  • E.g. KQ can be expanded into K♥Q♣, K♥Q♠, K♥Q♦, K♦Q♣, K♦Q♠, K♠Q♣

Connectors

• We can calculate the gap between two ranks.
• For example, the gap between KJ is 1.
• If the gap is 0 then the cards are described as connected.
  • E.g. KQ
• Larger gaps are also named:
  • 1 Gappers, e.g. KJ
  • 2 Gappers, e.g. KT
  • 3 Gappers, e.g. K9
• Hands that are connected have a higher chance of becoming straights. However, that chance reduces as the gap increases.
• Hands that are both connected and suited are called suited connectors.