The importance of Poker Charts in winning the game

Mastering the game of poker takes a significant amount of time. However, you can augment your chances of winning the game in several ways such as understanding all the rules well, honing your skills, determining your hand strength, observing your opponents, reading poker books and journals, using the best poker strategy, and a lot more. One of the significant ways to upscale your game and maximize your chances of winning the pot is becoming aware of the poker charts.

Other than equipping yourself with the basic information about playing poker, you also need to know all about the poker charts. The importance of the poker chart cannot be undermined in winning the poker game. Here in this article, we will know all about poker charts, their types, and more details.

What are poker charts?

If you are wondering how to play your starting hands and what the different poker positions can cast an impact on your pre-flop, then Poker chart sheets come in handy. They depict important information that beginners lack. Poker is a dynamic card game that keeps changing. The player needs to call and match the game, raise the bet, or discard the cards. Poker players often rely on poker charts as the same guides them while playing the game.

Poker is also about getting your calculations right. Hence, you must know how to efficiently calculate your chances of winning the hand based on the amount on stake. By learning these charts, you will have better control of the game. The charts keep you more comfortable while playing online poker games and casino games.

There are many poker charts. While some like poker hand rankings charts assist the players in making in-game decisions based on the power of various hands they play, the charts like poker odds charts make them aware of their winning odds. Let us explore different types of poker charts.

Must know Poker Charts

Even advanced poker players use charts to help them play the game well. Here is the list of the essential poker charts that you must know about.

Poker Hand Rankings Chart

If you want to win the pot, you must know the basic rule of the poker game: Poker hand rankings. It is essential to learn how Poker hands are ranked. Until you learn the game well, it is wise to keep this chart open in a separate window while playing online poker. This table will make you understand the strength of your hand. Though it is not difficult to remember the list and its order, a few hands may slip out of your mind and then you will land in trouble.

Here is the Poker hand ranking chart

• Royal Flush is the first poker hand rank that contains a straight flush of the highest cards. These cards are of the same suit. It includes A, K, Q, J, and 10 of any suit.
• Straight Flush is a straight hand having the cards of the same suit such as 9, 8, 7, 6, and 5 of a suit.
• Four of a kind is the third highest card combination that has four cards of the same suit like 2, J, J, J, and J
• Full House also called Boat is the combination of three same cards and two other same cards such as J, J, J, 10, and 10
• Flush hand is a combination that contains any five cards belonging to the same suit such as 2, 5, 8, 10, and A of a specific suit.
• Straight is a poker hand rank that has five cards in a ranking sequence such as 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of different suits.
• As the name suggests, three of a kind is a rank in which there are three cards of the same type such as J, J, J, 3, and 6.
• Two pair is another rank containing two pairs of the same kind like J, J, Q, Q, and 4.
• Pair or One pair is the second last poker hand ranking that has a pair of cards of the same kind like J, J, 3, 5, 7.
• The high Card is the last hand in the poker hand rank chart where the highest card wins.

Starting Hand Poker Chart 

A starting hand in poker is quite important. Usually, in poker games such as Texas Holdem and Omaha, the player gets two private cards at the start of the hand. There can be a range of possibilities, but it is good to know your odds from the start of the game. Some starting hands are better than others such as AA or a pair of aces is better than having a deuce and a nine unsuited.

Here is the best-starting hand’s chart:

• AA: Pocket Aces
• KK: Pocket Kings
• QQ: Pocket Queens
• AKs: Ace-King Suited
• JJ: Pocket Jacks
• TT: Pocket Tens
• AKo: Ace-King Off-suit
• AQs: Ace-Queen Suited
• AJs: Ace-Jack Suited
• KQs: King-Queen Suited

Nicknames Poker Hands Chart 

One of the best ways to sound like a pro is by getting the nicknames right. Poker players like to talk in such jargon. Here are the abbreviations or nicknames for the starting as well as the made hands that the players often use in the game. Knowing the same will make your game smoother and understating better.

Here is the Poker Nickname Chart for starting hands:

• AA: Bullets or Pocket Rockets or Needles or Batteries
• KK: Cowboys or Ace Magnets or King Kong
• QQ: Ladies
• JJ: Fishhooks or Brothers
• TT: Dimes
• 99: Popeyes
• 88: Snowmen or Piano Keys
• 77: Walking Sticks or Candy Canes
• 66: Boots or Route 66
• 55: Nickels or Snakes
• 44: Sailboats or Magnum
• 33: Crabs or Treys
• 22: Ducks
• AK: Big Slick
• AJ: Blackjack
• K9: Canine
• T2: Doyle Brunson
• Q7o: Computer Hand

Here is the Poker Nickname Chart for made hands:

• A, K, Q, J, T straight: Broadway
• A, 2, 3, 4, 5 Straight: Wheel
• A, 2, 3, 4, 5 Straight Flush: Steel Wheel
• K, K, K, K, X: Four Horsemen
• 2, 2, 2, 2, X: Mighty Ducks

Aren’t these names witty and fun to use?

Poker Position Abbreviation Chart

In poker, playing position plays a huge impact on your game and poker strategy. If you can memorize the position names in poker successfully, then your game will improve multi-fold. You will also understand how the position affects your game and how it works. You must know how to recognize them and contribute to your poker success.

Here is the poker charts by position and abbreviation:

• Under The Gun + 1 or Early Position, 1 is UTG or EP1
• Under The Gun +1 or Early Position, 2 is UTG+1 or EP2
• Under The Gun +2 or Early Position, 3 is UTG+2 or EP3
• Middle Position 1 is MP1
• Lojack or Middle Position 2 is LJ or MP2
• Hijack or Middle Position 3 is HJ or MP3
• Cutoff is CO
• Button is BTN
• Small Blind is SB
• Big Blind is BB

Table Stakes Chart

If you are fond of playing cash games and cash tournament events with different amounts, then this chart is important for you to know. Most online, as well as live players, know this. If you are new to poker, take the help of this chart and learn how No-Limit table stakes in the Hold’em game are known.

Here is the Stake name and blinds chart:

• 2NL: $0.01 or 0.02
• 4NL: $0.02 or 0.04
• 10NL: $0.05 or $0.10
• 25NL: $0.10 or $0.25
• 50NL: $0.25 or $0.50
• 100NL: $0.50 or $1.00
• 200NL: $1 or $2
• 500NL: $2 or $5
• 1000NL: $5 or 10
• 2000NL: $10 or 20
• 5000NL: $25 or $50

As you can see, the lowest stake game is 2NL which is $0.01 or $0.02. Most sites provide 4NL as the lowest barrier of the stake games. The stakes below 50NL are micro stakes.

Poker charts range

A poker chart range is the maximum number of possible hands that you can have in the game. The same exists both in the pre-flop round and after the flop round. It can also vary as tight players have lesser hands in their range, unlike looser players who have many starting hands.

As per Poker Hand Matrix, you have 169 possible starting hands. Know these five preflop poker ranges:

• 2.5% for the QQ+ or AK
• 5% for TT+ or AQ+
• 10 for 44+ or AJ+ or KQ or KJs
• 20% for 22+ or ATB or 54s+
• 33% for 22+or ATB or A2s+ or A7o+ or T9+ or 43s+ or 53s+ or J8s+ or K8s

When you remember these ranges, you can lower the 17% preflop calling range, etc.

Wrapping up

Poker has become a leading game in India and abroad. The poker websites offer exciting rewards and prizes to the winners. It is time to invest some time and effort to delve deeper to improve the game and win loads of money. Keeping the poker charts handy will make your game better and fetch you better returns!