Free Texas Hold’em reference
Texas Hold’em Cheat Sheet — Everything on One Free Page
This Texas Hold’em cheat sheet puts the four things you actually forget mid-session on one screen: which hand beats which, which starting hands are worth playing, how the betting streets run, and the pot odds behind a close call. Print it, bookmark it, or keep the cheat sheet open in a tab.
Want it on paper? Get the printable poker cheat sheet.
Poker Hand Rankings Chart
Every decision in Hold Em starts here. If you cannot name the winner instantly, nothing else on this cheat sheet helps you. The chart below is the core of the whole cheat sheet: all ten hands from strongest to weakest, with a real example, what each one beats, and how often it actually turns up by the river.
The 10 Hand Rankings (Strongest to Weakest)
Royal Flush
A-K-Q-J-10, all one suit
Everything
0.0032%1 in 30,940
Straight Flush
Five in sequence, all one suit
Four of a kind and below
0.028%1 in 3,590
Four of a Kind
All four cards of one rank
Full house and below
0.17%1 in 595
Full House
Three of a kind plus a pair
Flush and below
2.6%1 in 38
Flush
Five of one suit, any order
Straight and below
3.0%1 in 33
Straight
Five in sequence, mixed suits
Three of a kind and below
4.6%1 in 22
Three of a Kind
Three cards of one rank
Two pair and below
4.8%1 in 21
Two Pair
Two pairs plus one kicker
One pair and high card
23.5%1 in 4.3
One Pair
Two cards of one rank
High card only
43.8%1 in 2.3
High Card
No pair, no straight, no flush
Nothing — lowest hand
17.4%1 in 5.7
A royal flush sits at the top: ace through ten in a single suit, and nothing beats it. A straight flush is any other five in a row sharing a suit. Four of a kind takes all four cards of one rank. A full house pairs three of a kind with a pair, and it beats a flush — five cards of one suit — which in turn beats a straight, five in sequence with mixed suits. Three of a kind comes next, then two pair, then a single pair, which wins far more pots than beginners expect. High card is last: no pair, no straight, no flush, so the highest card decides it. Those ten rows are the part of the cheat sheet worth memorising before anything else.
How to Read the Chart
Read this cheat sheet top to bottom, strongest first. The number in the gold badge is the hand’s rank, so a lower number always beats a higher one — rank four beats rank five no matter how pretty the cards look. The percentage on the right is how often you end up holding that hand by the river, using the best five cards out of seven. These are unconditional frequencies across random seven-card deals, not your chance of winning a particular hand. They differ from five-card-draw probabilities because you choose the best five of seven cards. Suits never break a tie here; no suit outranks another. Print the cheat sheet and that column is the one you will check most.
Starting Hands Cheat Sheet
Most of the money new players lose is lost before the flop, on hands that could never win. Of the 169 starting combinations, only a small premium group — mostly bigger pairs and strong broadway cards — makes a routine opening hand; most of the rest are default folds. For the full grid, tier by tier and seat by seat, read our Texas Hold’em starting hands chart.
By FlopKit · Updated · Report a correction
How a Hand Plays Out (Step by Step)
A hand of Texas Holdem runs through the same six stages every time: the deal, preflop, flop, turn, river and showdown. For the full walkthrough, see how a hand plays out, step by step.
Table Positions Explained
Position is the one edge no cheat sheet can hand you — you have to use it. Acting last means you see what everyone else does before you commit a chip. The map below shows an eight-handed table with the preflop action order marked on every seat.
Under the gun acts first and needs the tightest range, because seven players can still wake up with a hand behind it. The hijack and cutoff open wider. The button acts last on every street after the flop and is the most profitable seat at the table. The blinds are the exception: they act late preflop but first on every later street, which is why they lose money over time even when played well. Pair this seat map with the starting hands section above and the cheat sheet gives you a full preflop plan: widen your opening range toward the button, tighten it from the blinds.
Pot Odds Calculator
Pot odds turn a gut call into arithmetic: how often do you need to win for this call to break even? Divide the amount you must call by the size of the pot after you call, and you have the answer.
Enter the pot after your opponent bets, before your call. Use dollars or chips consistently. The result is the break-even equity for that price, before rake.
Break-even equity
25.0%
After your call: $80.00. 20.00 ÷ 80.00 × 100 = 25.0%. Pot odds: 3.0-to-1.
This is the equity you need, not your hand’s chance of winning. Compare showdown equity when no further betting is possible. Later bets and rake can change the decision.
Open the pot odds calculator for shareable examples, the formula, and its assumptions.
Common Mistakes Beginners Make
Six habits cost beginners more than every bad beat combined. None of them need a Texas Hold’em cheat sheet to fix — they need one decision made differently, over and over, until it sticks.
Playing too many hands
The most expensive habit in the game. If you are seeing more than a quarter of the flops at a full table, you are entering pots with hands that cannot win them.
Calling when you should raise
Calling only wins by having the best hand at showdown. Raising also wins when everyone folds, which is why a strong hand should usually come in for a raise.
Falling in love with any ace
Ace-seven offsuit looks like a hand and plays like a liability. When the ace arrives, the players still betting almost always hold a better kicker.
Ignoring position
The same two cards are a clear open on the button and a clear fold under the gun. Playing every hand the same way regardless of seat throws away a free edge.
Chasing without the price
A draw is only worth continuing when the pot pays enough. The pot odds section of this cheat sheet exists for exactly this — a draw that misses is just money handed across the table.
Playing stakes that scare you
Fear makes you fold winners and call losers. Sit at a level where a lost buy-in is annoying rather than painful, and your decisions improve immediately.