Strategy Guide

Ultimate Texas Hold'em strategy: every decision, in order

Ultimate Texas Hold'em gives you exactly three decisions per hand. This page covers all three — starting with a complete pre-flop chart for all 169 starting hands.

Educational content only This guide is written for study and practice. UPokerTrainer does not accept, process, facilitate, or enable real-money wagers, betting, payouts, or prizes.

How the betting actually works

Before any cards are dealt you post two equal mandatory bets, the Ante and the Blind. An optional Trips side bet pays on your final five-card hand regardless of whether you beat the dealer.

From there you get one raise, and only one. The earlier you make it, the bigger it can be:

The dealer needs a pair or better to qualify. If the dealer fails to qualify, your Ante pushes rather than winning — but your Play bet still gets paid if you beat them. The Blind only pays on a straight or better.

This structure is why the game rewards aggression. The 4x raise is the cheapest leverage you will ever get, and it is available on more hands than most players assume.

37.7%of all dealt hands are a 4x raise
3decision points per hand
169distinct starting hands

The pre-flop 4x raise chart

Suited hands sit above the diagonal, offsuit hands below it, and pocket pairs run down the middle. Green means raise 4x. Everything else is a check. Hover or long-press any cell to see the expected value of both options.

Ultimate Texas Hold'em pre-flop 4x raise chart. Suited hands above the diagonal, offsuit below, pairs on the diagonal.
Hole cardsAKQJT98765432
AAAAKsAQsAJsATsA9sA8sA7sA6sA5sA4sA3sA2s
KAKoKKKQsKJsKTsK9sK8sK7sK6sK5sK4sK3sK2s
QAQoKQoQQQJsQTsQ9sQ8sQ7sQ6sQ5sQ4sQ3sQ2s
JAJoKJoQJoJJJTsJ9sJ8sJ7sJ6sJ5sJ4sJ3sJ2s
TAToKToQToJToTTT9sT8sT7sT6sT5sT4sT3sT2s
9A9oK9oQ9oJ9oT9o9998s97s96s95s94s93s92s
8A8oK8oQ8oJ8oT8o98o8887s86s85s84s83s82s
7A7oK7oQ7oJ7oT7o97o87o7776s75s74s73s72s
6A6oK6oQ6oJ6oT6o96o86o76o6665s64s63s62s
5A5oK5oQ5oJ5oT5o95o85o75o65o5554s53s52s
4A4oK4oQ4oJ4oT4o94o84o74o64o54o4443s42s
3A3oK3oQ3oJ3oT3o93o83o73o63o53o43o3332s
2A2oK2oQ2oJ2oT2o92o82o72o62o52o42o32o22
Raise 4x Check

Scroll the chart sideways to see every hand →

The same chart, as five rules

You do not need to memorise a grid. The chart above collapses into five lines, and they are worth knowing cold, because this is the decision you face most often.

Raise 4x with any of these

  • Any pocket pair of threes or better. Pocket deuces are the single exception — they check.
  • Any ace, suited or offsuit, with any kicker.
  • King with any suited kicker, or offsuit with a 5 or better.
  • Queen suited with a 6 or better, or offsuit with an 8 or better.
  • Jack suited with an 8 or better, or offsuit only with a ten.

Check everything else. Note what is not on that list: suited connectors like T9s and 98s are checks. They make beautiful poker hands, but Ultimate Texas Hold'em pays you for being ahead right now against a single opponent, not for drawing potential. Raising 4x with T9s costs you money compared with checking it.

The thinnest call on the whole chart is K2s. Raising it is better than checking by about half a hundredth of an ante — effectively a coin flip that happens to fall on the raise side. Pocket deuces are the mirror image: a pair, and still not worth 4x.

The flop: raise 2x or check

If you checked pre-flop, three cards come out and you get one more chance at a 2x raise. The rules here are tighter, because you have already passed on the best price.

Raise 2x with

  • Two pair or better.
  • A hidden pair — a pair made with one of your hole cards rather than a pair sitting on the board. Pocket deuces are the exception again.
  • Four to a flush that includes a hidden ten or higher in your suit.

Everything else checks. The word doing the work here is hidden. A pair on the board is a pair the dealer also holds, so it wins you nothing; only a pair using your own card puts you ahead of a random dealer hand.

The river: raise 1x or fold

You have checked twice, all five community cards are out, and there is no more information coming. Raise 1x or surrender both mandatory bets.

Folding is expensive — it costs you the Ante and the Blind with certainty. So the bar for making the last raise is low: you are looking for any reasonable chance of winning, not a strong hand.

The practical rule

  • Raise 1x if you have a hidden pair or better.
  • Fold if your best five cards are the board itself — if you play the board, you cannot beat the dealer, you can only tie.
  • With less than a pair, count how many dealer hole-card combinations beat you. Fewer than roughly 21 outs means raise.

That last line is the one that takes practice. Counting outs against a full dealer range on the river is not something you do accurately from a chart — it is something you build a feel for by seeing the same board textures repeatedly and getting told, immediately, whether you got it right.

The four mistakes that cost the most

  1. Raising too little pre-flop. Players who check hands like A4o or K7s are giving up the best price in the game. Nearly four hands in ten are a 4x raise.
  2. Raising suited connectors. The chart says check T9s, 98s and everything below. Drawing hands are worth far less heads-up against a dealer who never folds.
  3. Counting board pairs as your own. A pair on the board helps the dealer exactly as much as it helps you.
  4. Folding the river too often. A fold gives up both mandatory bets for certain. Marginal hands are usually worth the 1x.

Every one of these is a habit rather than a knowledge gap. Reading the rule takes a minute; making the right decision without thinking about it takes repetition.

How this chart was produced

The pre-flop chart on this page is generated directly from UPokerTrainer's own evaluation engine. Each of the 169 starting hands is evaluated for the expected value of raising 4x versus checking, and the cell is coloured by whichever is higher. The hover text on every cell shows both numbers.

It assumes the standard pay table: the Blind paying on a straight or better, the dealer qualifying with a pair, and no side bets influencing the main decision. Different Blind pay tables shift a small number of borderline cells; the app lets you configure the table and see the chart move.

Reading a chart is not the same as knowing it

UPokerTrainer deals you real hands, checks every decision against the same engine that produced this chart, and tells you immediately when you are off — and why.

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