By 'Poskid' on the LLH poker forum.

A royal flush is the highest-ranking poker hand in a poker game where no wild cards are used. The royal is also one of the rarest hands in the game; many casinos offer rewards ranging from trinkets to cash jackpots for making one. While you can seldom expect to see one in your hand, there are ways to slightly improve your chances of getting one. The game of poker - Texas Hold'em in particular - is exciting and vibrant. One of the things that make it so entertaining is the unique vocabulary developed by its players to describe the 'high.

I've been playing this game since it came out on UB.com and have found that it can be an extremely profitable game. Imagine sitting at a 6 max table where players routinely play hands such as 23o and 67s. At Royal Holdem this type of poor play is extremely common since all the cards 9 and lower have been eliminated from the deck. Many players sit down and believe that what they are looking at is a profitable hand while in fact it is a long term loser. I've written this article in hopes to help experienced holdem players learn to play a profitable Royal Holdem game.

The Game

The total number of possible royal flush hands in a standard 52 card deck is 4. Have a minute spare for 5 random facts? And the odds of making a royal flush is 649,739 to 1. This is correct assuming that every game plays to the river. Feel with Free Royale Poker Texas Hold’em – your free chips await in the poker game – there’s a reason why poker is the best card game around! Leagues: compete in the Royale Poker Texas Hold’em Compete mechanism base on special tournament of Royal.

Royal Holdem is played just like regular holdem except the deck contains only Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks and Tens. There are 4 rounds of betting: When the cards are dealt, after the flop, turn and river. The only difference between Royal Holdem and regular holdem is that a full table of Royal Holdem is played with 6 people because there are only 20 cards in the deck; 12 hole cards, 5 community cards and 3 burn cards. Keep this in mind as you read this strategy guide. Remembering that every card (except for the 3 burn cards) will be seen either in someone's hand or in the community cards.

Starting Hands

This chart may seem extremely tight to most players but will make more sense as you become familiar with the post flop concepts. As most charts you want to raise and re-raise the premium hands from all positions as they will make you the most money. The playable hands can be played from most positions (table dependent) with the exception of QQ which should only be played in button or blind play for a limp or one raise (BB only). Marginals should ONLY be played with multiple limpers in button or blind play for a limp (don't call a raise even in BB).

The Flop

When playing pocket pair type hands you will flop a set better than 1/3 of the time. This is a great number for your AA and KK hands. You should also notice that you will be very unlikely to be out drawn on latter streets. The flop isn't extremely difficult to play. You must determine the possible outs that you have to draw to a a winning hand. Your break even pot odds to continue on to the turn is calculated by taking the number of outs you have and placing it over 15 (any out that isn't to the nuts or 2nd nuts should be counted as half an out). When determining your outs you should never attempt to count runner runner outs as they will rarely hit and when they do it will usually be an obvious quad hand. After calculating your pot odds you must then determine how to maximize your profit. Is betting going to scare away potential money? Will raising now while the board isn't scary going to net you more calls than a turn raise? Do you have the odds to bet or should you simply call? Should you fold?

Typically I've found that not betting is going to allow your opponents to see free cards which are even more costly than in normal holdem because the long shot draws have a better chance of connecting. When determining whether you should bet or not you must calculate the pot odds and then no matter how slim they are in your favor you must make the others pay to try to hit that runner runner or 1 outer. Playing hands out of the blind can be tricky sometimes as they can be outdrawn rather easily. Let's look at KQ as an example...

Example

You have two opponents who are holding:

The opponent holding KQs has the nut straight BUT he's drawing virtually dead to your set of Aces as the board will pair better than 50% of the time. In the event the board doesn't pair then the board will always make a straight, most often causing the pot to split. The only improvement that helps him is to pick up the royal flush draw which will cause him to draw to a single out against a made hand. The JJ is also drawing virtually dead as he has only a single out to catch his last J on the turn or river. This example shows the basic Post Flop concept of Royal Holdem, drawing to a winning hand while your opponent holds a very beatable made hand. AA and KK will rarely draw dead whereas the lower pocket pairs will since the board has a very high likelihood of pairing above your set.

Example

You have two opponents who are holding:

You are drawing to 4 outs while your JJ opponent can only make a better WINNING hand by hitting his 1 out J or by runner runner QQ or TT. He's now drawing extremely thin to a hand that you are going to improve 4:7.5 on the turn and 4:7 on the river. The QT is drawing completely dead to win and is only hoping for a split at this point drawing 6/15 and 3/14 to hit for a runner runner QT. This illustrates the concept of betting when you have a hand that is likely to improve to a winner. You have a hand that is going to improve better than %50 of the time to the nut or second nut. You cannot pass up betting or raising on the flop so that the JJ hand cannot draw to his long shot draw for free.

Example

You have two opponents who are holding:

KJ is drawing utterly dead but will probably still try to draw to his full house which will always be second best. And the AJ hand is drawing virtually dead looking for a runner runner Ace. Both hands will likely call you down but are drawing so slim that they are throwing away their money for any bet that they put into the pot at this point. This is why AA and KK are so very valuable. They are likely to make a virtually no counterfeitable draw on the flop and you can still likely draw.

THE TURN

Playing the turn is pretty simple. Do exactly the same thing as the flop. The only difference between the turn and flop is that you calculate the pot odds as */14 instead of */15.

THE RIVER

River play looks simple at first...Make a boat or better and bet/raise. But when you get into it you must also determine if you are possibly on a split pot or whether you think your opponent is bluffing. If you don't have the absolute best possible hand you must decide whether your opponent could possibly be betting a better hand or split hand. You don't want to bet/raise into a board where the only way that he will call is with a split hand and raise you with a better.

Example

You are dealt

and the board on the river is:

Your opponent has bet into you from early position. Should you Raise, Call or Fold? I lean towards call due to the fact that there are a few hands that he will be betting here that beat you and a few that he may be betting that you beat. You will only be ahead here probably 50% of the time. So I would look to call since he will only call with a hand that splits or beats you while he will re-raise with anything that beats you.

Conclusion

Royal Holdem is a game of drawing to very strong hands. Keep yourself in situations where you will rarely be drawing virtually dead and you can easily beat the weak players who populate this game. Good luck to those who try this game and happy fishing.

An Adrenaline Rush - High Speed Action and Increased Risk/Rewards!

Royal Hold'em is a fast-paced version of Texas Hold'em. This game uses only a 20-card deck containing the decks' 10's through Aces only, and is played by up to 6 players with the same rules and betting rounds as in Texas Hold'em. More betting, less folding, bigger winning hands….all add to the excitement.
Are you tired of 'traditional' poker because of the heavy time commitment and slower pace? – then this is the game for you!

The Dealer Button
Royal Hold’em is played using a limited deck of cards featuring only 10s through Aces. The 2 through 9 cards have been eliminated. Like Texas Hold'em, Royal Hold’em uses what is called a “dealer button” (a round indicator) to identify the theoretical dealer of each hand. After each hand is completed, the dealer button moves clockwise to the next active player. This player will be considered “ the dealer” for that hand. In this way each player has equal opportunities to be in early, middle and late positions during a round of play. At the start of the game, players will take a seat at the table. The dealer will deal one card face up to each player. The player with the highest card will be the first player to act as the dealer. If two or more players are dealt the same high card, the tie will be broken by order of suit, starting with the suit preference of spades, hearts, diamonds and then clubs.
The Blinds: Betting In The First Round
The two players immediately to the left of the dealer button place blind bets to start the pot (similar in principle to an ante). Instead of having every player ante each hand, the blind bets in combination with rotating dealer button accomplishes the same thing. The player to the left of the dealer button posts the 'small blind'. The player to the left of the small blind is required to post the 'big blind'. All the blinds in Hold'em poker are considered live bets and the players who posted them will have the option of calling, raising or folding when the betting returns to their position. Remember, the dealer button (and therefore the small blind and the big blind) move around the table clockwise after each hand, so each player will post the blind bets over time.

Once the blinds have been placed, each player is dealt two cards, face down, which are known as hole cards or pocket cards.

First Round of Betting: Because the two players immediately left of the dealer have already placed their “blind bets”, the player to the left of the player who placed the big blind starts the betting for the first round. The big blind has the option to raise an otherwise unraised pot. Every player participating in the hand should have equal amounts of points bet as the previous players (includes bets, calls and raises). Until the time all the players have placed equal amounts in the pot, the betting will continue. In Royal Hold'em there is no limit to the number of raises that a player can make, or the amount of points the player raises each time. The only limit is that you cannot raise yourself. If all the other players in the hand only call or fold, the player would not get an option to raise, because he was the last and only player to raise. Minimum raise: The raise amount must be at least as much as the previous bet or raise in the same round. As an example, if the first player to act bets 100 Poker Points then the second player must raise a minimum of 100 Poker Points (total bet of 200 Poker Points). Maximum eligible raise: At any time, a player may “Go All-In” meaning that he bets all of the chips that he has in front of him.
The flop:Three community cards are dealt face up. The first three cards are referred to as the flop, while all of the community cards are collectively called the board.

Second round of betting: Starting with the player to the left of the dealer button, each player can check or bet. Once a bet has been made, each player can raise, call, or fold.

The turn: A fourth card is added face-up to the community cards. This fourth card is known as the turn card, or fourth street.

Royal Hold'em

Third round of betting: It follows the same format as the second round.
The river: A fifth and final card is added to the community cards. This fifth card is known as the river card , or fifth street.

Final round of betting:It follows the same format as the second and third rounds.
The showdown:Once all the bets are complete, there are two possible outcomes: either all the players but one have folded (and hence the remaining at person wins the pot), or the remaining players reveal their hands and the best hand wins the pot. This latter scenario is often called the showdown.

Using the best five-card combination of their hole cards and the community cards, the remaining players show their hands. The highest five-card hand wins the pot. (In case of a tie, the pot is evenly split among the winning hands.

In some situations, a player may be “All-In” meaning he has bet all of his chips. Here is an example explaining how “All-In” situations are handled. Player A has 3,000 chips. Player B has 2,000 chips and Player C has 1,000 Chips. Player A goes all in, before the flop holding two queens. Player B, holding two kings, calls. Player C, holding two aces, also calls. Player A is immediately returned 1,000 chips because Player B only had 2,000 chips. Fur the r, a side-pot is created between Player A and B of 2,000 chips (because Player C only had 1,000 chips with which to call A and B's 2,000 chip bet). Player C cannot win this side pot. If the Board reveals a 3, 5, 7, ten and jack (and assuming no flushes), Player C would win the main pot containing 3,000 chips and Player B would win the side-pot containing 2,000 chips.

Royal Hold'em: Playing in Tournaments

Single Table Tournament

Single-Table tournaments can have a maximum of 6 players where all players begin with an equal number of chips. The stakes (antes, blinds) increase over time. Players are knocked out of the tournament as they lose all of their chips to other players. The winner is the player who eventually ends up with all of the chips on the table. The entry fee for a tournament (i.e. 100 Poker Points per player) is multiplied by the number of players (i.e. 6) to determine the total prizes awarded (in this case 1,000 poker points). In a ten player tournament, first place receives 50% of the points (i.e. 500) with second and third receiving 30% and 20% respectively.

Multi Table Tournament

In a Multi-Table tournament, there can be multiple tables of players with a maximum of 6 players per table. Each player starts with an equal number of chips. The stakes (antes, blinds) increase over time. Players are knocked out of the tournament as players lose all of their chips to their opponents. Remaining players are periodically re-assigned seats on other tables to keep tables full. This will eliminate tables over time until the last surviving players with chips remain at a final table. The eventual winner is the last player at the last table that ends up with all the chips. In tournaments awarding points, the total points awarded is equal to the entry fee (in points) per player multiplied by the number of players participating. These points are then awarded as indicated in the tournament detail screen.

Hand Rankings

Here are the poker hands from highest to lowest.

1. Royal Flush
A, K, Q, J, 10, all the same suit.

Royal Holdem Poker

2. Four of a kind
All four cards of the same rank.

3. Three of a kind with a pair
Three of a kind with a pair.

4. Straight
Five cards in a sequence, but not of the same suit.

Royal Hold'em

5. Two Pair
Two different pairs.

Royal Texas Hold'em

6. Pair
Two cards of the same rank.