Live Ultimate Texas Hold’em is played against the house with the aim of getting a better 5 card poker hand than the dealer has.
The unique thing about this game is the 3 betting rounds. You get to choose which betting round to lay your bet but only after the cards have been dealt. How cool is that?
The game is as much about beating the dealer as it is about the betting strategy.
To play the game successfully you do need to understand the value of poker hands, i.e. what beats what.
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You'll also need an appreciation of the probabilities of whether you’re likely to hit a winning hand at a particular point in the game.
If you know these two then you have a reasonable chance of being able to maintain your bankroll for longer playing sessions or indeed walking away with a profit.
But if you’re like me and have difficulty retaining information like this then a simple documented strategy can go a long way to help you enjoy the game more.
Fortunately, a few clever people have worked out the probabilities and statistics of when to bet depending on what cards are showing.
I’m going to share a Live Ultimate Texas Hold’em betting strategy below. If you want more detailed information then refer to the research of Michael Shackleford at the Wizard of Odds, who has provided the information below.
Live Ultimate Texas Hold'em Rules and Betting Strategy
Live Ultimate Texas Hold'em rules you need to know, a solid betting strategy.
The rules are fairly straightforward.
- One deck of 52 playing cards is used. The jokers are removed before the deck is shuffled.
- Initial bets are placed before any cards are dealt, including the Side Bets, which remain in play for the whole game.
- The dealer deals two cards to the player's position and two to theirs.
- Players decide whether to bet to play the hand or check to see what happens when the next cards are seen.
- 5 Community Cards are dealt onto the table. The player and dealer try to make their best 5 card poker hands.
- Whoever has the better hand wins.
- Side Bets are settled regardless of the outcome of the main hand.
- Players can fold their hands once all cards have been dealt onto the table.
- The dealer needs a pair or more in their hand to qualify.
- A freshly shuffled deck is used for each new game round.
Use this live Ultimate Texas Holdem betting strategy to help you win more.
1st Betting Round
This is where you have been dealt the first two cards. No other cards are on the table.
The raise is 3 x or 4 x your ante bet.
Note: Always raise your bet by 4 x. There is no value in raising by 3 x unless you have a depleted chip stack.
There are 169 possible combinations for the first round. You should look to raise the bet if you have been dealt:
- A Pair of 3's and above. Do not raise a pair of 2’s in this betting round.
- Ace high or better.
- Unsuited King 5 or better.
- Unsuited Queen 8 or better.
- Unsuited Jack 10 or better.
- Suited King High.
- Suited Queen 6 or higher
- Suited Jack 8 or higher
2nd Betting Round
The flop, or 3 community cards have been dealt in the middle of the table.
The raise is 2 x the Ante Bet.
You should play this bet if there are :
- Two pairs or better in front of you.
- A hidden Pair. (That’s a pair that is made up of one of your hidden cards and one from the flop).
- If there are 4 cards to a flush, including a hidden 10 or better to that flush.
3rd and Last Betting Round
The Turn and River cards have now been dealt and there are now 5 community cards showing.
At this point, you can bet 1 x your stake or fold.
Place a bet if you have:
- A hidden pair or better.
- or The dealer has less than 21 outs to beat you.
Anything else you should fold your hand.
Live Ultimate Texas Holdem Hand Rankings
Here are the Live Ultimate Texas Holdem hand rankings.
High card
The high card is the Ace, if this ties with another hand, then the second-highest card in the hand is used as a tie-breaker, and so on until the hand is won or tied.
One Pair
Two identical valued cards, in this case, a pair of 9's. A pair of 10's or above would beat this hand. If another hand has a pair of 9's then the next highest card is used to determine the winner.
Two Pair
Two sets of pairs where each pair is different from the other e.g. 9's and 3's. if another hand has two pairs then the hand containing the higher pair will win.
3 of a Kind
One set of 3 cards that have the same value. In this case three 5's. This hand would be beaten by three 6's or above.
Straight
A hand of 5 cards that form a run. The suits do not need to be the same, so in this example, we have a run of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Straights with a higher run value e.g. 5,6,7,8,9 would beat this hand.
Flush
A set of 5 cards from the same suit. The high card in the hand is used to determine ties. This hand is a 10 high heart flush.
Full House
This is a combination hand that is made up of 3 of a kind and a pair. The three of the kind is dominant in the hand and would be used to determine ties with other full houses. This hand would be referred to as 9's over 5.
4 of a Kind
4 cards that are of the same value, one from each suit. The value of the 4 of a kind is used to determine a winner if there is another 4 of a kind hand in play.
Straight Flush
This is a set of 5 cards in a run, but all in the same suit. In this example, we have 3c, 4c, 5c, 6c, 7c.
Royal Flush
The best possible hand in poker. A straight flush of the highest value cards in a suit.
Ways to Win
There's two way you can play:
- Without the Side bet.
- With the Side bet.
Without The Side Bet
If you play without the side bet, the return to Player (RTP) for the game is 99.47% if you bet after all the cards have been dealt.
If you bet at the 1st opportunity the RTP is 97.82%. While the returns are better because you've placed a 3 or 4 x Bet, your actual returns are going to be lower, but that's not fun is it :-)
The Ante Bet is placed 1st and a Blind bet of an equal amount is placed automatically by the playing interface.
To play the hand you have to make a call bet equal to the Ante as a minimum. There are opportunities to make this bet bigger e.g. 3x or 4x as described above.
So three bets are needed to play the hand.
On winning hands The Ante bet is always paid at even money, regardless of the strength of the hand.
The same is true for the Play Bet, which is also paid at even money.
If the dealer's hand doesn't qualify, The Ante is Pushed and returned to the player.
The Play and Blind bets are paid only if the Player beats the Dealer. Otherwise, the bets are pushed and returned to the player.
If the Dealer qualifies, all that means is that if you beat him you'll be paid even money on your ante, plus the Play and Blind payouts.
If the dealer qualifies and beats you, well, you lose all your money lol.
With The Side Bet
The Trips Side Bet has a RTP of 96.5% and is played alongside the main hand.
You cannot play the bet without having made an Ante Bet first.
The Trips side bet pays on the value of your hand. It doesn't have to beat the dealer, it just has to be Trips or better to pay.
It's a nice bet and when it comes in it pays well.
However, it can be streaky and you might end up depleting your Bankroll without getting a hit. So be careful.
Playing Strategy for Live Ultimate Texas Hold'em in Action
Watch me play using the optimal playing strategy for Live Ultimate Texas Holdem.
If you want to try this yourself then Unibet has a table.
Live Ultimate Texas Holdem is one of the great games you can play at a good online casino, allowing you to have a thrilling time while also winning and making big profits — as long as you know the rules and have a great Live Ultimate Texas Holdem betting strategy!
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