Royal Holdem
By 'Poskid' on the LLH poker forum.
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
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
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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 Hold: | And The Flop Is: | |||||
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You have two opponents who are holding:
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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 Hold: | And The Flop Is: | |||||
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You have two opponents who are holding:
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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 Hold: | And The Flop Is: | |||||
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You have two opponents who are holding:
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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
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and the board on the river is:
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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.
