How to play
Hold’em Raise is Texas Hold’em against the dealer with one big decision: when to raise. The earlier you raise, the more you can bet.
- Bet the Ante. The Blind is placed automatically and always equals the Ante. You can add the optional Trips bet. To deal, you need enough credits left for a raise of four times your Ante.
- You and the dealer get two cards each. Five community cards will be dealt in stages. You raise once (the Play bet), and after that the rest of the cards are dealt:
- Before the flop: raise 3× or 4× your Ante, or check.
- After the flop (three cards): raise 2×, or check.
- After the turn and river (all five): raise 1×, or fold (you lose the Ante and the Blind).
- You and the dealer each make the best five-card hand from your two cards and the five on the table. The dealer needs a pair or better to qualify.
- You win: Play pays 1 to 1. Ante pays 1 to 1, or is returned if the dealer doesn’t qualify. Blind pays by the table below with a straight or better, and is returned with anything less.
- The dealer wins: you lose the Play and the Blind. The Ante is lost too, unless the dealer doesn’t qualify, in which case it’s returned.
- Tie: every bet is returned.
Blind and Trips pays (Trips looks only at your own best hand and settles even if you fold):
| Hand | Blind | Trips |
|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 500 to 1 | 50 to 1 |
| Straight flush | 50 to 1 | 40 to 1 |
| Four of a kind | 10 to 1 | 30 to 1 |
| Full house | 3 to 1 | 8 to 1 |
| Flush | 3 to 2 | 7 to 1 |
| Straight | 1 to 1 | 4 to 1 |
| Three of a kind | returned | 3 to 1 |
Strategy
The Hint button follows this strategy:
- Before the flop, raise 4× with: any pair of threes or better, any ace, K-2 suited or K-5 and higher, Q-6 suited or Q-8 and higher, J-8 suited or J-10. Otherwise check. (4× is always better than 3× when you raise.)
- After the flop, raise 2× with a pair or better that uses one of your cards (but not a pair of twos in your hand), or four cards to a flush that include your own 10 or higher. Otherwise check.
- On the river, the hint counts all 990 hands the dealer could hold and raises 1× whenever that beats folding.
Following the hints, the house edge is about 2.2% of your Ante (our simulation of 3.2 million hands, each scored against all 990 hands the dealer could hold: 2.16%, give or take 0.42%). Rare big Blind wins, like a royal flush paying 500 to 1, keep this estimate from being tighter. With the hints you raise 4× before the flop on about 38% of hands, 2× on the flop on 21%, 1× on the river on 22%, and fold 19%.
Trips returns 96.50% exactly, a house edge of 3.50%. We checked this with all 133,784,560 seven-card hands.
For a single decision after the flop, try Hold’em Duel. For four-card poker, try Four Card Showdown.
If you enjoy Hold’em Raise, try Hold’em Sit & Go or HORSE Poker next.
