---
title: 'How to Play Ultimate Texas Hold''em: My Strategy and Complete Game Breakdown'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=zLKgRi912FA'
video_id: 'zLKgRi912FA'
date: 2026-08-10
duration_sec: 1094
---

# How to Play Ultimate Texas Hold'em: My Strategy and Complete Game Breakdown

> Source: [How to Play Ultimate Texas Hold'em: My Strategy and Complete Game Breakdown](https://youtube.com/watch?v=zLKgRi912FA)

## Summary

This video provides a comprehensive guide to Ultimate Texas Hold'em, a popular casino table game. The presenter explains the rules, optimal betting strategies, and common mistakes, emphasizing that despite strategic play, the game retains a house edge and should be played for entertainment.

### Key Points

- **Introduction to Ultimate Texas Hold'em** [00:01] — The presenter introduces Ultimate Texas Hold'em as a favorite table game due to its favorable payback percentage and potential for high payouts, such as a royal flush.
- **Disclaimer on House Edge** [00:45] — A disclaimer is given that regardless of strategy, the game has a significant house edge, guaranteeing long-term losses, so it should be played for entertainment only.
- **Game Setup: Blind and Ante** [01:12] — Two forced bets are required: the Blind and the Ante, which must be equal. The Ante wins if the player beats the dealer and the dealer qualifies (has a pair or better). The Blind pays if the player has a straight or better.
- **Pre-Flop Decision: Raise or Check** [01:43] — After receiving two hole cards, the player can raise 3x or 4x the Ante, or check. This decision is crucial for maximizing payback percentage.
- **Optimal Pre-Flop Raise Strategy** [02:43] — Never raise 3x; always raise 4x with any Ace, any pair of threes or higher, any suited King, unsuited King five or higher, Queen six suited or higher, Queen eight offsuit or higher, Jack eight suited or higher, and Jack ten offsuit. All other hands are checks.
- **Flop Strategy: Raise 2x with a Pair or Better** [05:00] — After the flop, if the player has a pair or better, they should raise 2x the Ante, which is the maximum allowed at this stage.
- **Turn/River: Play or Fold with Outs Counting** [05:42] — After the final two cards, the player must bet 1x the Ante or fold. The decision is based on counting the dealer's possible outs: if the dealer has less than 21 outs, play; if 21 or more, fold.
- **Counting Outs Explained** [06:23] — Outs are the number of cards that could give the dealer a winning hand. Only one-card combinations are counted, not two-card combinations. Examples are provided for various board textures.
- **Trips Bet and Progressive Jackpot** [09:53] — The optional Trips bet pays on three of a kind or better, with a higher house edge but better payback than many side bets. A progressive jackpot is also available, typically paying on a three of a kind or better on the flop.
- **Trips Pay Tables** [10:36] — Common pay table: 3:1 for trips, 4:1 for straight, 7:1 for flush, 8:1 for full house, 30:1 for quads, 40:1 for straight flush, 50:1 for royal flush. A better pay table exists with 5:1 for straight and 6:1 for flush, reducing house edge to ~2%.

### Conclusion

Ultimate Texas Hold'em offers a relatively low house edge when played with optimal strategy, but it is still a negative expectation game. The presenter shares personal strategies and emphasizes that the game should be enjoyed for entertainment, not as a money-making venture.

## Transcript

be talking about ultimate Texas holdom probably my favorite table game uh I like it because it has a very good payback percentage compared to similar games uh as well as the potential for some very high payouts on hands like
like a royal flush and I have a lot of fun playing it probably because I'm also fun playing it probably because I'm also a Texas Holden player myself so today we'll be talking about um I'll be explaining the game itself as well as
some strategies that I use to maximize my expected return and some mistakes that I do see many players making um that could potentially lower your uh expected return uh as well so let's get started uh before I get started uh I
just want to make a mini disclaimer that uh regardless of how well you play this game it still has a significant enough house edged to uh guarantee that you house edged to uh guarantee that you will lose money in the long run so it
should only be played for entertainment uh if you do happen to get lucky in the short term that's great but uh you should not expect to make money from this game all right so with that out of the way uh let's talk about how the game
works in Ultimate Texas holdom there are two forced bets which you have to make uh they are the Blind and the anti and they have to be equal to each other um the anti wins if you beat the dealer and the dealer qualifies and this means that
they have a pair or or better this pair could be in their hand or it could be on could be in their hand or it could be on the community cards as well um the blind will pay you if you have a straight or better
um so once you've made those two bets you are then dealt your first two cards which are known as the whole cards uh at this point there is a big decision to make you have the option to raise three times your bet four times
your bet or to check which means that you don't bet anything and you get to see the next cards that are dealt uh this decision is very important in determining your payback percentage in
the game with perfect strategy this game does have a lwh housee edge compared to other poker based table games if you're interested in the full odds breakdown of the game as well as a more in-depth look at the strategies that uh that I am
going to be talking about today I have linked the resource that I this video all right so let's talk about the optimal strategy for when to raise uh after the first two cards are
dealt um one thing to note is that you should never raise three times on any hand if you want to play Perfect strategy so a raise means four times the
anti uh the payback percentage with perfect strategy is approximately 97.8% so a pretty decent payout for um what's known as a a carnival game or a um game
based on uh A variation of Poker um so the correct strategy for Poker um so the correct strategy for raising pre flop is the following if you have any Ace you're supposed to raise four times uh that includes Ace Dua
anywhere from Ace Duce offit to Ace King suited any suited any pair of threes or higher is a raise uh pocket Deuces is a check if you have any suited King you're
check if you have any suited King you're supposed to raise or any unsuited King five or higher um I find that many players uh that I've played this game with will not raise on low to mid-range Kings but this
is a mistake according to the optimal strategy um the same applies for Queen six suited or higher you're supposed to raise Queen 8 off suit or higher uh Jack raise Queen 8 off suit or higher uh Jack 8 suited or higher and Jack 10 off
suit so those are the raises anything else any other hands uh that are dealt you check uh this strategy is pretty similar to but not identical to heads up uh Texas hold them that you play against
another player um which is why the selection of hands that you're supposed to raise with pre flop um would seem a lot different than what you would raise with at a full poker table with nine or six players um this
is because Bes this this is because despite the fact that there may be other players at the table uh you were only playing against the dealers so you don't just have to beat the dealer so it's essentially heads up uh you against the
uh next three cards are dealt which is called The Flop now these cards are Community cards which means that they could be used by both the player and the dealer and uh basic strategy at this
point says that if you have a pair or better you should you should raise two times your anti on the play bet which is the maximum allowed during this round of betting so after being dealt the first
two cards you could raise four times times but once you see the Flop you're only allowed to raise two times and this makes sense because you have a lot more information at this point so after this decision is made uh the final two cards
are then dealt and the player can either choose to bet one times their anti or fold the hand uh you must make a play bet which is equal to the anti at this point in order to have a chance to win
um now the strategy involved in making the decision whether you want to play the hand or fold the hand is a strategy called counting the outs um many players
may have not heard of this uh but it is a relatively simple strategy um that could be easily figured out it's by no means absolutely perfect but it can means absolutely perfect but it can reduce the house Edge in the long term
now counting the Els means is you're counting the number of cars that the dealer could possibly have that beat you uh according to the strategy if the dealer has less than 21 possible cards that could beat you or outs um you're
supposed to play and if they have 21 or more you're supposed to fold so for example if you had a king High such as a king three off suit uh which you would not raise on pre flop and the board was 10 of clubs Jack of clubs two of spades
10 of hearts and four of diamonds there are two tens three twos three Jacks and three fours that could beat you by giving the dealer a pair as well as four aces that could give the dealer a higher kicker so the total outs be 15 outs uh
this is less than 21 so you should play that hand uh in situations where there is one possible card to a straight or a flush on the board the knees are also counted as possible out so for example if there is a 6789 on the board and you
as the player don't have the the five or the 10 then four fives and four1 are now added to the possible outs uh or in the case of four to a flush since there are 13 cards of each suit the nine that are left in the deck are now added to the
outs all right so in the case of the King 3 offit Let's assume the board is King 3 offit Let's assume the board is 6789 um with a deuce of diamonds and now
there are potentially 15 outs that could give the dealer a pair uh four that give the dealer a higher kicker which which are all the higher kicker which which are all the four aces in the deck and now there are
eight possible cards that make the dealer a straight so you now have a total of 27 outs which um means that you fold the hand in the case of four to a flush
case of four to a flush um let's assume that it's the um 10 of clubs Jack of clubs two of space uh 10 of Hearts four of diamonds but instead now there are um four hearts on the
board now there is an additional nine cards that are left that nine additional cards that could make the dealer a winning hand uh so now you would also fold that hand right so a lot of people might ask um well what about
of people might ask um well what about um winning combination that uh could be made with both of the Dealer's cards so for example if the Dealer's cards so for example if the dealer had a pocket pair would you add
dealer had a pocket pair would you add um possible pocket pairs or if there was three to a straight or three to a flush possible two card combinations that the dealer could have and the answer is no the outs are only calculated um using
one card combinations uh if you add it two car combinations it would be quite two car combinations it would be quite complicated and provide uh little extra little additional value um to the strategy uh keep in mind that you want
to be able to do this calculation in a reasonable time while you're playing without without slowing down the entire table all right so that um that pretty much covers the um the anti and play bets which are the main bet in this game
um there is a trips bet which is an optional side bet um now this is a bon bet that pays out on hands of three of a kind or higher um it has a higher house edge of the main bet but it can be a lot of fun
to play and compared to other side bets in the casino the payback percentage is in the casino the payback percentage is not that terrible in my opinion um and the hand uh if you get trips or higher you
will still be paid out on this side bet so that's kind of nice um for example if there's a royal flush on the on the board on the on the Flop and the uh the last two cards um you would be paid on on the
trips at least so um usually the pay table for trips is the following um as you can see here it's uh 3 to one for trips four to here it's uh 3 to one for trips four to one for a straight 7 to one for a flush
one for a straight 7 to one for a flush 8 to one uh for a full house 30 to1 for 8 to one uh for a full house 30 to1 for quads 40 to1 for a straight flush and 50 to1 for a royal flush however I have noticed a better
flush however I have noticed a better pay table in some casinos um but it is hard to find uh this pay table pays the following it pays three to one for three of a kind five to one for a straight 6 to1 for a flush 8 to1 for a full house
30 to1 for quads 40 to1 for a straight flush 50 to one for a royal flush um so with this pay table the house Edge is approximately 2% versus approximately 3
and a half% on the more common pay table as far as side bets go like I said it's not bad at all uh in some casinos they also offer a progressive jackpot uh typically this only pays out if you hit three of a
this only pays out if you hit three of a kind or better um on the Flop so in your first five cards I've actually seen it as high as seven figures for royal flush as high as seven figures for royal flush on the Flop but it usually is over six
figures uh now naturally you can expect a house Edge to be quite high on this bet but it can be entertaining and I will personally always play the progressive bet because I would
absolutely kick myself if I hit it without betting uh for my bankrolling bet size these bets are usually a small percentage of my money so it doesn't really affect my U My overall expected value that much I don't mind throwing a
few dollars on each hand uh but you have to decide what makes the most sense uh to decide what makes the most sense uh for you typically this bet is $5 for you typically this bet is $5 or a dollar uh but the $5 Progressive is
or a dollar uh but the $5 Progressive is usually a lot higher of a of a payout than the $1 all right guys so I hope you enjoyed the video and for those of you are new Ultimate hold them I hope that uh helped you understand the game a
little bit better as well as some strategies that uh can be used to maximize your expected return on the game um before I end the video uh let's see some of the best hands that I've hit on this game today enjoy