Poker Hand Strength
Effective Hand Strength (EHS) is a poker algorithm conceived by computer scientistsDarse Billings, Denis Papp, Jonathan Schaeffer and Duane Szafron that has been published for the first time in a research paper (1998). 'Opponent Modeling in Poker'(PDF). AAAI-98 Proceedings.
It has since then been considered as a reference in the realm of poker artificial intelligence and has been the basis of further research such as:
Relative Hand Strength When you decide to put in your chips for a value bet, you do so because you think that you’re a favorite to win. As the name implies, you’re trying to cash in on a. Jan 13, 2021 Other than the hands on that list, the only hands I would recommend a beginner play would be four-way connected hands, such as 8-9-T-J. Hands like these will typically give you a very strong hand on the flop, or a very weak hand, making it difficult to make large mistakes while playing them. An ace-high straight flush, commonly known as a royal flush, is the best possible hand in many variants of poker. In poker, players form sets of five playing cards, called hands, according to the rules of the game. Each hand has a rank, which is compared against the ranks of other hands participating in the showdown to decide who wins the pot.
In poker, players form sets of five playing cards, called hands, according to the rules of the game. Each hand has a rank, which is compared against the ranks of other hands participating in the showdown to decide who wins the pot. In high games, like Texas hold 'em and seven-card stud, the highest-ranking hands win.In low games, like razz, the lowest-ranking hands win. Only a few hands have the strength to be viable to continue beyond the pre-flop action. Another important factor is your position. The later you get to act in each round, (i.e. The more people who.
- 'Computer poker: a review'(PDF). Artificial Intelligence, Department of Computer Science, University of Auckland, New Zealand: 962–963. 2010.
- 'Application of AI in poker'(PDF). VU University Amsterdam Faculty of Sciences: 12–13. 2011.
- 'Advances in artificial intelligence – SBIA 2008 : 19th Brazilian Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Salvador, Brazil, October 26–30, 2008 ; proceedings'. 2008: 85–86.Cite journal requires
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Algorithm[edit]
The algorithm is a numerical approach to quantify the strength of a poker hand where its result expresses the strength of a particular hand in percentile (i.e. ranging from 0 to 1), compared to all other possible hands.The underlying assumption is that an Effective Hand Strength (EHS) is composed of the current Hand Strength (HS) and its potential to improve or deteriorate (PPOT and NPOT):
where:
- is the Effective Hand Strength
- is the current Hand Strength (i.e. not taking into account potential to improve or deteriorate, depending on upcoming table cards
- is the Negative POTential (i.e. the probability that our current hand, if the strongest, deteriorates and becomes a losing hand)
- is the Positive POTential (i.e. the probability that our current hand, if losing, improves and becomes the winning hand)
Pseudocode[edit]
Poker Hand Strength
Hand Strength (HS) will enumerate all possible opponent hand cards and count the occurrences where our hand is strongest (+50% of the cases where we are tied):
Poker Hand Strength Preflop
In addition, EHS will consider the hand potential (i.e. its probabilities to improve or deteriorate):
Applicability[edit]
Poker Hand Strengths
EHS is applicable to a wide variety of poker games such as Texas hold 'em poker, Omaha hold 'em poker, ...
Given the complexity of the algorithm, it can not be computed manually and has to be used in an Artificial Intelligence context.