Beginner Poker Cheat Sheet Inside Tips to Shortcut Your Way to the Top!

Article updated on March 7, 2025

Poker is an extraordinarily complex game. A deeper understanding of the game can be critical in finding some winnings in the long run. To help you succeed, we’ve created a Texas Holdem cheat sheet list to reference during study or gameplay.

These tips are specifically geared towards beginner players, and studying each poker cheat sheet can be a great way to fast-track your learning curve. This guide will help you in multiple facets of poker. You’ll get advice about the essential poker terms list, from position names to basic strategy.

So, without delay, here are the six most crucial poker cheat sheets to improve your game, including a great Texas Hold em cheat sheet.

#1: Poker Hands Cheat Sheet

Primarily, you can’t play poker well if you don’t know what hands to make. As outlined with helpful graphics, there are ten different poker hand rankings.

It is critical to know the poker hands in order, otherwise the game can seem very confusing.

Download our printable poker hand rankings cheat sheet

From best to worst, they are as follows:

1. Royal Flush – 10 through ace, all of the same suit - for example, 10♠️J♠️Q♠️K♠️A♠️.
2. Straight Flush – Five cards in a sequence, all in the same suit - for example, 5♥️6♥️7♥️8♥️9♥️.
3. Four of a kind – Four cards of the same rank, such as A♠️A♦️A♣️A♥️.
4. Full House – Three of one rank and two of another, such as A♠️A♦️A♣️2♠️♥️.
5. Flush – All five cards of the same suit, such as A♦️K♦️9♦️4♦️3♦️.
6. Straight – Five cards of different suits in a sequence, such as A-2-3-4-5.
7. Three of a kind – Three cards of the same rank, such as A♠️A♦️A♣️
8. Two Pair – Two of one kind and another two different cards, such as A♠️A♦️K♣️K♦️.
9. One Pair – Just a single pair, such as 8♥️8♦️.
10. High Card – A hand with no pair or other hands listed above. That hand could be ace-high, meaning a hand has an ace as the high card.

Note that, in most games, you aim to make the BEST five-card hand. But some poker variants require you to make the lowest hand. In these games, straights and flushes don’t count against you.

When learning how to play poker games like Short Deck, with the 2s through 5s removed, the hand rankings change slightly. Only nine outs in the 36 cards are left to complete a flush. So, flushes rate better than full houses!

#2: Poker Lingo

When you first started playing poker, you may have felt like you were listening to a foreign language! Knowing the correct poker term for differing moves at the table and gameplay scenarios can help you understand how to play the game.

Here are just a sampling of the poker terms a player might see in a typical game.

• Flop
• Check-Raise
• Double-Barrel
• Pot Odds
• Equity
• Gutshot
• Open-Ender
• Three-Bet
• All-In

With that in mind, knowing where to start can often be challenging. Here’s a guide with all the common poker phrases and meanings you should know when jumping headfirst into the great game.

Learn these terms to have a better grasp when hitting the tables online or playing in a live casino.

#3: Poker Table Position Names

Not every hand of poker is created equal. Depending on where you’re seated, your win rate and which hands you should play will vary dramatically.

All position names are relative to where the DEALER BUTTON is in a hand. Note that the button moves one space clockwise after each hand.

Starting to the left of the button, here are the table position names for a typical short-handed/6-max table:

• Small Blind (SB)
• Big Blind (BB)
• Under-The-Gun (UTG) / Lojack (LJ)
• Hijack (HJ)
• Cutoff (CO)
• Button (BTN)

Blinds are forced bets that all players must make. They prevent players from simply seeing a flop without putting any money into the pot.

For example, in a $1/$2 No Limit Hold’em cash game, the big blind would be $2. All players who want to stay in would at least have to call the $2. The small blind has committed half of the big blind – $1 – and only has to add another dollar to call unless another player has raised.

Regarding poker table position names, it's slightly different if you're playing at a full-ring table with either nine or 10 players. More seats will be in “early position” (immediately to the left of the big blind). But these typically don’t carry any fancy names with them.

Poker Table Position Names

• The first position after the blinds will always be considered “under the gun.” But beyond this, you can either refer to the next couple of positions as follows. (Again, it depends on the total number of seats/players):
• UTG+1 (under-the-gun plus 1)
• EP1, EP2, etc. (“Early position” – synonymous for UTG and the next few positions)
• MP1, MP2, etc. (“Middle position” – comes after early position and usually concludes with the Lojack

Check out our position article here for all the details on table positions.

#4: Texas Holdem Cheat Sheet - Starting Hands

Many players are unprofitable at first because they play far too many starting hands. They may have a VPIP (short for voluntarily put money in pot) of around 40% in 6-max.

They play ANY ace from ANY position. Yes, that means if they had A-2 off-suit UTG, they would play it! That said, even the best poker players of all time learnt from their mistakes. It’s all part of the game!

Playing too many hands is not a recipe for success, and a Texas Holdem cheat sheet can help.

Knowing what hands to play is a necessary requirement to play well. Being on the button (or close to the right of it) will give you a positional advantage post-flop.

• You’ll get to see how all your opponents act before you.
• So, you can afford to play more hands on the button.

You must play fewer hands when further out of position (under the gun). This strategy will compensate for the increased likelihood of being out-of-position, post-flop.

Here is a one-chart-fits-all graphic Texas Hold em cheat sheet that we’ve created. It will help you know which hands you should play by position in a typical 6-max game:

This strategy will compensate for the increased likelihood of being out of position post-flop.

6-Max Starting Hand Chart

The chart above shows which hands to play by position (if no player has entered the pot before you).

• You should “open up” for a raise of 2.5bb (big blinds)!
• UTG has the tightest range because it is furthest from the button.
• From the HJ, you’ll open up the same range as UTG in addition to the hands in pink!

Be aware that this chart is simply the tip of the iceberg. You can study other GTO poker charts by position, including those showing:

• Raise-First In (RFI) for different amounts (i.e., 2bb, 2.25bb, 3bb, etc.)
• Vs RFI: for which hands to call, fold, and three-bet after another player has already raised.

#5: The Simple Way to Play Post-Flop

Great. Now, you can use charts to learn what hands to play from the various positions. But what do you do after the flop comes out?

In general, you should break your hands down into four categories after the flop:

1. Strong monsters
2. Medium-strength hands
3. Draws
4. Trash

The specifics of each scenario will be situation-dependent. But, in general, you should do the following in those scenarios–

• 1 and 3: Bet/raise your strong hands/monster (usually top pair/top kicker (TPTK) or better) and draws.
• 2 and 4: Play more passively with category 2 and 4 hands. Check/call your medium-strength hands. Check/fold your trash hands that whiffed the flop.

This strategy is a VERY simplified way of approaching post-flop play. There will be a multitude of considerations involving poker board texture (how the community cards might connect with opponents’ hands) is always advised.

However, this guide will help you as a beginner get the “gist” of how to proceed post-flop.

#6: The Ultimate Cheat: GTO vs Exploitable

There are two ways you can go about approaching poker:

1). Game-Theory Optimal (GTO):

You play an unexploitable poker style and only profit from your opponents’ mistakes. Many players use computer programs known as solvers to practice GTO and see what the correct play is in any scenario. Some of the greatest poker players of all time are using GTO to get an edge on opponents.

2). Exploitable:

You deviate from GTO and aim to maximise your profits even further. When making decisions, you target your opponents’ exploitable tendencies. Knowing when and how to bluff in poker can be a part of this strategy.

In general, you should study GTO poker away from the table. Look to implement these strategies versus good players. Play in an exploitable manner to counteract and maximise your winnings against weaker opponents.

GTO vs Exploitative Strategy

Here is an ULTIMATE article we put together highlighting 20 charts that you need to know.

Check out these great resources to help you succeed in mastering your poker play and start winning big at the tables!

It’s all here, from maths-related calculations to bankroll management systems to value-to-bluff.

Poker Cheat Sheet Summary

Poker is a tricky game because no two hands are the same. Small nuances from one hand to the next can change things dramatically, such as:

• How to play and approach certain poker combos and scenarios
• Hole cards
• Community cards
• Positions
• Player tendencies, based on where particular opponents are seated relative to you
• Stack sizes
• The list goes on and on!

So, be sure to develop a solid baseline for your gameplay. Study and use the charts and cheat sheets in this article to help you improve your poker play. Doing so could take your game to remarkable new heights!