In the casino video poker variant Ultimate Texas Hold’em, an unlimited amount of players can simultaneously play the same hand at one table. This game is played with a standard deck of 52 cards and the main purpose of the game is to beat the dealer’s hand by getting the best five card poker hand possible.
As with regular Texas Hold’em, your hand is constructed from a combination of the two cards dealt to you and the five community cards available for everyone to use.
Players are allowed one raise per game which is done at three separate opportunities throughout the game. The earlier a player raises, the more money you can both wager and win.
All of the standard hand rankings of Texas Hold’em poker apply to this game as well, although the betting does work slightly differently than a normal player vs player round of Texas Hold’em.
As soon as all of the betting has been done, the player and the dealer compare hands and the best five card poker hand wins. The player is then paid out according to the bets that they have made along the way as well as their final hand. Hands are evaluated based on the standard poker hand rankings.
The Ante and Blind Bets
To begin the game, players must make an Ante bet and a Blind bet of the same value. While the Blind bet is placed automatically, players must make the Ante bet themselves.
Should you wish to, you are able to make an optional Trips Bonus bet at this point (see later).
The Initial Bet
Once all the bets are in, two cards are dealt face down to all of the players as well as the dealer.
The dealer must have at least a pair in order to have a qualifying hand. If the dealer does not have a qualifying hand your Ante bet will be returned to you.
After players have checked their cards they can opt to add on a Play bet at a value of 3X or 4X the Ante bet. Players can also check and wait until the next betting round.
The Flop and the Raise X2
Players then have three options which is once again check, raise X4 or raise X3.
The Turn and River
Next, the Turn and River cards are dealt. If a player did not raise earlier, then they have one final chance to make a Raise 1X or they can fold their hand. Naturally, folding a hand will mean losing your Ante and Blind bets.
Dealer’s Cards Revealed
Once you have made your final decision, the dealer’s cards will be revealed, and the best hands are automatically formed and compared. Any wins are then awarded.
Ultimate Texas Hold’Em Bets and Payouts
If your hand beats the dealer’s hand then Play and Ante bets pay 1:1 while Blinds pay according to the pay table.
If the Dealer hand beats your hand then Play, Ante and Blind bets will all lose. If the Dealer fails to qualify then Ante bets are returned to players. If the final hands are tied then all bets are a push.
There are a range of differing payouts in this game, and these have all been listed in the tables below.
Blind Bet
| Hand | Pays |
|---|---|
| All Other | Push |
| Straight | 1/1 |
| Flush | 1.5/1 |
| Full House | 3/1 |
| Four of a Kind | 10/1 |
| Straight Flush | 50/1 |
| Royal Flush | 1000/1 |
Play Bet
| Hand | Play Bet | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Raise x1 | Ante x1 | Ante x1 |
| Raise x2 | Ante x2 | Ante x2 |
| Raise x3 | Ante x3 | Ante x3 |
| Raise x4 | Ante x4 | Ante x4 |
Trips Bonus Bet
| Hand | Pays |
|---|---|
| All Other | 3/1 |
| Straight | 4/1 |
| Flush | 7/1 |
| Full House | 8/1 |
| Four of a Kind | 30/1 |
| Straight Flush | 40/1 |
| Royal Flush | 50/1 |
The Trips bet works slightly differently to the other bets and is a little bit more complex. Here, bets are won to the value of your hand irrespective of whether or not your hand beats the dealer’s.
Once again, this wager is optional, and you do not have to make it before the hand begins but it can pay out an extra bonus if you catch a big hand. The house edge for the Trips bet is normally around 1.9%.
Progressive Jackpot
There are some Ultimate Texas Hold’em tables where you might come across an optional Progressive Jackpot bet that you can make. A portion of each bet is paid into to a growing progressive jackpot that will pay out when a big hand hits.
The cards that make up your Progressive Jackpot hand are the two hole cards plus the first three community cards. A Royal Flush will pay out 100% of the progressive jackpot while a Straight Flush pays at 10%. Lower ranked hands are rewarded on a sliding scale.
Basic Ultimate Texas Hold’em Strategy
Anyone with experience playing Texas Hold’em will feel at home playing Ultimate Texas Hold’em video poker casino game, although the optimum strategy is slightly different given that there are a few obvious factors.
In Ultimate Texas Hold’em, you are only playing against the dealer, not any other players. Also, there is no fold equity or making the dealer fold and, for obvious reasons, there is no bluffing. Of course, table position makes no difference as there is no table to speak of and the house takes no rake.
Ultimate Texas Hold’em also has a fairly low house edge. It sounds obvious but if you fold most of your bad hands and make sure that you raise the maximum when you have the best hole cards as, you should be OK for the most part.
A knowledge of the basic Texas Hold’em odds of landing certain hands on the flop, turn and river will come in handy but when and how much to bet is slightly different with this game.
Knowing when to bet the maximum 4x or 3x on the flop or waiting for later streets and lesser bets is a crucial part of making a profit in Ultimate Texas Hold’em but they can be rather complex calculations.
Ultimate Texas Hold’em FAQs
What is Ultimate Texas Hold’em?
Ultimate Texas Hold’em is a video poker casino table game. It is a game where players are playing against the dealer rather than other players.
How Do You Play Ultimate Texas Hold’em?
The hand begins with a player making an ante and blind bet. After this, both the player and the dealer are dealt two cards face down. Players can look at their cards before deciding to check or raise three or four times their ante amount. The dealer then deals three community cards and again the player has the option to check or bet two times their ante amount.
After this round, the dealer puts out two additional community cards and if the player has checked all the way they now need to either bet the same as the ante amount or fold their hand. When this is done all of the remaining players need to show their hands and showdown against the dealer.
If the dealer doesn’t have at the very least a pair, then there is no showdown and the players win on both their blind and raise bets and get a push on their ante bet.
Is There Ultimate Texas Hold’em Poker Strategy?
Yes, because the decision making happens after the cards have been dealt in Ultimate Texas Hold’em you can apply basic strategy that can improve your chances of winning by lowering the house edge as much as possible.