Magic Wand

 
 

Memorized Deck Magic



     Article 22



 

Texas Hold'em with the Aronson Stack

BY STERLING DARE (A.K.A. Lefty the Clown)
Written by Dennis Loomis

          My friend Sterling Dare has worked through the Aronson stack to see what happens if you deal a hand of Texas Hold'em. This is so popular on TV today that it's of value to be able to do some routine if the question comes up.  Sterling explored all 52 possibilities. I  checked through his results and they are accurate. I agree with him that the best case seems to be when you start with the Three of Hearts on top. That's easy since you need only cut six cards from top to bottom and you're off and running.  This can easily be done in the context of my handling of the Haymow shuffle. See Articles 5 and 6.

     With Hold'em the results will not change as a result of betting and who folds and who stays in. There may be some patter advantages based on that.

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    Briefly, in Hold'em each player (4 in this case) gets 2 face down cards.  A card is burned to the bottom and three cards are dealt face up.  This is called the flop.
A card is burned and another card is dealt face up. I think this is called 4th street, but not sure.  Finally, a card is burned and one more card (the river card) is turned face up. There will be 5 community cards that can be used by all the players still in the hand being played.
 
    You use your two hole cards plus any combination of the  5 community cards to make the best 5 card hand of poker. You could use both hole cards and 3 community cards, 1 hole card and 4 community cards, or the 5 on the board and no hole cards.
 
    Betting occurs after the players are dealt 2 cards.  Then the Flop.  More betting, then 4th card, more betting and then 5th card (River).  Final bets and showdown.  It doesn't matter for the Aronson demo, but there is an ante, a single blind raise by the person to the left of the dealer, and a double blind raise by the person second to the left of the dealer.  In true Hold'em, it is sometimes worth staying in on a marginal hand if you have one of the blind raise hands. 
 
With the 3 of hearts on top of the deck: 
1st player gets:  Two Pair- Aces & 3s
2nd player gets: Two Pair-Aces & 5s
3rd player gets:  Two Pair-Aces & 8s
4th (dealer) gets:  3 Aces
 
With the 5 of hearts on top
1st player gets:  Two Pair-8s & 5s
2nd player:         Folds
3rd player gets:  Pair of Aces
4th (Dealer):       3 Sevens
 
With the Ace of Hearts on top:
1st player gets:  Two Pair 10s & 4s
2nd player:         Two Pair 10s & 4s
3rd player gets:  Two Pair 10s & 4s
4th (Dealer):       Full House
 
With 7 of Hearts on top
1st player gets:  Two Pair  Js & 10s
2nd player:         Two Pair Js & 10s
3rd player gets:  Two Pair Js & 10s
4th (Dealer):       Full House
 
With 7 Clubs on top:
1st player gets:  2 tens
2nd player:        2 fours
3rd player gets:  2 kings
4th (Dealer):      Two Pair-Tens and 4s
 
    The best demo hand for me is the one with the 3 of Hearts on top. 
 
    There are other combinations in which other players  get straights, flushes and even 4 of a kind, but none for the dealer.  Others have the dealer winning, but the players get zilch for hands. 

 


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UPDATED October 9, 2000

Copyright 2004 by Dennis Loomis