Board

About BPP and Texas Hold'em

BPP Version: 3.1.4
GUI Version: 1.1

This page is a web front-end for playing Texas Hold'em against BPP (the Bayesian Poker Player bot).

BPP started life in 1993 at Monash University, at first playing 5-Card Stud, but now trying its hand at Texas Hold'em. Nathalie Jitnah created the first version of BPP for her Honours Thesis, with Ann Nicholson and Kevin Korb as supervisors. Ann and Kevin still manage the project on a part-time basis, but many other students and colleagues have contributed to BPP as well since its inception.

The card images used in this game can be downloaded from the Open Clip Art Library.

Acknowledgements

Our thanks for contributions and assistance go to the following people:

Rules for Texas Hold'em

The rules for Texas Hold'em vary, but here we use the AAAI'06 tournament rules, defined for 2 players (called 'Heads Up'). These rules are as follows:

  • Antes (i.e. opening bets) are called blinds. Not all players put in the same blind. (And in multiplayer games, only 2 players put in blinds.)
    • Here, we use reverse blinds, which means the dealer puts in the small blind ($5), and the first player puts in the big blind ($10).
  • Hands are divided into 4 betting rounds, plus the showdown:
    • Preflop (Round 1): Both players are dealt 2 cards face down
    • Postflop (Round 2): 3 cards are dealt to the board (this deal is called the flop)
    • Turn (Round 3): 1 extra card is dealt to the board
    • River (Round 4): 1 final card is dealt to the board
    • Showdown: Occurs when the hand ends and neither player has folded. Each player's cards are revealed to see who wins.
  • Counterintuitively, the dealer makes the first move in the first round. In later rounds, the other player makes the first move.
  • Bets are of 2 fixed sizes: $10 in the preflop and postflop, and $20 in the turn and the river (the fixed sized betting style and limited number of raises is called 'Limit')
    • In the pre- and post-flop rounds, there can be a bet and 2 raises for the round (not for each player). In the final 2 rounds, there can be a bet and 3 raises for the round (again, not for each player). Once the betting limit of a round is reached, the active player must either call or fold.
  • Winning: A player can win the hand in 2 ways. 1) If the other player folds (throws in their cards without showing them). 2) If the hand reaches a showdown, the players' hands are compared. The strength of a player's hand is decided by forming the best 5 card hand from a combination of the player's cards and the cards on the board. The hand ranks are the same as for ordinary poker.

Play BPP and Texas Hold'em

Hand Types

Ranked from weakest to strongest.

TypeExample
(with 5 cards)
DescriptionProbability
5 cardsTexas Hold'em
Busted A♣ K♠ J♦ 10♦ 4♥No other type applies
0.502
0.173
Pair J♠ 2♥ 8♣ 4♥ 2♦2 cards having the same number (rank)
0.423
0.438
Two Pair 5♥ 5♣ K♣ Q♠ Q♣Two pairs in the one hand
0.048
0.235
Three of a Kind 3♥ 7♣ 4♦ 7♥ 7♠3 cards having the same number (rank)
0.0211
0.0483
Straight 3♠ 4♣ 5♥ 6♦ 7♠A sequence of 5 cards
0.00355
0.0480
Flush A♣ K♣ 7♣ 4♣ 2♣5 cards of the same suit
0.00197
0.0299
Full House 7♠ 7♦ 7♣ 10♦ 10♣Three of a Kind plus a Pair
0.00144
0.0255
Four of a Kind 3♥ 3♠ 3♦ 3♣ J♠4 cards having the same number (rank)
0.000247
0.00188
Straight Flush 3♠ 4♠ 5♠ 6♠ 7♠5 cards in sequence and of the same suit
0.0000134
0.000360

Wins

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