texas hold em hands. Each AI opponent has his own unique personality--just like real people--so you can figure out all the little quirks involved in playing real texas holdem pokerThe following is a passage from Wikipedia on starting hands probability:. texas hold em hands

 
 Each AI opponent has his own unique personality--just like real people--so you can figure out all the little quirks involved in playing real texas holdem pokerThe following is a passage from Wikipedia on starting hands probability:texas hold em hands  3

The best is A-A and the worst is either 7-2 or 3-2 unsuited, but many other Hold’em hands are considered largely unplayable. Sign up now for free chips, frequent promotions, free poker games, and constant tournaments. Different poker rooms use different rules for bomb pot hands. A list of every single two-card starting hand in Texas Hold’em along with its long-term winning percentage against 1-8 other players holding random cards. The pocket duck is the lowest pair of Texas Hold’em hands, but they perform well against other non-pair players. A10. . Each one is remarkably simple but effective. 100%. A Texas Hold’em cheat sheet is available at any card game site, including live dealer games. Hand Name. At the Lodge, a special button goes around at bomb pot tables (different from the standard dealer button). It’s Texas Hold ‘Em Poker the way YOU want to play! Zynga Poker is the destination for casino fans and Poker players alike! If you play slots or blackjack, you’ll feel right at. The frequencies are calculated in a manner similar to that shown for 5-card hands, [4] except additional complications arise due to the extra two cards in the 7-card poker hand. Most players will certainly get fired up being dealt this hand (also see 4-7). For this example, we’ll go over a hand from a $1/$2 No-Limit Hold’em cash game. Players may use two, one, or none of their cards along with the community cards to make the best hand. For Texas Hold’em, with three community cards and two in the hole, the odds of flopping a Straight are as follows:How one person won $3 million in a single hand of poker. There are actually 1,326 combinations of starting hands if you count suits (e. As the name indicates, Ultimate Texas Hold'em trips bet allows you to get a payout on a three-of-a-kind hand instead of just a straight one. Once players have their cards, five community cards are dealt in three stages. The flop in Texas Hold'em games usually defines how the hand progresses because it reveals three of the five community cards. Texas Hold'em Rules. The following list gives the odds for outcomes in Texas Hold’em hands. Other players have 5 cards in common with you, so the strength of your two hole cards tend to be supremely important. A game of Texas Hold'em, whether played as a cash game or a tournament, starts the same way. You can bet $6 or you can raise $6. The best possible hand here would be four aces, with you or your. Basically, you should only play hands that are dark. A dealer can be one of two things in Texas Hold ’em. 1. The best possible hand in Texas hold’em is the combination of ten, jack, queen, king, ace, all of the same suit 1. In Texas Holdem poker, players construct hands of playing cards according to predetermined rules, which vary according to which variant of poker is being played. The flop is the most important of the four because it almost always defines how the hand progresses. Most players rarely get to form a Royal Flush, a Straight. have a royal flush unless the royal flush has all five cards on. There is a limit on how many starting hands you can play before the flop in No Limit Texas Hold'em, even for the world's best players. paper I will derive the probabilities of being dealt one of the given hands in five-card stud poker and how those probabilities change when jokers and wild cards are included. The hands are ranked from #1 to #169, where #1 is the best. The object of the game is to make the best possible five-card poker hand using any combination of the two card’s in a player’s hand (known as the “hole cards”) and the five community cards that the dealer places in the middle of the table, which can be used by all players. The dealer button in Texas Holdem poker is in the best position, and each position to the right of the button is the next best position. Most players rarely get to form a Royal Flush, a Straight Flush, or Four of a Kind – they are scarce hands in competitions. The nicknames would often be used by players when revealing their hands, or by spectators and commentators. Texas Hold'em is a game in which it's easy to learn the basics - covered in this starting hands guide - but difficult to master. The rules of Omaha Poker. Nick Koudis / Photodisc / Getty Images. In Hold'em, your position relative to the other players is critical. This hand is from a $1/$2 no-limit cash game, meaning the small blind is $1 and the big blind. Thus, spending a few minutes going over the list of poker hands in order will pay for itself in no time. Texas Hold’em is played with a standard deck of 52 cards. Of the 169 possibilities, the best starting hands in Texas Hold’em are A/A, K/K, Q/Q, A/K, and J/J. When you realize how heavily the odds are stacked against you, you may want to rethink going all-in before the flop with two suited cards. Every player starts by learning the basic rules of the. Texas Hold'em. Texas Hold’em Poker is a cultural phenomenon that has developed its own unique vocabulary. The full list of all ten Poker hand rankings in Texas hold’em, from highest to lowest, plus your odds of drawing each Poker hand in a game. How to play Texas Hold’em Poker & Game Rules: Texas Hold’em Poker is a casino type game where the objective is to win the best hand out of a group of players. Beginner-friendly 1 minute read Poker hands fall into one of 10 categories. Straight Flush: Any five card sequence in the same suit. These have the potential to make both straights and flushes, but can get you into trouble. Therefore, as we are at the Pre-Flop stage, your chance of winning the hand is 87. Primarily, you can’t play poker well if you don’t know what hands to make. Hand ranking from best to worst: Pocket Aces. The Texas Hold'em games you find in the casino are generally very loose. When we eliminate identical combinations, there are 169 starting hands in Texas Hold’em. Download our printable poker hand rankings cheat sheet PDF . Texas Hold'em is a type of poker, but as it is a community card game, it is not played quite the same as other types. The best way to start winning at Texas Holdem poker quickly is learning the fundamentals of the tight and aggressive poker strategy. 8. Poker Hands. These three cards are called the flop and. You must be willing to suffer through a series of poor hands (e. Texas Hold ’em is the version born in Texas in Robstown and arrived in Dallas in 1925. Preflop Probabilities in Poker. Ace-Ace . These Texas Holdem hands are compared using a hand ranking system that is standard across all variants of poker. A fourth card is dealt face up onto the board. g. Free Poker. On this site you can find all possible combinations of preflop hands that can occur in Texas Hold'em Poker. Watch the flop. But, sometimes, a lowly poker hand played right can help you take down monster pots. Texas Hold'em can be played by 2 to 12 poker players. How to Play Suited Poker Hands. 1. 4. If you have a royal flush, you'll want to bet higher because this is a hard hand to beat. This comprehensive guide, forged by our team of poker. Suited cards s: An s behind the hand, as in A9s, stands for suited and means that both of the poker cards you are holding are of the same suit (hearts, diamonds, spades or clubs). This is the best selection of hole cards on which you can win profitably. Texas Hold'em Starting Hands Infographic. Methodology. by every player remaining in the hand, all of the players tie. However, because suits have no value in this poker variant, a lot of these combinations will have the same value before the flop. There are 133,784,560 to deal 7 random cards. The Shuffle: The poker game starts with the cards being shuffled while the Big and Small blind put their forced bets into the pot. Get 150,000 Gold Coins for $10, plus get 30 FREE Sweeps Coins. Kalashnikov – Another gun term, this time in reference to the famous machine gun, the AK-47. The flop, turn, and river all play out as they would in a normal Texas Hold’em hand, and the best hand at the end wins the pot. Maximum raise: The size of your stack (your chips on the table). There is a limit on how many starting hands you can play before the flop in No Limit Texas Hold'em, even for the world's best players. On this site you can find all possible combinations of preflop hands that can occur in Texas Hold'em Poker. g. This is the river card and concludes dealing the Texas Hold’em community cards. OBJECTIVE: To become a winner of Texas Holdem Poker you should make up the highest possible poker hand of five cards, using the two initially dealt cards and the five community cards. 0032 percent using 7 cards. Get 150,000 Gold Coins for $10, plus get 30 FREE Sweeps Coins. #2. There are 167 different hole cards you can be dealt in Texas Hold'em. Moving from the top of the hand rankings above down, in a. Poker hands ranked from best to worst. Let's look at two more examples. The best hand in poker would be a royal flush which is Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten of the same suit. KK — 23%. Our poker odds calculator runs. A rare hand, the best hand in p0ker, statistically you are only likely to see one every 650,000 hands. The Sklansky and Malmuth starting hands table groups together certain hands in Texas Hold'em based on their strength. In Texas hold 'em, a starting hand consists of two hole cards, which belong solely to the player and remain hidden from the other players. This isn't. While all of the different poker variants play with unique rules, the fundamentals of betting, bluffing, common terms, and poker hand rankings apply to nearly all varieties. Each player's hand will be given its odds of winning and its odds of having a tie. This is also sometimes referred to simply as a "TAG" poker strategy. Hand Abbreviation. A relatively strong hand among the poker rankings, the chances of making four of a kind in Texas Hold’em are just 1 in 595. Texas Hold’em Rules are simple; before each hand, one player is selected as the nominal “dealer,” and this person is identified by a marker known as the dealer button or “button. It is effortless to play Texas Holdem when you understand the hand's progression and other basic rules. 84% of the time. In figure 1, the dealer button is with player 1, but for the next hand it’ll be with player 2, and then player 3, and so on. Sky Matsuhashi. Before Texas Hold ’em poker took its place as one of the most famous variants, Five Card Draw was the most prominent poker version. In some popular variations of poker such as Texas hold 'em, the most widespread poker variant overall, a player uses the best five-card poker hand out of seven cards. So we get rid of all of those redundant hands and say that in Texas hold'em there are 169 “non-equivalent” starting hands, breaking them down as follows: 13 pocket pairs. Poker games generally share the same hand rankings – i. Note: The suited factor increases the value of cards as it creates a possibility of Flush. When all flop action is done, it will be time to deal the next community card, called the turn, which goes right next to the flop. Every player starts by learning the basic rules of the game and the appropriate starting hand selection, which is what we'll give you here. , A K Q J 10. you can reduce the complexity of the game further by playing even less hands. Three board cards are turned simultaneously (called the flop. When we eliminate identical combinations, there are 169 starting hands in Texas Hold’em. 8%. Tons of Hold 'em hands. 1. A cheat sheet will provide a convenient reference for determining which cards are aces and which ones aren’t. The easiest guide on the planet to play Texas hold'em poker. Any two cards of the same suit make a suited poker hand. the board. What is Texas Hold’em Poker? Texas Hold’em Rules The Button. Texas Hold'em Rules. I will also analyze Texas Hold em and derive the probability of a given hand winning throughout the course of a few example games. There are four types of Texas hold’em played in casinos — limit, spread limit, pot-limit, and no-limit. The best starting hand is the Royal Flush, but other hands are equally strong, such as pocket Aces and Kings. Pre-flop Action. From ‘Motown’ to ‘the Dead Man’s Hand’, there’s a whole host of poker card nicknames to get. Texas Hold’em hands are not always won with the best hand possible, but rather, the best hand in existence at the table at that specific round. Before you take your seat at the Ignition Poker tables, you need to know all the different card combinations, or "hands," that you can make in this game. Texas Hold’em is a difficult poker game to learn, but learning it can be a fun endeavor. #2. King Arthur – Named or the famous knight of the roundtable (KA). Ace King Suited. Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten all of one suit, ie diamonds or hearts or clubs or spades. From a pair of aces — the strongest starting hand — to a 2 and a 7, knowing the strength of your starting hand is an important part of your success at the table. Make sure you memorize these hands as playing the game is impossible otherwise. Learn the basics of Texas hold'em poker, a popular and complex game that can be played online or in real money. Therefore, this poker cheat sheet will show you all the actions in order when playing a hand. The odds are 70. This video explains the Rules of Texas Hold'em Poker. " Most often, the "first blind"–the player to the left of the dealer–puts. However, because suits have no value in this poker variant, a lot of these combinations will have the same value before the flop. Here is your ultimate Texas Hold'em poker cheat sheet. We explain rules about poker. 3-to-1. Determine if we can profitably call. 5%) AK = 16 combinations (57%) There are more AK hands in a range of [AA, KK, AK] than there are AA and KK hands combined. When your opponents play weak hands before the flop, they make weak hands after the flop. Replay Poker is one of the top rated free online poker sites. In Omaha there are hundreds of hands that look great but have little value to a newer player. About Arkadium's Texas Hold'em. Texas hold’em is a game of information availability – and when you go through a hold’em hand, regardless of whether it’s fixed-limit, pot-limit or no-limit hold’em, you need to be able to read the board and understand what it’s telling you. 25BB, 2 folds, BB calls. In this article, you'll learn: How to use the poker hand. 2 10 Texas Hold'em Tips: Playing Suited Connectors; 3 10 Hold'em Tips: The Fundamentals of Set Mining; 4 10 Hold'em Tips: Pot Odds Basics; 5 10 Hold'em Tips: Bluff Catching; 6 10 Hold'em Tips. Primarily, you can’t play poker well if you don’t know what hands to make. You must be willing to suffer through a series of poor hands (e. FAIR PLAY – Zynga Poker™ is officially certified to play like a real table experience. Any five cards of the same suit, but not in a sequence. However, let’s look at these hands by comparing the total combinations for each hand: AA = 6 combinations (21. Poker Hands. Truthfully, there are a lot of scenarios in Texas Hold'em where folding is the right option! No Hand Improvement on the Turn. Preflop, deal the cards starting with the small blind and give every player one card at a time, clockwise, until each player has two hole cards. In a home game, the dealer position will also be the person who distributes the cards. The Basics of the Game. You cannot bet or raise more than the size of the pot. Kalashnikov – Another gun term, this time in reference to the famous machine gun, the AK-47. The following chart illustrates the value of each in a two-player game, based on the expected value numbers above. The goal of the game is to win all of your opponents’ chips, although at a casino you can cash out at any point. Whether you’re playing a cash game or competing at a poker tournament, this fast, action-packed casino table game can be played at. The next step in the hand of Texas Hold’em is the flop. The minimum bet in No Limit Hold'em is the same as the size of the big blind, but players can always bet as much more as they want, up to all of their chips. However, let’s look at these hands by comparing the total combinations for each hand: AA = 6 combinations (21. This betting round starts with the player closest to the dealer's left. Learn to Play Omaha Poker Rules. The main ones are: Basic Poker Tips: These include elements like the hands ranking, poker glossary. A♣-A♦ and A♠-A♥ are different hands), but that is more of a “just for fun” number as suits have no value over each other in Texas Hold’em. 📈 The most viewe. But as with any drawing hand, it can fall flat if it doesn’t hit the flop. Texas hold 'em (also hold'em, holdem) is the most popular poker game in the casinos and poker card rooms across North America and Europe, as well as online. At least two hands can be stronger than yours, but they are still very strong hands. Texas Hold’em – Gameplay. Straight Flush . Let’s use MDF and pot odds to analyze the following hand history from both players’ perspectives. Download our printable. As the number of players increase the value of suited and connected cards increase, while the value of pairs and high rank decrease. Each hand has a rank, which is compared against the ranks of other hands participating in the showdown to decide who wins the pot. Johnny Moss. Texas Hold’em stands as the world’s most popular poker game. Every time a community card is turned over, it affects the situation on the poker table. have a royal flush unless the royal flush has all five cards on. The process of learning how to win at Texas hold'em can be broken down into several categories. Live poker tip 4: Look for poker tables where players drink alcohol and are having a good time. If player A is holding K♥ 9♦, B is having 5♦ 8♠ and the board comes 2♠ 4♥ Q♣ 6♦ 10♥, player A with ‘K’ wins over player B’s ‘8’. So out of 28 possible combinations made up from AA, KK and AK, 16 of them come from AK. Texas Hold’em is one of the most popular card games in the world and an online sensation. Top 10 Best Texas Hold’em Starting Hands. 2. Your Opponent's Hand. Straight Flush: five cards in a row with the same suit that is not A-high, such as – T♠ 9♠ 8♠ 7♠ 6♠. Starting Hands in Texas Hold'em Poker: The ULTIMATE Guide A guide to starting hand selection in Texas Hold'em poker games. This Poker Hands Guide is. g. You’re playing in a pot limit game with $2/$5 blinds. Ace-queen suited is another strong drawing hand. Hole cards can only be seen and used by one person. #3. Every player starts by learning the basic rules of the game and the appropriate starting hand selection, which is what we'll give you here. The Deal: Cards are dealt clockwise one at a time, starting with the Small Blind and ending with the Dealer, until each player has their 2 Hole Cards. 1. For this example, we’ll go over a hand from a $1/$2 No-Limit Hold’em cash game. The online poker hand calculator offered by 888poker is built to aid poker players in deciphering poker odds linked to Texas Hold’em games only. Live poker tip 1: Raise larger preflop with good hands. In high games, like Texas hold 'em and seven-card stud, the highest-ranking hands win Texas Hold’em is easily the most popular poker variant worldwide. Royal Flush: Five card sequence from 10 to the Ace in the same suit (10,J,Q,K,A). Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. The text below was pasted from the Wikipedia 'Texas Hold 'em article'. This gives each player two separate hands to play with. If you’ve played Texas Hold’em games before, the rules of 6+ Hold’em are easy to follow. Reading the Board. Extra rounds continue to be added until the river card is black. The hand rankings in Texas Hold’em are the same as in any other poker game. A9s stands for ace nine of the same suit; A4s stands for ace four of the same suit; QJs stands for queen jack of. 2 Thinking Poker: Getting Started With Hand. This ranking is applicable when the poker table is full ring (9-10 people). Here is a short list of all the poker hands in Texas Hold’em, ranked from the strongest to the weakest: #1. When there are only two players (a "heads-up" game), the. Texas Holdem is a complex game for beginners, but it's easy to learn after a few hands. The big blind is equal to the minimum bet and the small blind is typically half that amount. Choosing the correct hands to start betting with preflop is very important and can get a beginner player winning poker hands right off the hop. 4. 6. In Limit Hold'em, up to four bets are allowed per player during each betting round. In real Texas Hold Em, you’ll need to compare your hand to the cards on the table and create your highest hand of 5. The Play. Any Ace can count as either a high or a low card in forming a straight. Here is the list of different five-card Hands for Texas Holdem Poker that you can make while trying to win the Texas Hold’em poker game. Texas Hold'em Rules. 1) Two pocket cards & Three board. Straight Flush : Five cards in a row with the same suit that is not A-high, such as –T♠ 9♠ 8♠ 7♠ 6♠. 7. Hand Guide: Preflop > Flop > Turn > River. How to Use the Poker Odds Calculator. Updated: April 26, 2023. Players can see some other players’ cards to determine. The rank of each card used in Texas Hold’em when forming a fivecard high poker hand- , in order of highest to lowest rank, shall be: ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2. In Poker, the Ace is the highest card and the 2 card (Deuce) is the lowest. The cheat sheet for Texas Hold ’em below will help you quickly identify the different hand rankings. Hence, understanding and identifying strong starting hands is a fundamental part of Texas Hold’em strategy. 7-to-1. 1-Overview. Poker Hands Chart: Top 10 Starting hands in Texas Hold’em. Pocket Aces – statistically the best starting hand in Hold’em – are less than a 75% favorite against 2 or more opponents according to my Texas Hold’em hand. Poker is all about making the best five-card poker hand from the seven cards available (five community cards plus your own two hole cards). Play Texas Hold’em and enjoy WSOP’s authentic features! Want to become a poker legend? The WSOP app is the right poker app for you! Use your winnings to buy into high-stakes tables and compete with real poker. 3. The 1,326 starting hands can be reduced for purposes of determining the probability of starting hands for Hold 'em—since suits have no relative value in poker, many of. With reference to suit, there are as many as 1,326 different combinations of hole cards. 100NL, 100BB Effective Stacks. While being one of the top 10 best starting hand, JJ versus AA-QQ and AKo-AQs is vulnerable. These Texas Holdem hands are compared using a hand ranking system that is standard across all variants of poker. The highest is a royal flush, followed by a straight flush, then four of a kind, a full house, a flush, a straight,. com, the historic Texas Hold ‘Em hand started with “LSG Hank” opening with a $7,000 bet. , 7 7 7 7 4. To play a hand, you must offer a minimum bet and "call" the highest bet by any player. Just don't get crazy - keep your goal in mind. A pair of Aces and Fours beats a pair of Kings and Queens, for example. A flush is a relatively strong hand in Texas Hold’em with the highest possible flush being ace-high with all 5 cards in the same. Learn How to Play Poker - Texas Hold 'Em (aka Texas Holdem): A Brief History: Texas Hold 'em (or Hold'em, Holdem) is the most popular poker variant played in casinos in the United States. Texas holdem game it’s impossible for more than one player to. Includes commonly used hand. The best possible hand in Texas hold'em is the combination of ten, jack, queen, king, ace, all of the same suit. 8♣ 7♦ 6♠ 5♦ 4♥. 1 = 42% of the time. The table is dealt as the Flop, Turn, and River. Guide to Texas Hold’em Starting Hands Poker Starting Hands Chart. Anna Kournikova – Named using the initials of the popular tennis star. To enter each player's hand, click on the respective. The progression of Texas Hold'em hands. We provide 4 separate charts. As a beginner or even intermediate player, hands that may look great - such as an off-suit Q-J or J-10 - are simply going to lose you money in the long run. Good starting hands in Hold ’em Poker are typically big pocket pairs and big connectors. The dealer button (denoted by a circular disc) is allocated before hands are dealt to allow for the positioning of the forced bets: small blind and big blind, and also to determine who will act first and last in the hand. When there are more than two players, the player to dealer's left places a small blind, and the next player to the left a big blind. Become a better poker player in double-quick time thanks to PokerStars fast-paced poker format, Zoom poker. Collect mucked cards. Texas Hold’em Poker Hand Rankings. Everyone starts with two cards, known as hole cards. Q. The highest is a royal flush, followed by a straight flush, then four of a kind, a full house, a flush, a straight,. 01. The “$1/$2” denotes a $1 small blind and $2 big blind. Community Board (Texas Hold’em): As-Ts-9s-3d-2d. Using our poker odds calculator engine, we first calculated the "fixed-preflop, post-river" winning probability of all 169 types of starting hands. Profitable Hole Cards in Texas Hold’em. Luckily, these strategies. In Texas Hold’em, there are 169 unique combinations of preflop starting hands you can be dealt. As long as you have chips on the table you’re in the game. However the ratio of average money lost to average money wagered in Caribbean stud is only 2. It provides important information on strategies, hand rankings, and common poker tells. Preflop . DEALER BUTTON - This represents the 'rotating' dealer which moves after each hand. Adapt the right strategy. You might be dealt a really terrible starting hand, or you might get lucky and receive a pair of aces. You want to make big pot hands, not potentially dominated ones. This type of poker uses 5 community cards that all players can use and 2 hole cards that are face down. For example, the hand rankings for No-Limit Texas. Image. It provides important information on strategies, hand. There are 1,326 possible combinations for your opening hand in Texas Hold’em poker. So out of 28 possible combinations made up from AA, KK and AK, 16 of them come from. The player holding the bomb pot button takes. To choose the first dealer, each player picks a face-down card from the deck and the one with the highest value card is the dealer. What are Poker Hands Exactly? Every game of poker uses playing cards to determine the winner of the game. Texas hold’em is a competitive card game designed for 2-10 players. Your opponent has 4 ♥ and 9 ♠. Texas Holdem Hands. Tip #1: Play Fewer Hands And Play Them Aggressively. Straight Flush: 5 cards of sequential rank, all of the same suit, e. The odds against making a royal flush are 649,739-to-1. Full House: Three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank. Aside from pocket pairs, all possible hole card combinations have suited and offsuit versions. Next is the straight flush, which is any sequence of five cards of the same suit. In fact, learning Texas Holdem phrases like “bluffing,” “having position,” and “going all-in” is one of the most intriguing aspects of this style of poker. Before we focus on starting hand recommendations, let’s take a quick look at how poker. When we eliminate identical combinations, there are 169 starting hands in Texas Hold’em. The suits are all of equal value - no suit is higher than any other suit. Texas Hold'em. Poker Hand Rankings are essential when playing Texas Hold'em, Five Card Stud, Omaha, and your favourite poker games. There are 169 different combinations of starting hands. On the showdown, each player plays the best poker hand they can make from the seven cards comprising their two hole cards and the five community cards. The following list gives the odds for outcomes in Texas hold’em hands. Ace-Queen Suited – Big Chick. Follow these hand charts and learn how to play your starting hands at Texas Holdem. Three of the five community cards come into play on the flop, and it is your first chance to make your best five-card poker hand. This is what makes the game so exciting. Three of a kind. It involves players receiving two hole cards faced down and then five community cards faced up, which they use to make the best possible five-card combination. Before we focus on. Preflop Folds to CO who opens to 2. Texas Hold'em Starting Hands; Poker Games; Odds for Dummies; 10 Tips for Winning Online;. Each hand then plays out according to Texas Hold’em rules, with pre-flop, flop, turn and river betting rounds. TOP 2 pair by strength.