This page sets out the standards applied to everything published here. It exists so that a reader can judge the material rather than take it on trust.
The short version: numbers are counted rather than estimated, rules are described as card rooms actually apply them, and nothing is published that suggests results can be predicted.
Where the Numbers Come From
Hand frequencies are counts of combinations. There are 2,598,960 distinct five-card hands in a standard deck, and the number matching each category is a fixed value, not a measurement.
- Exact values are printed as exact values, including the small ones such as 0.000154% for a royal flush.
- Draw probabilities are calculated from the unseen cards, assuming every out is live, and the pages say so where it matters.
- Pre-flop match-up equities are described as approximate, because they shift with the specific cards involved.
- Every figure is stored once in the site's own data file and reused, so the same number cannot appear differently on two pages.
Rules and House Variations
Poker rules vary between card rooms, and the variations are not trivial. The policy here is to describe the common practice and name the exception rather than pretend a single standard exists.
- Where houses differ — the short-deck ranking, odd chip allocation, the draw cap in five-card draw — the page says that the house rule governs.
- Procedural conventions such as binding verbal declarations are described as they are enforced in practice.
- Nothing on the site should be used to settle a dispute at a table; the floor's ruling is final in any card room.
Review and Correction
- DraftingA page is written to a fixed shape: rules, worked detail, tables, terminology, questions.
- CheckingFigures are verified against the shared data file, and internal links are resolved rather than typed.
- DatingThe review date is taken from the content file, so it cannot drift from the text it describes.
- CorrectingErrors are fixed on the page, and the review date is updated at the same time.
Writing Standards
The prose follows a few fixed rules so that pages read consistently whoever returns to them.
- Plain statements over persuasion: a page explains what happens and why, and does not argue for a course of action.
- Terms are defined at first use, and the glossary carries the rest.
- Claims that depend on a figure cite the figure rather than describing it as "often" or "usually".
- Where expert opinion genuinely differs, the page says so instead of presenting one position as settled.
- No page addresses the reader as a prospective customer, because the site sells nothing.
Internal links are written as references to a page rather than as typed addresses, which means a link cannot point at something that does not exist. Pages that cover the same ground link to each other rather than repeating the explanation.
What Is Not Published
- Claims that outcomes can be predicted, that any pattern exists in a shuffled deck, or that a system beats a game of chance.
- Recommendations of operators, card rooms or applications, and any affiliate or sponsored placement.
- Reporting of results or coverage of events as news, which is outside what this site is for.
- Material encouraging anyone to gamble, or presenting poker as a source of income.
Poker is played for money in most settings, and money staked can be lost. The responsible play page sets out the limits that belong in place before any of the strategy material here is relevant.