Tips thegang

The following tips aren’t set-in-stone rules, but are meant to give you an idea of how communication works in this game. As a group, figure out for yourselves how you’d like to communicate best without discussing your hand.

Do not be afraid to take chips away from other players. This is exactly how you communicate the quality of your own hand and help others to categorize you. The more the chips move, the more communication takes place.

Always evaluate the current state, not how good it might still become.
1st Phase: Having a pair from the start: take a high number (and higher than your first chip), otherwise evaluate the rank of your High Card.
From 2nd Phase: If something was revealed in this phase that increases your rating, take a higher (or at least equally high) chip than in the previous round. This allows fellow players to draw conclusions about your specific card values.
Conversely: If nothing fitting your hand was revealed, take the same chip of the previous round, but adapt to others players choices.

Introduction

This is a concise strategy guide for The Gang focused on **rank‑only** chip selection. It defines a simple, repeatable convention for mapping numbered chips to rank percentiles.

Core conventions to adopt

• Establish a ranking convention. Map each chip number to a clear percentile bucket so everyone interprets chip choices the same way.
• Conservative default. On the pre‑flop stage, default to slightly conservative picks and only escalate when community cards materially change the actual hand strength.
• Controlled chip theft. Taking another player’s chip is the only legal private signal—use it to correct obvious misrankings, not to bluff.
• Do not consider suits at this stage. Pre‑flop picks are based on ranks only; suitedness and flush/straight potential are ignored for the initial ranking.
• Timing as a soft signal. Picking a chip quickly signals a stronger rank; taking time to pick a chip, or picking then returning a chip, signals a weaker rank.
• Ranking is only about the cards you hold. Base your pre‑flop chip choice exclusively on the two ranks in your hand.

Simple interpertation pre flop

When suits are ignored, here is what all chips initially have (you have the exact hand at the middle of the page):

• Treat any pocket pair as better than any other hand: 22>AK
• Suits has no value.
• Connectors (7&8 of diamonds) has no value.
• Timing as a soft signal post flop: Picking quickly = stronger; taking time = weaker
• No talk; use chips to correct.
• Don't put value on speculative hands.
• The median hand is around J8.

Chips	6 players	5 players	4 players	3 players
6	pairs / A high
5	A low / K	pairs / A
4	Q / J high	K / Q high	pairs / A
3	J low / 10	Q low / J	K / Q	pairs / A / K
2	9 / 8	10 / 9 / 8	J / 10 / 9	Q / J / 10
1	7	7	8 / 7	9 / 8 / 7

For 6 players put 1.5 categories in each chips starting highest, pairs counting for 1.

For 5 players do the same but pairs count for 0,5.

For 4 players put 2 categories in each chip starting highest.

For 3 players put 3 categories in each chip starting highest.

You end up with only chip 2 being slightly out of place.

Poker mindset

If you are coming from Poker, you really should change your mind on some things:

Colors has no value until you hit your flush. If you start putting value to them, others with a 97 hand will have no way to compare 96s & 98o.

Connectors has no value too else that become fastly confusing. Start by taking experience and know what you are doing before maybe putting very minor value to them.

Many top players put their pairs in the highest token possible: 22>AK. Note that it's possible too to put pairs as their real value pre flop (88=middle chip), but if you do that you must put yourself at the right place post flop.

Post flop advices

When hitting a double pair or better fight for the highest token. After someone steal it twice/thrice from you re-evaluate the board to look for potential straight/flushes (note that some straight are impossible from the first chip choice). Then evaluate for the bottom double pair or high one.

When having a pocket hand pair pre flop higher than all value on the table, fight for the highest token.

When hitting top pair (the pair from the highest value on the table) take the highest token. You could insist once depending of first chip choice.

When hitting middle pair, take the second highest token if that's an increase from the first round. If it's the same value or below, wait for others choices. Note that it's possible that you took the highest token twice. On that case, others doesn't know you hit a pair, and you should take in consideration for future rounds.

When hitting bottom pair, wait for others choices, and then put yourself the lowest between those which improved.

When hitting nothing while I like taking a token 1 or 2 below my first chip if nobody react, though many people ask in chat for people to never do it and take instead the same token than the previous round. Your hand can only decreate in value with 2 pairs on the board or with 1 pair and goes from double pair to 'single pair' (read the third to last section for more informations).

Turn and River advices

That card start to be really situationnal.

If that new card open straight and flushes, nearly any hand could goes for the highest chip immediately. Even if you got a double pair you should be careful about fighting for this highest token. Take into consideration how many straight and flushes there is. If it's really few (1 or 2) then the player which hit those should insist a lot for the highest token. That mean with a slightly weaker hand (like double pair) you could try to insist for 6. On the contrary if there is lots of straight and flushes (4 or 9+), take a lower chip more easily.

If that new card is above all others cards a new pair most likely put yourself as the best or second best hand, so take a really high chip.

If that new card is around the same value of others, take an higher chip, and let others decide where they put yourself. They know which pair you got but you don't know which pair they got.

If that new card is below all others cards, put yourself as the higher chip between those which never improved.

Note that pocket pairs can rank weirdly.

Finallya at the River, the nuts (highest possible hand) should insist a lot for the highest token since there is nothing to lose. Knowing that, the second best hand can do the same. The third best hand can do the same but show weakness once after the fight while still showing they want the best token. Going lower than that is much trickier, especially for flushes board.

Correcting mistakes

If you or someone else made a mistake that can easily be confusing.

It can be corrected naturally by someone hitting a pair, or even rarely with two pockets pairs by someone else hitting a pair.

If it's obvious what is happening you could try to correct it immediately (post flop), especially if there was some fight pre flop.

But I would advise you to let everything goes as planned, and in the final turn, still take your normal chip if the river can be confusing, and after everyone is happy with their chip, fight for the potential mistake which happened earlier. That's because when doing that, it look like to others that you hit a pair, which is extremely confusing.

Differents ways of stealing a chip

Let's assume you could want the chip above you. You have a lot of ways to convey information when stealing a chip (from strongest to weakest):

- stealing the chip one above the one you want, put it back on the table, and steal the chip you want: this is often after you took too much time to react: this steal is even stronger that the default one, because you said to that other player that you are coming from the lower end of the chip above.

- stealing the chip: that's the default move

- stealing the chip, putting it back to the table and waiting: that way is the most neutral one. You just give the decision to the other player/assume they got more informations than you. Preflop, that's normally after a fight, and you give them one last chance to be below you, and then you take the other one. Alternatively, it could mean that you want more time to think about the situation. If after a while, you take the lower or highest chip that's again some information (neutral+ or neutral-)

- stealing the chip, putting it back to the table, and immediately taking the lowest one: that one is the weakest one. Usually by doing that you ask that other to double check what happenned earlier/confirm they really want that token. Alternatively, you could have seen that something isn't right, and want to show it to the other player, and let them decide to correct it or not. Sometimes you hit a pair, showed it post flop, the turn come with the lowest card of the table and another player take your chip because they seem to have hit a pair, so you do it while not showing extra strength.

Outside of that situation you can:

- steal the token of two others players and take back your own token if you think something isn't right between them

- take the tokens per example of everyone which hitted a pair, to put them back on the table and ask everyone to choose again

- if something is really not right (like you took the highest chip pre flop, and someone else who hit a pair is sure you hitted a pair, and don't let you be under them), you can pick some tokens completely out of place. Per example if you are fighting for 3/4/5, you can take the 1, put it back, and take the 3. That's an extremely strong sign you didn't hit that pair because you will make players with chips 1&2 being confused, so it's for emergency only.

Full range and average hand pre-flop

This cheat sheet map recommended pre‑flop chips depending of the number of players. Use this at the table as a compact reference. Pairs are above all. All picks are rank‑only (no suits). Connector (7&8 of diamond) has no value.

Note that even if the numbers are mathematiquely coherent, since pairs can often more easily be differenciated from A high, you could want to lower slightly the highest range. And I'm unsure the range should be uniform, maybe the range from the outside should be bigger.

Finally, note that this sheet is only without context. It's great to know where you should put your hand initially. As soon as some player(s) take any chip(s), the value of that sheet fall pretty fast.

How to read this sheet

• The 1326 part assume that there will be the same amount of players going for every chip (1326 possible hands)(22100 with 3 cards hand)
• The 91 part assume that there will be an equal amount of combinaisons for every chip (91 combinaisons)(455 with 3 cards hand)
• 5 = top, 1 = bottom.
• Timing cues: Quick pick = stronger; taking time or returning a chip = weaker. Use timing as secondary confirmation only.
• Use chip takes to correct misorders rather than arguing.
• ph=possible hands, c=combinaisons

3 players		2 cards / 1326 ph	2 cards / 91 c	3 cards / 22100 ph	3 cards / 455 c
0%	lowest possible hand	3/2		4/3/2
16.67%	median 1 hand	7/5	7/6	10/4/2	10/8/5
33.33%	between 1/2 chips	9/8	10/3	J/10/5	Q/10/4
50%	median 2 hand	J/7	J/10	K/6/3	A/6/2
66.67%	between 2/3 chips	K/2	K/6	A/7/2	3/3/7
83.33%	median 3 hand	A/5	A/10	2/2/7	9/9/J
100%	highest possible hand	A/A		A/A/A

4 players		2 cards / 1326 ph	2 cards / 91 c	3 cards / 22100 ph	3 cards / 455 c
0%	lowest possible hand	3/2		4/3/2
12,5%	median 1 hand	7/2		10/5/5	9/8/7
25%	between 1/2 chips	8/7	9/2	J/4/3	J/10/2
37.5%	median 2 hand	10/5	10/7	Q/6/5	K/5/3
50%	between 2/3 chips	J/7	J/10	K/6/3	A/6/2
62,5%	median 3 hand	Q/8	K/2	K/Q/7	A/K/10
75%	between 3/4 chips	K/9	A/3	A/J/4	6/6/9
87,5%	median 4 hand	A/8	2/2	5/5/10	J/J/5
100%	highest possible hand	A/A		A/A/A

5 players		2 cards / 1326 ph	2 cards / 91 c	3 cards / 22100 ph	3 cards / 455 c
0%	lowest possible hand	3/2		4/3/2
10%	median 1 hand	6/4		8/7/6	9/6/5
20%	between 1/2 chips	8/3	8/4	10/7/5	J/5/4
30%	median 2 hand	9/5	9/7	J/8/6	Q/8/2
40%	between 2/3 chips	10/7	10/9	Q/8/5	K/8/2
50%	median 3 hand	J/7	J/10	K/6/3	A/6/2
60%	between 3/4 chips	Q/6	Q/10	K/J/8	A/Q/8
70%	median 4 hand	K/5	K/9	A/9/2	4/4/10
80%	between 4/5 chips	A/2	A/7	A/K/3	8/8/6
90%	median 5 hand	A/10	4/4	7/7/9	Q/Q/4
100%	highest possible hand	A/A		A/A/A

6 players		2 cards / 1326 ph	2 cards / 91 c	3 cards / 22100 ph	3 cards / 455 c
0%	lowest possible hand	3/2		4/3/2
8,33%	median 1 hand	6/2		8/6/4	9/4/2
16,67%	between 1/2 chips	7/5	7/6	10/4/2	10/8/5
25%	median 2 hand	8/7	9/2	J/4/3	J/10/2
33,33%	between 2/3 chips	9/8	10/3	J/10/5	Q/10/4
41,67%	median 3 hand	10/8	J/2	Q/9/4	K/9/4
50%	between 3/4 chips	J/7	J/10	K/6/3	A/6/2
58,33%	median 4 hand	Q/5	Q/9	K/J/2	A/J/10
66,67%	between 4/5 chips	K/2	K/6	A/7/2	3/3/7
75%	median 5 hand	K/9	A/3	A/J/4	6/6/9
83,33%	between 5/6 chips	A/5	A/10	2/2/7	9/9/J
91,67%	median 6 hand	A/J	6/6	8/8/Q	Q/Q/K
100%	highest possible hand	A/A		A/A/A

Double pairs on the table (and single pair)

When there is two pairs on the table, and you hit nothing, only your highest card count.

That mean per example with a board JJ447, and you having A6, you can play that hand as if it was A2. That mean that if there was a fight earlier and you suspect someone else having better than you, you can play your hand as if it was A2 instead of A6. If that player got A8 or KQ, they could react differently.

In that same example if you got 62, you can take the lowest chip even if you highly suspect someone else has lower than you, because your hand will be JJ447 anyway.

But the most important thing is pocket pairs. If you got 22, and the second 4 arrived in the river, then while your hand was probably the best one pre flop, still was good post flop and after the turn, it became the worst one after the river because you don't have a triple pair, you have the lowest possible hand: JJ447. That mean that an 82 which probably took 1 or 2 pre flop is now beating you. And so you should fight for the 1 and insist a lot since it's often not obvious for others players.

If you didn't understood that, you take your best 5 cards to create your hand. That mean that AJ99752 has the same value than AJ99743: they both use AJ997 to do their best hand.

If there is no pair on the board, and you have two pairs, then you should be high. When an unrelated pair come in the flop, now everyone which previously got one pair got the same combinaison than you (or 3 of a kind). That mean that now you should rank yourself as the best of your two pairs, which could mean going down even if others didn't improved.

4 cards of the same color on the table

'Obviously' on that kind of board, what you should be doing shift completely. Per example with 4 diamonds, we now ask you to rank yourself from the highest diamond card to the lowest diamond card. A hand with an Ace of spade and a 2 of diamond is now weaker than a 4 of spade and a 3 of diamond.

You first should put attention to which player potentially have 2 diamonds on their hand, it's more likely than their highest diamond card is high.

And then pay attention to potential flush house and straight, and good luck, it's like a situational pre flop situation.

If you hit nothing, don't hesitate to goes really low.

Very strong connectors (advanced)

We arrived at the end of the guide, so let's have some fun and talk again of connectors which got normally no value. KQ is normally worst than A2, but there is lots of value of having various hand in all chips (that's why putting pairs not at the highest amount preflop have a really positive aspect too).

So if you play KQ as if you got A7, you will end up by having a KQ between two others hands with aces. When on the flop arrive one card between A, K, Q, and the low value of ace, then the problem will be resolved, and one hand will be far stronger.

The great upside is that when you compare KQ with KJ or K10, KQ will be a lot overvalued, so there will be no hesitation on which player got the better hand.

Though, on the rares cases where you got none of those cards in the table, you will need to correct your position post river, which is a great downside too.

Finally, if both A and K come during the flop, again I would advise to correct post river, that's pretty much the same problem.

Now, if you start doing the same with KJ, you lose a lot of the value, because now comparing KQ and KJ will be really difficult, so I'm a lot against doing it with that hand.

QJ is in my opinion enough strong too to be played like K5. Those are two much closer hand, so in most games that wouldn't change anything preflop.

I though about doing the same with A2 but the opposing way, but the problem with that is that if a flop J62 or J92 come, others would likely put yourself into a hand K6 or K9 which is prett bad. You have much less control of middle and bottom pair compared to top pair. So I don't like doing that: play A2 as A2.

Finally JT start to be very messy since it's a middle hand, so I wouldn't do it neither.