Playing Texas hold’em, you have been dealt two holecards. Now you must make the most important decision: whether or not to invest in this starting-hand. I always teach my seniors poker classes to use the Hold’em Algorithm. That makes the decision much easier – and less stressful.
Hands without a number are the weakest starting hands. One of In Texas Hold'em, there are 169 different possible starting hands you can be dealt poker player you. Oct 01, 2019 In his famous Super / System, universally regarded as the bible of poker strategy books, poker legend Doyle Brunson devoted the third chapter to his list of 10 trouble hands – or starting hands that should only be played in certain situations if at all. And Ace Queen was at. Texas Hold'Em Poker can be a tricky game to play, simply because there are so many excellent hands that one can start with, and so many different avenues that the game can take. Here are the 10 best starting poker hands for Texas Hold'Em. If you begin the round with one of these hands, you are definitely on the right track.
I thought our readers might be interested in the odds against being dealt the best possible starting-hands. Mike Caro’s Hold’em Starting Hand Distribution Chart is described in his book, “Caro’s Most Profitable Hold’em Advice” (Cardoza Publishing; www.cardozapub.com).
The 20 best starting-hands in sequence are in the box to the right. Caro presents the odds against being dealt each of these hands, or a better hand. I will add my assessment of these three main groupings.
The odds shown refer to the probability (likelihood) of being dealt those holecards – or better. For example, you can expect pocket Aces, pocket Kings, or pocket Queens in the hole, once every 73 hands dealt. With 30-35 hands dealt per hour that will occur (on average) about once every two hours of play. Patience!
It is noteworthy that all of the 20 best holecards listed satisfy the Hold’em Algorithm criteria for all positions, including early position; and hence are playable preflop. Caro’s chart goes well beyond these first 20 to all 169 possible different starting-hands. There are many other playable combinations depending on position and other factors. Rather than trying to memorize these, it’s so much easier to use the Hold’em Algorithm, and quickly add up, in your head, the score for your holecards to easily decide if they are playable.
I regard the top three – A-A, K-K, and Q-Q – as “made hands” preflop. They could win the pot even without further improvement. Playing these preflop, your best action is to raise to thin the field to (preferably) three opponents staying to see the flop with you. (More than three opponents would make your A-A an underdog.)
The next nine listed (J-J down to A-J suited) are “semi-made hands.” With luck, they might survive to take the pot; but more likely they need to improve. It’s best to play cautiously until your hand improves enough to warrant getting aggressive or deceptive to build “your” pot.
The last 10 hands (A-10 suited, down to Q-J suited) are “premium drawing hands.” Almost certainly, they must improve to win the pot. Usually, it’s best to limp along, hoping for a multiway pot (three or more opponents staying to see the flop) with no raising (the minimum investment for you). If the flop doesn’t help this hand consider mucking those holecards. (The same applies to other playable drawing hands that satisfy the Hold’em Algorithm before the flop.)
A Short Cut
For those unsuited holecards not listed in the chart, when there is one honor card among your two holecards, an easy way to make your play-or-fold decision is to use the Hi-Lo concept: One honor card and one low card – 7 down to 2. Such hands are best mucked unless you are one of the blinds, and there are no raises.
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Mark | Poker Articles, Poker Top 10 Lists
Submitted by Franck, this article belongs to the Poker Top 10 lists series.
Franck wanted some links on my blog, and I asked him to write a piece on the top 10 starting poker hands in Texas Hold’em. Let me know what you think of his article.
Texas Holdem is the most popular poker game in the world. Each day, millions play this card game on the Internet. Holdem is a simple game but that doesn’t make it easy to master. If you find yourself tilting more times than you should, then you need to consider your playing strategy.
One thing that can help you improve your chances of winning at Texas Holdem is to understand what the best starting hands are. In this article, we’re going to consider the ten top hands.
Basic Texas Holdem strategy dictates that you play around 25% of the hands you’re dealt. Here are the top ten hands and the percentage of hands that are won by players who hold these powerful hole cards.
A, A: A pair of Aces is otherwise known as American Airlines, Pocket Rockets or Bullets
- These win 85,1% of the time against a random hand
- Aces occur 0.45% of the time.
- This is the best starting hand you can get.
- Some play it aggressively from the start.
- You’ll see a tie occasionally (0.49%)
K, K: A pair of King is otherwise known as Cowboy Wolford, Cowboys, King Kong, Kangaroos or Ace Magnets
- These win 82,4% of the time against a random hand
- You’ll also see this hand 0.45% of the time.
- Although very strong, it wins about 2% less than aces.
Q, Q: A pair of Queens is otherwise known as Ladies, Jailhouse Rock, Siegfried and Roy, 4 tits, Flower girls, Hilton Sisters
- These win 79,8% of the time against a random hand
- Queens also happen 0.45% of the time.
- These are strong hole cards.
- However, they are susceptible to being beaten by suited hole cards.
J, J: A pair of Jacks is otherwise known as Jay Birds, Hooks, One-eyed Jacks or Disabled Veterans
- These win 77,5% of the time against a random hand
- You’ll see this pair at the same rate as the other pairs—0.45%.
- They can easily fall prey to any suited high combination.
- Play these carefully.
10, 10/9,9/8,8/7,7: The medium pocket pairs
- These win 74,8-66,2% of the time against a random hands
- These pairs will come up as often as other pairs (0.45%).
- Stay in the hand for as long as you can while risking little, they could be winners if betting is conservative.
A, K suited: Ace King suited is otherwise known as Walking back to Houston, Big slick in a suit, Big slick, Anna Kournikova or Santa Barbara
Starting Hands Nl Holdem
- These win 66,9% of the time against a random hand
- You’ll see these less often than pairs—0.30%.
- However, these can be powerful with a good flop.
- The ace gives you the best possible flush.
- An A, K can often win on their own or they can pair up.
A, Q suited: Ace Queen suited is otherwise known as Little Slick, Doyle Brunson or Big Chick
- These win 66,2% of the time against a random hand
- These occur 0.3% of the time.
- These are versatile—they can pair up or become a flush.
- A straight is also possible.
A, J suited: Ace Jack suited is otherwise known as Blackjack, Ace with winning kicker or Ajax
- These win 65,4% of the time against a random hand
- It comes up at a rate of 0.30%.
- The ace is great for a flush.
- Inside straights are hard to hit.
- Wait for the flop before pushing the betting.
A,K unsuited: Ace King unsuited is otherwise known as Walking back to Houston, Big slick, Anna Kournikova or Santa Barbara
- These win 65,4% of the time against a random hand
- They come up at the same rate as other suited high cards (0.30%).
A, Q unsuited: Ace Queen unsuited is otherwise known as Little Slick, Doyle Brunson or Big Chick
- These win 64,4% of the time against a random hand
- These appear 0.30% of the time.
Here are a few tips for playing these hole cards.
- Even with two aces, there’s no guarantee that you’ll win.
- Don’t play a pair of 10s the same way you play aces. 10s are much weaker. As an example, a pair of sevens wins 13.30% of the time. That makes a pair of 10s closer in strength to a pair of sevens than they are to a pair of queens. Play 10s as you would sevens, carefully and conservatively.
- When playing high, suited hole cards and hitting the flush on the flop, you need to be wary of being beaten by a possible full house on the turn and the river.
Use these tips and the top ten hole card breakdown to your advantage. Many players won’t go in on a hand unless they are holding one of the above combinations. It’s true that in order to play in this manner you need discipline and patience. However, those two attributes often payoff when playing Texas Holdem.
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Not a great article IMHO…but it all counts in Google when it comes to SEO
I usually folding pocket pairs below 10 if I’m not in late position, because too many risks comes with the overcards even in a fair flop.
Sometimes they’re good in heads up, or 5 or more multiway pot situations (when every player has each others outs…) but otherway they pretty much useless.
Folding pocket pairs below 10 if you’re not late seems a bit too tight. I will always call 2-5bb raises with any pocket pair for set value.
@Mark
I don’t agree with that, the odds to hit a set are 8 against 1 on the flop. If a over card falls (which happens most of the time) and the original raises places a bet you cannot call anymore. Even if it’s a bluff you never know where you stand and you probably need to call a bet on the turn and river too.
So I agree with the first mark, if course if its an tight table its a different situation.
@ The probability of flopping a set is 11,76%, which works out to an odds of around 8,5 to 1 (or if you use the European decimal system a pot odds of 9,5).
By use of the Easy rule of thumb (http://pokerbankrollblog.com/poker-probabilities_all-you-need-to-know.htm) the probability of hitting your set on the turn and river is about 7%. This gives you a total probability of hitting you set of roughly 20%, which works out to odd around 4 to 1.