Poker Starting Hands To Play
The best starting hands in poker are AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, AK, AQ, AJ, KQ, KJ and more holdings like this. The reason why they are the best starting hands is because they are statistically most likely to win the pot at showdown. You can improve your winnings in.
The Top Texas Holdem Poker Starting Hands
- In the poker game of Texas hold 'em, a starting hand consists of two hole cards, which belong solely to the player and remain hidden from the other players. Five community cards are also dealt into play. Betting begins before any of the community cards are exposed, and continues throughout the hand.
- Learn the 10 basic 5-card hands and their ranking. No matter what type of poker you play, the hands will always be the same. To start familiarizing yourself with the different hands, print out a 'cheat sheet' and study it. Then, memorize the different hands so you can easily recognize them. Here are the winning poker hands, from highest to lowest.
- How to Play Texas Holdem Starting Hands Pocket Aces. Although you can write volumes about detailed lines and theories on maximizing profit with this hand, other than folding there is rarely a scenario in which you can ever make a mistake with this hand (pre-flop that is).
Every Poker player knows that you don’t play every hand you’re dealt. But, how do you know which hands to play and which to fold?
Best Starting Hands in Texas Holdem Poker to Play
How do you know which starting hands to play?
This is a question that every poker player, amateur or professional, should always be prepared for at the start of every hand, fundamental to poker strategy. You do not want to play every hand, you must know when to fold. If you know which starting hands to play, you can conduct the game in your favour.
Learn Texas Holdem Poker
Here are the Top 10 Best Starting Hands in Texas Hold’em Poker-
- AA – Pocket Aces or Bullets is the strongest starting hand in poker. Play Strongly, But bear in mind – even though it’s is the best starting hand, you will be left with only one pair if the board doesn’t improve.
- KK – Pocket Kings or Cowboys – The second-best starting hand after Aces. But if an Ace turns up post-flop, you will lose to anyone holding a single Ace in their starting hand.
- QQ – Pocket Queens or Ladies – the third best starting hand with a winning probability of 80% pre-fop.
- JJ – Pocket Jacks or Fishhooks – Pre-flop, it has a 78% chance of winning and is still a still a very strong hand. Be mindful of opponents.
- AKs – Big Slick – Ace King suited is the top unpaired starting hand to have in a game of poker. Also called Anna Kournikova or Kalashnikov (AK rifle) by recreational players
- Ts – TNT or Tension. The nickname for Pocket Tens is because having a pair of tens pre-flop is tense because of the high chance of overcards.
- AQs – Big Chick – Ace Queen suited is another hand with the potential to win the pot.
- AKo – Big Slick – Ace King off-suits also rank high in the chart and is capable of winning at least 40% of the time against any other hand (except aces or kings).
- AJs – Armani Jeans – Ace and Jack suited is better than most other hands. However, if an opponent raises from early position, proceed with caution.
- KQs – Marriage – King and Queen suited is a strong hand that can end up a making Royal Flush.
Other Possible Hands–
- Suited Connectors (98s, 76s, T9s)
- Offsuit Connectors (T9o, 98o, 54o, JTo)
- Suited Gappers (97s, T8s, KJs)
*s refers to suited cards (of the same suit)
*o refers to off-suited cards (of different suits)
There are a possible 169 non-equivalent starting hands (ignoring specific suits) in a standard 52-card deck in Texas Hold’em Poker. So, here’s a chart with detailing the win percentage of Texas Holdem starting hands-
A | K | Q | J | T | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | |
| A | 85% | 68% | 67% | 66% | 66% | 64% | 63% | 63% | 62% | 62% | 61% | 60% | 59% |
| K | 66% | 83% | 64% | 64% | 63% | 61% | 60% | 59% | 58% | 58% | 57% | 56% | 55% |
| Q | 65% | 62% | 80% | 61% | 61% | 59% | 58% | 56% | 55% | 55% | 54% | 53% | 52% |
| J | 65% | 62% | 59% | 78% | 59% | 57% | 56% | 54% | 53% | 52% | 51% | 50% | 50% |
| T | 64% | 61% | 59% | 57% | 75% | 56% | 54% | 53% | 51% | 49% | 49% | 48% | 47% |
| 9 | 62% | 59% | 57% | 55% | 53% | 72% | 53% | 51% | 50% | 48% | 46% | 46% | 45% |
| 8 | 61% | 58% | 55% | 53% | 52% | 50% | 69% | 50% | 49% | 47% | 45% | 43% | 43% |
| 7 | 60% | 57% | 54% | 52% | 50% | 48% | 47% | 67% | 48% | 46% | 45% | 43% | 41% |
| 6 | 59% | 56% | 53% | 50% | 48% | 47% | 46% | 45% | 64% | 46% | 44% | 42% | 40% |
| 5 | 60% | 55% | 52% | 49% | 47% | 45% | 44% | 43% | 43% | 61% | 44% | 43% | 41% |
| 4 | 59% | 54% | 51% | 48% | 46% | 43% | 42% | 41% | 41% | 41% | 58% | 42% | 40% |
| 3 | 58% | 54% | 50% | 48% | 45% | 43% | 40% | 39% | 39% | 39% | 38% | 55% | 39% |
| 2 | 57% | 53% | 49% | 47% | 44% | 42% | 40% | 37% | 37% | 37% | 36% | 35% | 51% |
Top Texas Holdem Starting Hands You Should Pray For
Quick Basics:
- Every player is dealt two cards face down
- Five community cards are placed on the table (whose value is shown as the round progresses).
- All players try to make the best five-card combination from among the board and personal cards and bet on the same.
- Best hand at the end of the round is declared the winner(s) and wins the pot.
It’s only by knowing how to master the basics do you become a poker player who is taken very seriously by his/her opponents. Learn more about the basics of poker-
Poker Diaries: Online Poker vs Offline Poker – The Similarities, The Differences
Poker Diaries: When To Bet & When To Fold With The PreFlop Range Chart
Poker Diaries: Different Types of Poker Playing Styles & Personality
Poker Diaries: Importance of Playing in Position
Poker Diaries: What Are Outs & How To Calculate Them?
Poker Diaries: What are Pot Odds and Equity?
Starting hands
Let’s begin with the starting hands:
A♦A♥K♦K♥, A♠A♦J♠10♦ and similar:
Any hands featuring any pair of Aces with two broadway cards (Ten to King), are the best hands in PLO. You should raise and reraise with these hands and, if it is possible, go all-in before the flop. These types of hands don’t need too much help to win and have good chances against a hand with multiple opponents.
K♣K♥Q♣J♠, J♥J♣Q♦K♣ and similar:
High pairs (TT-KK) with consecutive cards are also really strong and they do well in heads-up. When we play these kinds of hands against several opponents we should open raise from any position. However, since it is fairly common to find at least one player with Aces in PLO, we shouldn’t push these hands too aggressively before the flop.
8♥8♦7♦6♥, 7♣7♠8♣9♥ and similar:
Middle pairs with consecutive cards are especially strong in multiway pots, as they get their value from coordinated draws or made hands on the flop. They are speculative hands, but when you hit your set and straight draw you may have some clients to earn some money. You should limp in with these hands. Calling a raise can also be right, mainly with other potential callers behind.
A♥K♥Q♣J♠, K♥Q♥J♠10♣ and similar:
These hands are strong, but they are easily dominated before the flop, especially by high pairs. In early position you should play these hands carefully. In late position you can call a raise or even raise the pot.
7♥8♥9♣10♠, 7♣9♥10♣J♥ and similar:
Medium and consecutive cards are quite strong and they are playable from any position. You should play them as draws most of the times. However, sometimes it is good to play these hands like Aces and raise, in order to be more difficult to read.
4♣5♦5♣6♠, 3♣3♦4♥5♠ and similar:
Low pairs with consecutive cards work well from late positions. These hands are profitable quite often, mainly when we hit a low straight (A-2-3-4-5).
3♥4♣5♣6♥, 4♥5♠7♣8♥ and similar:
Low consecutive cards should be treated like medium cards. But, considering many of your potential hands are the lowest possible straight, you must fold these hand in early position and not too optimistically in late position.
A♥K♠10♣4♥, K♣Q♥J♣6♦ and similar:
In these hands one of the cards doesn’t match with the others (this card is known as a “dangler”). This kind of hand should be played only in small pots and late position. Folding this type of hand is not a mistake. Why would you play with only three coordinated cards against players who have four? That is an unnecessary disadvantage we can easily avoid.
A♥A♠7♦3♣, Q♥Q♦9♣2♥ and similar:
These hands justify their value if we hit the top set, but we should be careful about these hands before the flop. We need to look at the Aces in a much different way than we do in Texas Hold’em: in Omaha, while Aces may be a favorite against any individual hand pre-flop, it is unlikely that you can win a large pot without improving those Aces to a set or a full house. These hands can become the biggest danger hands for beginning players and should be treated with caution.
Q♥Q♦Q♣3♥, A♥10♥7♥2♥ and similar:
Having trips in our starting hand is a huge disadvantage since we are forced to play with exactly 2 hole cards and here the third card is a vital out to our potential set. The cards listed in no particular order are not too useful either. The hand will be even worth less if is single suited, as we are losing two important outs for a flush. Fold these hands without a second thought.
10♠10♥10♦10♣:
Having quads is extremely rare and even if it looks good, these hands have zero value to make a hand. We could hope that the board revolves around our quads (here, around the ten: 8-9-J-Q-K) letting us to make a bluff. No one can have another ten. Yet, staying in the hand for so long costs us money and if we get called, we will lose even more chips.
The double suited hands are better in Omaha. Therefore,A♠A♦7♦8♠ is substantially better than A♣A♥7♠8♦. In a battle between those hands, the second one would have no chance of winning. Additionally, the first hand will make a flush in 14% of cases. In the rest of the cases they will split the pot.
What Are The Best Poker Hands To Play
Also,J♥10♣9♥8♣ is favored against A♠A♦5♥6♣, since it is double suited. Hands with two suited cards are better than rainbow hands.
Three suited cards decrease value to the hand (eg. A♥10♥8♥3♥), since we can use only two of them at the showdown.
Poker Starting Hands To Play Games
In summary, we must keep in mind that a good starting hand selection in Omaha is more important than in Texas Hold’em. This is mainly because our opponents have a lot of chances to get a strong hand on the flop. So, to win we need to have some value at the showdown. Even the second best hand frequently loses on the river in PLO (eg. King high flush).
Poker Starting Hands To Play Canasta
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