Texas Holdem Poker Starting Hands
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The starting hand table may look to be very strict, but this is simply a rough guide to help beginner players find their feet in Texas Hold'em. After you start to learn the game and become more experienced, you can start to open up your starting hand selection to incorporate different hands in different situations. Making money in No-Limit Texas Hold'em starts with the hands you choose to play and when you choose to play them. Even a 'top 10 hand' can be the wrong hand to play depending on the situation you're in. Since a definitive guide on every hand and how and when to play it in every situation would take more words than a novel. Premium Pairs (JJ-AA): The highest pairs are the most the valuable starting hands to have in Texas Hold’em. In almost all cases, you want to raise and re-raise with them preflop, and you should often be happy to get all the money in preflop with them (for 100bb or less).
Premium starting hands in Texas Hold’em
Oct 04, 2019 The best starting hands in Texas Holdem are big pairs and big cards. Of course, we all know the power of AA, KK and QQ, but JJ-TT are also premium hands. Some have a hate relationship with JJ and TT, but I love being dealt these. Just don’t get enamored with their preflop power and if all signs point to you being beat, just fold.
You’ve learned about the poker hand hierarchy and you’ve got the basic rules of the game down pat! The next thing you need to build more confidence at the table is the knowledge of which hands you should start out playing.
Premium Starting Hands
It’s your turn to bet and now you’re wondering if your hand is strong enough to justify a call or raise, or maybe you should fold? Below are the generally accepted, top ten starting hole card hands in Texas Hold’em poker. They are considered premium hole cards and are potential hand-winning cards. With these cards, you will certainly want to play the hand, but be sure to consider your position on the table.
Pocket Aces (Bullets) – Considered the best starting hole cards in Hold’em, AA are playable from any position.
Pocket Kings (Cowboys) – Considered the second best starting hole cards, KK are playable from any position.
Pocket Queens (Ladies) – Great strength pre-flop but becomes difficult to play post-flop when over-cards hit.
AKs(uited) (Big Slick) – This is the fourth strongest starting hand, even against KK and is a significant favorite against the rest.
AQs(uited) (Little Slick) – This hand is strong but can easily be dominated in typical all-in pre-flop scenarios.
Pocket Jacks (Fishhooks) – Many players claim paired jacks are the most difficult top 10 starting hand to play. While being one of the top 10 best starting hand, JJ versus AA-QQ and AKo-AQs is vulnerable.
KQs(uited) (Royal Couple) –While this hand is best suited to make straights and flushes, it can put you in difficult positions when flopping top pair, as you quite possibly will not have the best kicker.
AJ (Ajax) – These hole cards can be difficult to play from early position because you will never get folds from better aces, and you won’t get the value of a top pair. However, it does have value in its ability to make the nut straight or flush.
AKo(ff-suit) (Big Ugly) – The strongest unsuited, non-pair. This hand is easy to overplay and over value in tournaments and in ring games.
TT (TNT) – Extremely strong vs two random cards, yet as with JJ, it can be difficult to play.
Now that you’re familiar with the basic rules and best hands of poker, betting, position and premium starting hands, you’re ready to take a seat and begin your poker adventure!
Follow these hand charts and learn how to play your starting hands at Texas Holdem.
The charts below will give you a great starting point on how to play your starting hands. For all of you beginners, we recommend consulting these charts will playing online.
We provide 4 separate charts depending on where you are seated relative to the dealer. You can find out how to play the Blinds, Early Position, Middle Position, and Late Position.
Texas Hold Em Hand Rankings
After the flop, you can consult the Drawing Odds Chart at the bottom, but you will also have to develop your reads, pot odds and other skills to develop your post-flop strategies.
How to Read the Starting Hand Charts
Let’s look at some examples of how to use these poker odds charts…
| Early Position 88 77 | Unraised Pot Call 1 | Raised Pot Fold |
| * In early position, only call with A8s or 77 if there is already at least one caller in the pot. Fold if you are first in or if the pot has been raised. | ||
| Middle Position 98s | Unraised Pot Call 3 | Raised Pot Fold |
| * In middle position, only call only play 98s if there are already three or more callers. Do not call raises. | ||
| Late Position JJ TT 99 | Unraised Pot Raise 1, Call 2 Raise First In, Call 1 | Raised Pot RR 1 Option, Call All RR or Fold against 1 Player, Call 3 |
| * In late position, you should raise with JJ against one caller or first in, and call against two callers or more. You have the option of rerasing a lone raiser; otherwise, always call a raise. * Raise 99 when you are first in from late position; otherwise, call if the pot has not been raised. If the pot has been raised, you should either re-raise or fold when against a single player, or call if there are three players in the hand. | ||
| Blinds AQs AQ A9s KJ | SB Unraised Pot Raise 1 or 2, Call 3 Call Call | SB Raised Pot RR 1 or 2, Call 3 RR Lone Late, Fold Fold | BB Raised Pot Call (raise 1 or 2 limpers) Call Call 2, or 1 Late |
* In the small blind, you can raise or reraise one or two opponents with AQ, otherwise, call against three or more opponents. * In the small blind, always call A9s against limpers. If the pot has been raised, you should reraise a late position player. You should fold if the raiser is in early or middle position or against two or more opponents. * In the big blind, you can call with KJ against two opponents or a lone late player. Fold against a lone player from early or middle position. | |||
With a little practice, you should be able to find the appropriate poker strategy very quickly. I recommend keeping these charts open to provide guidance as you play. May the odds be with you! – Matthew Hilger
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