1. There are many different charts of starting hands depending on the game type (for example texas.
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Below you'll find a list of Texas Hold'em starting hands organized by relative strength.The following charts contains every 2-card possible combination you can be dealt in Texas Hold'em. Each hand is followed by its long-term winning percentage (out of 100, of course) against a specific number of opponents holding random cards. All Texas Hold’em starting hands can be separated into two categories: “suited” and “offsuit”. Suited hands contain two cards of the same suit, like J♣9♣, A ♥ K ♥, K♠Q♠ and 9 ♦ 3 ♦. All other starting hands are in the offsuit category, like A♠8 ♦, 7♣5 ♥ and K ♥ 9 ♦.

Basic Starting Hands - Texas Hold'em

“What hands you play in Hold'em is as much about your position at the table as it is the hands yourself.

Here's a useful downloadable chart explaining hand rankings and what starting hands you should play. Click to download.

Below you'll find a list of Texas Hold'em starting hands organized by relative strength.The following charts contains every 2-card possible combination you can be dealt in Texas Hold'em. Each hand is followed by its long-term winning percentage (out of 100, of course) against a specific number of opponents holding random cards. 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.

9-9, for example, is a good raising hand in late position if no-one has raised the pot beforehand, but in early position (the small or big blind) you can find yourself in trouble if you're first to act after the flop.

The first thing to do is group starting hands together: Premium, Semi-Premium and Marginal.

Texas Holdem Starting Hands By Position Today

Premium hands are things like A-A and K-K. With these hands you'll be raising and re-raising, in every position at the table.

Next, Semi-Premium hands are ones like A-K, Q-Q, J-J, 10-10 and K-Qs. With these you should raise in every position, and re-raise with them in late position only. A-K is OK to just call a raise with in early position, as if you're first to act you can comfortably check-call on a low flop, or bet out if you've hit top-pair. Remember, A-K is only 'ace-high', i.e. it has great value only if you make a pair with it.

Next, Marginal hands are a bigger group of cards. In this group you can put 9-9, J-10s, 10-9s, A-10s, A-Js, K-Js. Raise in late position only in an unraised pot and call in early position if you have value.

All about position in Texas Hold’em

You’ve probably heard “position” come up frequently in how-to guides, but what does it mean?

Texas Holdem Starting Hands By Position Chart

Simply put, position in poker refers to where you sit at a table relative to the Dealer Button. Seat 1 is directly to the left of the Dealer Button. Seat numbers are sequential and move in a clockwise direction. Position determines the dealing and betting order in each orbit.

During a game of poker, the seat you are in may be considered Early position, Middle position or Late position. Late positions are always the best positions to be in as you get to act after other players have acted (call, raise, fold) on their hands.

With each hand, your position is determined by where the Dealer button is located. Since it moves in a clockwise direction to a new player after each hand, your position always changes after every hand. Over the course of the game, each player will get multiple chances to play from the various positions.

Early Position

Holdem Poker Hand Strength

Early position identifies the first three 3 seats to the immediate left of the dealer. (Remember, the two players to the left of the dealer are the small blind and big blind and must place their bet before the cards are dealt. During the Pre-Flop round, the small blind and big blind are the last to act. In subsequent rounds, they will be the first to act.) The player to the left of the big blinds is said to be “under the gun.” These three seats are considered the worst positions as players in these positions are the first to act in the betting round.

Middle Position

On Replay’s 9-player tables, Middle position includes seats 4 through 6. These seats are more advantageous than the Early position seats, but not as advantageous as being in the late position. Players in the middle position get to know how the first few players have played their hands.

Late Position

The player designated by the dealer button (dealer position) and the two players to his/her immediate right are said to be in the late position. Being on the dealer button is the best position to be playing from in a hand.

Players in the late position are the last to act, and they can see how the other players have played their hands. The information you gain from being in the late position allows you to play weaker starting hands or even fold strong hands like JJ or AQ.

Texas Hold'em Starting Hands Ranked

Ultimately your decision to bet, raise or fold will be determined by the strength of your hole cards. During the early stages of learning to play Texas Hold’em, it is best to play only when you have Premium Starting Hands.

Texas Holdem Poker Starting Hands

Texas holdem poker is a complicated game to say the least. The mathematical and psychological that the professional levels of poker require are extraordinary. But where should the novice poker player start? The answer to this question is quite easy. Presuming that you already know the basic Texas Hold'em rules the first thing any player should know is which Texas Holdem starting hands are playable and which not. You should start reading the rest of our Texas Hold'em poker articles only after you have learned and preferably memorized the list of good texas holdem starting hands. The difference between a good poker starting hand and to bad texas holdem hands is quite simple - good starting hands gives you more chances to form a strong poker hand with a high potential to win. A bad starting hand is more likely to result in nothing but lost money on calling the blinds.

The analysis required to determine which texas Holdem starting hands will payout more on the long run is quite hard. The first version of the list we present you below has appeared in the arguably best poker book ever written 'Texas Hold'em for Advanced Players' by David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth. The Texas Hold'em starting hands that appeared in that monumental book were chosen and arranged by David Sklansky over a long period of time and using his vast understanding of the poker theory. Although that list is without a doubt and excellent resource there were some statistical deviations that could not be discovered without an extensive computer analysis. The list below is the exact list that some of the leading poker programs use to advice their users on their next moves. It is slightly different than the original Sklansky groupings and presents the definitive grouping of the best Texas Hold'em starting hands.

• Group 1: AA, KK, AKs
• Group 2: QQ, JJ, AK, AQs, AJs, KQs
• Group 3: TT, AQ, ATs, KJs, QJs, JTs
• Group 4: 99, 88, AJ, AT, KQ, KTs, QTs, J9s, T9s, 98s
• Group 5: 77, 66, A9s, A5s-A2s, K9s, KJ, KT, QJ, QT, Q9s, JT, QJ, T8s, 97s, 87s, 76s, 65s
• Group 6: 55, 44, 33, 22, K9, J9, 86s
• Group 7: T9, 98, 85s
• Group 8: Q9, J8, T8, 87, 76, 65
• Group 30: A9s-A6s, A8-A2, K8-K2, K8-K2s, J8s, J7s, T7, 96s, 75s, 74s, 64s, 54s, 53s, 43s, 42s, 32s, 32

Poker Hands Cheat Sheet

As you can see the list is quite descriptive and puts strong emphasis on connecting and suited hands. Although learning how to play these starting hands correctly is much more complex than just knowing which hands not to play there are certainly some easy general guidelines. First of all, the hands in the two first groups should usually be raised from almost any position. The hands in groups 1 to 4 and sometimes even 5 should usually just call and the hands in groups 6 to 8 should be played with extreme caution and only in very loose and passive games. Group 30 represents hands that have very little chance of winning and usually serve only for diversity and bluffing in order to throw off your opponents. Of course this should be done very rarely and even not all in the low limit games.

Best Texas Holdem Hands

Daniel Jenkins, Editorial Staff

Texas Holdem Starting Hand Percentages

2006–01–11