The Top Texas Holdem Poker Starting Hands
- Best Texas Holdem Hands To Play
- Texas Hold'em Best Hands To Play
- Texas Holdem Best Hands Chart
- List Of Texas Holdem Hands
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. Texas Hold'em is always a game you should play with the long term in mind, if your poker hand has a 55/45 advantage compared to your opponents, you can lose it 10 times in a row. But if you play the hand 10,000 times on average you will win 55% (5.500) times.This is why good bankroll management is important.
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.
Best Texas Holdem Hands To Play
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-
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Poker Diaries: When To Bet & When To Fold With The PreFlop Range Chart
Poker Diaries: Different Types of Poker Playing Styles & Personality
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Poker Diaries: What Are Outs & How To Calculate Them?
Poker Diaries: What are Pot Odds and Equity?
Texas Hold’em is undoubtedly the world’s most popular poker variant. This fast, action-packed casino game can be played at land-based casinos and online at Borgata. Hold’em, as some call it, is a game of skill and making money out of it starts with having a solid understanding of the different hands and knowing how to play them.
Understanding Poker Hand Notation
Before we can get started with the opening hand recommendations in Hold’em, let’s first start by looking at the hand notation in online poker games.
In poker variants, including Hold’em, there are symbols used to describe the diverse hands available. There’s no need to worry as these are pretty simple and straightforward. Below are the different annotations you will find:
· S – suited cards
· O – two cards from different suits (unsuited)
· + – means all hands ranking above the stated hand are included
For instance, 77+ indicates a pair of sevens and any other pairs ranking above it such as 88, 99, TT, AA. Pairs such as 22, 33, 44, 55 and 66s would be excluded. The same applies to connectors, the + symbol means that similar hands using higher cards are included eg. T7 (Ten-Seven) would include T8, T9, JT (Jack-Ten), QJ (Queen-Jack) KQ (King-Queen) and AK (Ace-King).
If symbols that denote suited and unsuited cards are not available, then it’s not important if the cards are suited or not.
5 Best Texas Hold’em Starting Hands
Texas Hold’em poker has 169 different two-card opening hand combinations. The notion is that if your starting hand is not a pair, then you will be dealt either connected or unconnected cards or a hand that’s either suited or offsuit. Suited hands have cards of the same suit e.g. A♥5 ♥, whereas unsuited cards belong to different suits K♠10♦. On the other hand – no pun intended – unconnected cards will have one, two, three or more gaps (T72) making it difficult to hit a straight hand, and connected cards vice versa (T89).
1. Pairs: A♣ A♥, K♠ K♦, 7♥ 7♠
2. Suited Connectors: K♦A♦, J ♣ Q♣, 10 ♥9 ♥
3. Offsuit Connectors: 4♣ 3♦, 9♥ 8, 10♠ J♣
4. Suited Gappers: 10 ♥8 ♥, 5 ♠2♠, K♦J♦
5. Unconnected Cards: 8♦3♠, 10 ♥6 ♣, Q♣ 10♦
Moreover, it is also important to familiarize yourself with the different rankings of Texas Hold’em handsto know which are worth playing, and how they change according to your position on the table at an online casino. For instance, cards such as 7♦ 2♥ or 9♥ 4♠ are very weak to even consider past the flop. Whereas, strong hands such as A♣, A♦, 10♥ 10♦ and K♠ K♥ should always be played from any position. A three of a kind always wins to a two pair, and a flush always beats a straight.
How to Play
In Hold’em poker, players need to make the best 5-card hand possible using their two hole cards and five community cards on the table. Besides your position, you will need to consider other factors such as the number of players on the table as well as their playing style when deciding on placing your wager preflop.
Below is a quick summary of the basic Texas Hold’em rules:
- When the game begins, all players on the table are dealt two hole cards (also known as pocket cards) face-down. This means no other players can see your cards.
- Thereafter comes the Flop betting round, which consists of 3 community cards dealt face-up for players to use.
- The dealer will then deal the fourth card, known as the Turn.
- The Turn is followed by the River, which is the fifth and last community card.
- Players get to bet, check or fold as the betting rounds take place.
Pocket Pairs
Aces – a pair of Aces is by far the best starting hand in Hold’em. However, if nothing improves from the community cards you only have a pair. It is quite rare, however, to ever go wrong with this hand preflop.
Kings – a pair of Kings are almost as good as a pair of Aces preflop. However, it is not very often that you get dealt any of them. Although they are premium preflop holdings, they don’t play too well against multiple opponents. Sometimes it is better to raise preflop to avoid having sets of pairs.
Texas Hold'em Best Hands To Play
Queens and Jacks – these are middle pocket pairs, and with either of them, you should be confident that you have a good starting hand. They are very foldable preflop, but they can also be the trickiest hands to play. Other pocket pairs falling under this range include 55 through 99.Low pairs – these are hands below 55, all the way down to 22. It is not a wise move to raise first on low pairs, but they tend to be profitable at a later position and likely to result in a three of a kind or even great, a four of a kind which pays even more.
Suited Cards
Starting with two suited cards is good to score a flush or even better, a straight flush in this online casino game. However, the odds of getting a flush with two suited hands during the flop are as low as 0.8%. You are more likely to get a flush after the river and at only around 6.5% of the time, and a straight flush with a much lesser probability.
Connectors – Suitedconnectors include a combination of Aces and Kings, which is a premium hand suitable to play from any position, as well as good hands like T9, KQ, JT and QJs which are also great to play from most positions on the table.
54s and 76s are lower suited cards that should be folded from an early position and playable as a raise first from late positions.
Texas Holdem Best Hands Chart
Gappers – suited one-gappers have the potential to win big pots if they connect with the board. For instance, if you have a T8 then a 9 and other corresponding cards appear in the community cards, you win. Big gappers are far more unlikely to win but are playable from a late position.
Conclusion
List Of Texas Holdem Hands
Using the guidelines laid out in this article, together with a Texas Hold’em starting hands chart is a great way to enhance your playing skills. The more you Hold’em the more you will start opening a diverse range of starting hands – there are a whole lot of them, as already mentioned. Borgata offers the best poker and other entertaining online casino games for you to enjoy. Get started on making better Hold’em opening hands on BorgataOnline today!