Strategy
The Top 10 Texas Hold'em Starting Hands
There are 1,326 possible combinations of starting hands in Texas Hold'em, although these are condensed to a more manageable 169 when you count hands such as As-Ac the same as Ac-As. Of these 169 hands, do you know which are in the top 10?
This top 10 is based on findings of David Sklansky and the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon.
1.) Pocket Aces
Pocket aces, Pocket Rockets, Bullets or American Airlines are the very best starting hand you can hope for in Texas Hold'em games. There are very few occasions that you should ever fold this monster hand preflop and even in those unique spots -- thrown up in satellite situations -- most would not fold them anyway.
2.) Pocket Kings
Next up is the second largest pocket pair, Kings. The only hand kings are in trouble against are pocket aces -- they only have an 18% chance of winning -- while kings are a 68.88% favourite against ace-king. Against every other hand, they are crushing!
3.) Pocket Queens
Pocket queens or The Ladies are another monster hand that you should be delighted to find in the hole. The problem with queens is they become difficult to play once an ace or king appears on the board, particularly in a three-bet pot. Play these babies aggressively preflop but be aware that you are way behind to aces and kings and coin-flipping against ace-king.
4.) Ace-King Suited
The first non-pair hand in the list is Ace-King suited, often known as Big Slick. This hand is superb late in tournaments when you can get your chips into the middle and see all five community cards. Ace-king is in bad shape against aces or kings, is almost 50-50 against all other pairs and has any ace dominated.
5.) Pocket Jacks
Pocket jacks, knaves or fish hooks are one of the most misplayed hands in the game of poker thanks to people not knowing if they are a strong pair or a medium hand. We like to play them as a strong hand until we meet some resistance, at which point we slow down. They are very vulnerable to overcards landing on the board so be aggressive preflop and reassess.
6.) Pocket Tens
Pocket tens or dimes suffer play like pocket jacks except now you have jacks to worry about in addition to a queen, king or ace landing on the board. Again, you should be playing tens aggressively preflop in order to fold out Ace-rag type hands and reduce your chances of seeing an overcard on the community cards.
7.) Ace-Queen Suited
Ace-queen, or Big Chick, is a holding where many player become unstuck. Like ace-king, ace-queen is in serious trouble against aces or kings, has 35% equity against pocket queens and is flipping against all pairs. However, you now have the chance to hit top pair and be out-kicked by ace-king, a spot that has claimed the stack of many poker players.
8.) Ace-Jack Suited
Ace-jack suited is a blackjack hand and players love to gamble with it. Particularly strong when you have to get your chips into the middle in a tournament as it has most aces dominated and isn't in bad shape against pairs lower than jacks. Again, aggression is vital, but so is being able to slow down and let go of your hand when meeting fierce resistance.
9.) Ace-King Offsuit
Ace-king offsuit drops down the leader board thanks to being highly unlikely to make a flush, which is difficult enough at the best of times! It's still a premium hand and should be played as such.
10.) King-Queen Suited
King-queen suited, or a Royal Marriage, comes in at number 10, ahead of hands such as ace-queen offsuit, ace-jack offsuit and pairs 99-77. We can only assume it is the findings of the study that brought this result about, as the mathematicians ran many different scenarios and not just worked out hand equity versus a random hand.
Although these are the top 10, we would love to know what your favourite hands are and why! Let us know in the comments box below.
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