Good Starting Hands In Texas Holdem
The two cards that you are dealt at the start of a hand in Texas Hold'em are your weapons. If you want to play a hand, your cards need to be strong enough to fight against your opponents' cards to win the pot. At the core of every winning poker player is good starting hand strategy. Texas Hold'em starting hands table. NL Hold’em Starting Hand Charts One aspect of the game of No-Limit Hold’em that causes beginning players much grief is deciding which hands to play and which hands to dump. NL Hold’em is much more difficult than Limit Hold’em because the value of a hand depends on so many factors other than just the cards in your hand.
A pair of aces, also known as 'pocket rockets' (and sometimes 'American Airlines') is the best starting hand for Texas Hold 'em. Be wary of how many other players enter the pot, as more players increase the likelihood of someone beating your aces. Luckily, these strategies will set you on the path to Texas Hold’em glory. Let’s get started! #1 – Opening Hands. Remember, poker is a battle royale. When you prepare to don your battle armor, be sure that you’ve got a premium opening hand to protect you. Starting hands are 1 component of your overall poker game. Categories of Starting Hands. A good first step to evaluating the potential worth of a Texas Hold’em starting hand is to figure out which category of starting hands it belongs to. This is easy, as there are only five of them. Pairs; Pairs, by definition, can never be suited, as there is only one of each card value in each of the four suits.
The first thing you learn in poker is the standard ranking of hands. For most people, the 2nd thing you learn is how to play 5 card draw.
10 Best Starting Hands In Texas Holdem
But Texas holdem isn’t far behind.
Once you’ve mastered the basics of playing—how the deal works, how the bets are handled, and so on—you start learning about the strategic concepts behind winning the game on a consistent basis.
And the first of these concepts is tight preflop play.
I’ve read that at most Texas holdem games, you can break even just by having strong play preflop. Even if your play after the flop is only mediocre, if you’re playing right before the flop, you won’t lose any money in the long run.
But some players take being tight preflop to the extreme.
And they often confuse being tight with being passive.
Yes, you’re only going to play good hands preflop. But most of the time, you’re not going to try to play them cheaply.
You’re going to gamble with them. You’re going to bet and raise with them.
Don’t forget that even though poker is a game of skill, it’s still gambling. You can’t win at gambling without, well… gambling…
Here are the top 10 starting hands in Texas holdem along with some suggestions for how to best play them. You can (and should) play other hands preflop, but these might be the most important hands to play preflop.
1. Pocket Aces
It’s hard to go wrong when playing “rockets,” or “bullets,” as a pair of aces if often called. After all, a pair of aces is easily the most powerful starting hand in the game. Even if you mis-play this hand, it’s so strong that you’ll often win lots of money anyway.
But how do you get the most money out of this hand?
If you’re playing in a no-limit game, if you’re in early position, it might make sense to limp with pocket aces. Your hope is that someone following you will put in a raise with a pair of kings or queens. When the action gets back to you, you can re-raise and make your opponent play for his entire stack.
If you’re in middle or late position, you should raise with aces. There’s no reason to be tricky here. You don’t want to give a substandard hand a cheap way to draw out on you.
If you’re playing limit, you should raise regardless of your position. You don’t have the ability to make someone play for all her chips, so you have to thin the field as soon as you can.
Your goal with pocket aces is to get heads-up with someone as soon as possible.
Some players get irritated when they get their aces cracked. They also get irritated when they get no action. You can’t have it both ways, though—if you get action, sometimes you’ll lose.
Most of the time, you’ll want to play the aces strong after the flop, too—regardless of what cards are there. You need to be sure you have a good read on your opponent and she has a monster before folding aces after the flop.
2. Pocket Kings
Before the flop, you should play “cowboys” just like you’d play pocket aces. The only difference is that you might not limp hoping for a re-raise opportunity in a no-limit game, like you would do with aces. (And even that move is one you should only use occasionally.)
Playing pocket kings after the flop isn’t much different, either.
But you do have one thing to worry about:
What if an ace hits the flop?
The first thing to think about is not giving away your hand. It’s natural to be bummed when the 2nd best starting hand in the game suddenly looks inferior.
But you don’t have to look downcast and give away your hand to your opponent. Keep a poker face.
Everyone loves high cards in Texas holdem. If an ace hits on the flop, it’s possible that your opponent just got a bigger pair than you have.
Does this mean you should automatically fold those cowboys?
Obviously, I don’t think so, or I wouldn’t warn you about maintaining your poker face.
The number of players still in the hand on the flop is a big deal. If you’re heads-up with an opponent, you should stay in the game, but maybe slow down with your betting. He might be trying to represent that ace, or he might not. I think you should gamble here unless you have a good read on your opponent.
On the other hand, if you’re in the pot with 3 or 4 other players, your kings are no good. There’s almost no chance at all that with 3 or 4 opponents none of them has an ace. You have no choice here but to fold.
This illustrates how important it is to play kings aggressively preflop. If you get as much money into the pot as you can while you’re still the favorite, you’ll likely do well in the long run.
3. Pocket Queens
If you’re dealt “ladies,” you have the 3rd strongest possible starting hand. And since this is a big pair, you’d prefer to play with fewer opponents after the flop. This means that betting, raising, and re-raising is the right strategy preflop with pocket queens.
Your goal is to get heads-up with one of your opponents before the flop ever hits.
You can only do that by playing aggressively.
Now you have to worry about whether you’re going to see an ace or a king on the flop. Playing pocket queens isn’t too different from playing pocket kings after the flop; you’re just more likely to have to slow down a little bit.
If you’re acting first, and if you’re only facing a single opponent, you must bet here. You want to try to win the pot without a showdown if you can.
But if you get re-raised, you’ll probably have to give up and fold.
Sometimes, you’ll wind up in a hand with pocket queens and 3 or 4 other players. Remember what I said about pocket kings in this situation. If you’re dealing with that many other players, someone is bound to have an ace or a king.
You’re going to have to fold in that case.
4. Pocket Jacks
The problem with pocket jacks is that it’s a trouble hand. It’s stronger than most hands, but there are still a lot of things that can go wrong. Some players hate playing pocket jacks.
You don’t have to hate this hand, though. It’s still a great preflop hand. You just need to learn how to NOT overplay it.
This means you’re going to pay attention to your position and to how the other players play their hands. After all, they like big cards, and the queens, kings, and aces have to be somewhere. If they’re not in your opponents’ hands, they’re in the deck, which means they’re liable to come up on the flop and scare you.
If no one in front of you has bet or raised, you should bet with the jacks. In a limit game, you don’t have to decide how much to bet, but in no limit, you do. Some players always make the same preflop bets in terms of size to disguise the strength of their hands. That’s a valid approach, and if that’s you, great.
But if that’s not you, bet a little less with pocket jacks than you would otherwise. Almost any flop is going to be scary if you go into it with a pair of jacks. Any queen, king, or ace could kill your hand.
Heck, even if you have an overpair in this situation, you can’t be confident you’ll win.
In some respects, pocket jacks are the same as smaller pairs. You really have to hit 3 of a kind to win a big pot with them.
Take into account how your opponents play, too. Just because an opponent bets or raises doesn’t mean he has a big hand. This is especially true in some of the lower stakes limit games that I specialize in.
5. Ace-King Suited
“Big slick” is one of my favorite hands to play. I’ve seen it rated higher than pocket queen or pocket jacks by some poker writers, in fact.
I’ve seen some players and writers complain that ace-king suited is hard to play. I don’t agree. I think it’s easier to play than pocket jacks, for sure. (In fact, I’m not sure why I didn’t reverse their order on this list.)
You should bet or raise with ace-king suited preflop. If you’re raised or re-raised, you need to think about how that player has been playing. Against a savvy, tight player, your ace-king suited is probably going to lose to pocket queens, kings, or aces. Against a maniac, though, or a novice, you might still be ahead.
The size of the raises and re-raises matters, too. If you’re playing limit, calling here makes more sense than risking your whole stack in a no limit game.
The good news is that when you see a flop, you have a 1/3 probability of getting an ace or a king. This gives you top pair or top pair with the best possible kicker. If you get one or 2 suited cards on the flop, you also have flush possibilities.
In this case, it’s time to play strong. Bet and raise.
If you have a lot of opponents and a flush draw, it might be worth it to continue if you can play cheap. With multiple opponents, you stand a chance of winning a big pot with the flush when you hit.
On the other hand, if you miss the flop entirely, you have to give this hand up.
6. Ace-Queen Suited
I’ve seen ace-queen suited called the biggest trouble hand in poker. I know that I overplay it often.
Yes, this is one of the best possible starting hands, but it’s hard to know where you’re at with it. As a result, maybe the smartest thing to do is pay close attention to your opponents’ play when you have this hand.
If you’re in early position, you can play it really aggressively, understanding that if you get raises and re-raises from the other players, you’re almost certainly dominated.
On the other hand, if you’re playing with lousy players who are too loose and aggressive, you might still have a shot.
If you’re in late position and there’s a lot of action before you, it might be best to fold AQ suited preflop.
And don’t make the mistake of thinking that ace-queen offsuit is just as good as ace-queen suited. It’s not even close. That hand didn’t even make the top 10.
7. Pocket 10s
Pocket 10s are pretty speculative. Even though they’re a top 10 hand, you still need to hit the perfect flop for this hand to hold up.
My goal with pocket 10s is to get in cheap and see how the flop develops. If I don’t hit another 10 on the flop, it’s easy to get away from this hand.
Even if the flop comes up with all undercards, I’m still afraid someone has a bigger pair in the hole. Those jacks, queens, kings, and aces are somewhere.
Unless the pocket 10s improve on the flop, or unless the other players are demonstrating a lot of weakness, I’m getting away from the hand on the turn if it hasn’t improved. The higher bets at that point make the hand almost worthless.
But don’t forget to get a read on the other players at the table. Your equity in a hand is always a combination of how likely it is that you have the best hand and how likely it is you can get your opponent to fold.
8. Ace-King
Ace-king is a strong hand even when it’s not suited. Most of what I said about how to play this hand still applies, but not being suited is a bigger drawback than you think. Sure, you’re only going to hit you flush 6% of the time with suited hole cards, but 6% is huge.
That being said, this is an easy hand to get away from if you miss the flop.
But a lot of the time, you will hit a big pair on the flop. When you do, you prefer fewer opponents.
So betting and raising with ace-king preflop makes sense.
Getting out of the hand after the flop is also an easy decision.
9. Ace-Jack Suited
You’re getting into some speculative hands here. Ace-jack suited is better than Ace-X suited, but not by much. The bigger the cards, the better, but a jack is almost a medium card.
Keep in mind that ace-jack offsuit, while playable, is not a premium hand. In fact, many writers don’t even consider ace-jack suited to be a “premium” hand.
It’s playable, though, because of the possibilities after the flop:
- You could flop a flush or a flush draw.
- You have straight possibilities (and straight flush possibilities).
- You have the potential to get a pair of aces with a reasonably good kicker.
The problem with ace-jack suited is that it’s easier to get a 2nd-best hand with it than with most of the other hands on this list. A pair of jacks with an ace kicker is all right, but what do you do when your opponent has queens?
I think you have to play this cautiously preflop, try to get into a pot with a lot of opponents, then hope you hit a monster flop that fits perfectly so you can get paid off.
If you have position on everyone, and if your opponents are tight enough, you might try bluffing with this one preflop. If someone plays back at you, get really cautious, though.
10. King-Queen Suited
Some writers put a pair of 9s in this spot, but others put king-queen suited. I prefer king-queen suited, so that’s what I went with.
Playing king-queen suited isn’t much different from playing ace-jack suited, though. They’re both speculative hands, and you’re going to want to hit a reasonable flop with it.
This means trying to get in cheap before the flop and hitting your hand on the flop.
Conclusion
Starting hands in Texas holdem are half the battle. Everyone knows that you’re supposed to limit yourself to the top 20 or so starting hands. This post only covers half those.
The other half of the possible starting hands, though, are easy enough to play. They’re just like the lower ranked hands on this list—only more so. They’re all speculative, so you want to try to get into pots cheap with lots of other players and clean up when you hit your hand.
It’s easy to overplay a reasonable starting hand in Texas holdem, but you really should only be playing about 3 hands preflop per hour. If you’re playing more than that, you’re in trouble.
And even with those 3 hands, you need to be cautious with most of them.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Hopefully you’ve already absorbed a wealth of knowledge from our poker lessons. There’s still much to learn – in fact you’ll never stop learning about poker. Before moving onto the next stage of your poker development let’s review some of the typical mistakes that beginners make when playing Texas hold’em.
Although one or two of the mistakes we’re going to mention are relevant to no-limit hold’em, the majority are applicable to all forms of hold’em, in addition to other poker formats. Please use this lesson as a guide, so that you don’t fall into the same traps.
The Top 10 Typical Beginner Mistakes
In no particular order, here are our top ten typical beginner mistakes:
#1 – Playing Too Many Hands
One of the main mistakes new players make is feeling like they have to play every hand. They may become impatient, feel left out of the action or don’t want to look weak in front of their friends. It could also be that they just don’t know any better. Any Jack, Queen, King or Ace looks good if you don’t understand good starting hand selection.
The problem with playing too many hands is that you are actually only going to hit the flop a small percentage of the time and even if you do hit the flop; it’s hard to know if your hand is the best. Until you understand how to play beyond the cards, you will mostly be playing based on what you are dealt and if you are involved in too many pots, the next thing you know all of your chips will be gone.
#2 – Playing Scared
While some beginners play with reckless abandon, many play with fear. Having not played many hands, new poker players are often afraid to make a mistake or they simply are afraid to lose. Because of this they will fold until they know they have an unbeatable hand. Fear can also manifest itself into paranoia, where a player assumes that anyone betting aggressively must have a monster hand (often referred to as “monsters under the bed”) and they will fold all but the best possible hands. The only way to get over this is to log in time at the poker tables and practice trusting your instincts.
#3 – Getting Committed to a Hand
Because of the competitive nature of poker, beginners think that poker is like other sports where “giving up” is considered a bad thing. While you shouldn’t play passively, poker is not like other sports and it is often the correct play to fold. When you first start playing poker, it’s easy to get emotionally attached to a hand. This might be a pre-flop hand like a pocket pair or making a pair on the flop. You stay in a hand because you don’t want to get bluffed out of a pot or look weak – or because the competitor in you says there is no way to win if you fold. Unfortunately, by continuously calling bets you never really know where you stand in the hand until it’s too late.
#4 – Improper Bet Sizes
This one is primarily related to no limit and pot limit games. Understanding how to correctly size your bets in these games to manipulate the action comes with experience of playing poker. However, such common betting mistakes that beginners tend to make are easy to fix. New players often raise or bet at the extremes – meaning too little or too much. Some common examples of this are raising the minimum pre-flop in no limit games when there are several players who have already entered the pot or raising 5x-6x the size of the blinds when you are first to enter a hand.
Miss-sizing of bets also occurs after the flop. Beginners will bet the minimum with big hands (two pair or a set) when there are lots of players in the hand allowing them to draw cheaply to a better hand. Conversely, they may also over bet to “protect” their hand. In most cases, these are both incorrect. Ideally, in poker you want to bet an amount that maximizes how much you can win and minimizes how much you can lose.
#5 – Chasing
Similar to #3, a beginner will often stay in a hand hoping other cards will appear that could improve their hand. This could include straight and flush draws, but also calling bets in order to pair an Ace or a second card for two pair. Calling on a draw isn’t necessarily a wrong, but the mistake that beginners often make is chase getting improper pot odds to do so. While you might hit the card(s) you need in one particular hand, if you are chasing without the right odds you will lose money in the long run.
#6 – Overvaluing Marginal Hands
A very common mistake among beginners is playing hands that look good on the surface, but in reality hold little value or are easily dominated by other hands. In hold’em, examples include suited cards or face cards with bad kickers (K3, Q5, etc.). Additionally, this includes high hand combinations like QT, KJ or A9. While these hands are not unplayable, knowing how to play them comes with experience. The challenge with these face cards is that there aren’t many flops that you can be confident that you have the best hand. Even if you do make a pair, you can easily be out-kicked or beaten by a higher pocket pair.
Good Starting Hands In Texas Hold Em
#7 – Letting Emotions Affect Your Play
Whether it is from a bad day at work or a bad beat at the table, emotions can affect how you make decisions. This can result in unprofitable poker actions like chasing losses, making desperate moves or allowing your ego to take over. Beginners will often make rash, emotional decisions that can act like blinders, preventing them from taking in all the information they need to make a smart decision. Stuff happens. So if you feel like you are starting to make emotional decisions in a poker game, just take a step back and reset your mind.
#8 – Playing Out of Position
Top 10 Best Starting Hands In Texas Holdem
There are many other factors that weigh into a poker decision beyond just the cards. Your position in relation to the order in which the action occur is one of them. Being able to act last in a hand allows you to see how everyone else is going to act before making your decision. This is a very powerful concept. The mistake beginner poker players make is entering a pot or calling a raise out of position without a plan. They get lost in the hand because they don’t have enough information about where they stand.
#9 – Bluffing Too Much
Some players who are new to the game think poker is all about bluffing. While it is satisfying to bluff someone out of a pot, you should develop an optimal percentage of bluffing in order to not become predictable. For a bluff to work, your opponents need to think you have a real poker hand. If you are always bluffing, your bluffs will not be believable and people will start to look you up. Another component to bluffing is that your bets need to tell a believable story and you should be representing a particular hand instead of just random aggression.
#10 – Playing Above Your Bankroll
Even if you are only playing poker recreationally, it is still important to manage a poker bankroll. Most beginners do not understand the role that variance plays in poker. You can be playing great, but still go through a long losing streak. If you don’t manage your poker money properly and play within your limits, you will burn through your money. Even if you develop the skills to play at a higher level, if you don’t have the bankroll to withstand the inevitable variance that comes with poker, you will go broke.
Mistakes Are an Opportunity to Learn
Mistakes at the poker table can prove costly but as a beginner you should see them as an opportunity to learn. Don’t worry if you’re guilty of making any of the mistakes listed in this lesson. Everyone who plays poker makes mistakes all the time. Skilled poker players just make fewer mistakes. Hopefully now you know what needs improving and what parts of your game you should consider working on.
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By Donovan Panone
Donovan started playing poker in 2004 and is an experienced tournament and cash game player who has a passion for teaching and helping others improve their game.