Your starting hand consists of the two pocket cards you receive at the beginning of the hand. The starting hand is crucial in Texas Hold'em. It is what sets you apart from the other players, and ultimately determines the winner.
If we consider all possible combinations of two pocket cards, we get 52×51=2652 possible starting hands. Fortunately, the order in which you are dealt these two pocket cards doesn't matter, which means that the relevant number of starting hands is only half as many, 2652/2=1326. However, it is still a significant number, and the purpose of presenting it is to give you an insight into the size of the playing field in Texas Hold'em.
The majority of these 1326 hands consist of garbage hands that are never playable on crowded poker tables. It's important to note that in this strategy article, we will solely focus on crowded poker tables with 9-10 players as this is the type of table that is most suitable for beginners. The fewer players at the table, the more hands become playable and the more complex the game becomes. Acting in black and white is easy. The gray area in between is much more difficult to interpret. When learning something new, it's always best to start with the simple and work towards the complex. That's why we emphasize crowded tables with 9-10 players.
Below, we will provide you with a list of top-ranking and bottom-ranking starting hands. Each ranked hand in these two lists represents multiple starting hands in the complete list of 1326 starting hands. For example, AA represents six different starting hands: Ac-Ad, Ac-Ah, Ac-As, Ad-Ah, Ad-As, and Ah-As.
Here is the top 10 list of starting hands in Texas Hold'em poker: 1. Topp 10. AA 2. KK 3. QQ 4. AK 5. JJ 6. AQ 7. TT 8. 999 9. KQ 10. AJ
The worst hand in poker, known as the "Sämsta 101," is a combination of cards that no player wants to have. It consists of the cards 2, 7, 2, 8, 3, 2, 7, 3, 8, 4, 2, 6, 5, 2, 9, 3, 9, 4, 2, 6, 5, 3, 9, 4, 9, 6, 3, 9, 4, 7, 8, 5, 8, 5, 3, 6, 9. This hand is considered one of the weakest in the game and is often associated with bad luck. Players try to avoid getting these cards as it significantly decreases their chances of winning. It is important to note that the value and strength of a hand can vary depending on the game and strategy being used.
Approximately 7.5% of all starting hands make up the top ten best hands, whereas approximately 33.8% of all starting hands constitute the ten worst hands. In between, there exists a vast array of starting hands that account for the remaining 58.7%. This middle ground encompasses a gray area, where players must navigate and assess the potential value and strength of their starting hands. Understanding the distribution and composition of starting hands is crucial in developing a strategic approach to the game.
The top five hands are commonly referred to as premium hands, and when you find yourself with one of these hands before the flop, you hardly ever need to hesitate. They are always worth everything your opponents are willing to bet on their hands and usually even more.
The hand AA is by far the best of them all, guaranteeing you never less than a 50% chance to win at showdown. The number of opponents you face and the strength of their starting hands directly affect your chances of winning. The fewer opponents you encounter and the weaker their starting hands, the greater your chances of winning. With AA, the probability of winning at best reaches around 95%. On average, the likelihood of winning with AA is around 80% at a full table. It's important to note that this winning probability accounts for all possible combinations of both community cards and opponents' pocket cards. The community cards may not always work in your favor, so you must adapt your gameplay to the actual community cards dealt, regardless of how strong your starting hand is. The strength of your starting hand determines your actions before the flop, while the community cards, combined with your starting hand, determine your actions on the flop, turn, and river.
It is essential that you comprehend that even if a hand is fully playable based on the strength of the starting hand and other circumstances at the table, it does not automatically mean that you will win the showdown. Despite playing by all the rules of the game, you will still lose hands. It's just a part of poker. Skill plays a bigger role than luck over the course of many hands, but in each individual hand, luck can determine the outcome. However, if you lose more than you win over thousands of hands, you are probably making a serious mistake.
In any case, what determines the strength of a starting hand is primarily the ranking of the cards involved. In the world of poker strategy, the ranks of the cards are loosely divided into three categories.
Medium cards: 7, 8, 9 High cards: T, J, Q, K, A Low cards: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
The higher the rank of the cards, the stronger the starting hand. It is also not enough for one of the cards to have a high rank; both cards must have it for the hand to be considered strong. A starting hand becomes slightly stronger if both cards are of the same suit. It also becomes slightly stronger if the cards can form a straight and the closer the cards are in rank, the stronger the starting hand becomes in this regard. However, whether the cards belong to the same suit or are adjacent in the same sequence is of secondary importance. The primary factor is the rank of the cards. Starting hands that are pairs are generally strong, but here too, one must consider the rank of the cards. A low pocket pair, for example, is weaker than the majority of all possible combinations of high cards of different ranks.
Before we proceed, let us take this opportunity to outline and clarify the three categories of starting hands we have just mentioned.
Pocket Pair: When both pocket cards have the same rank, the starting hand is called a pocket pair. Colored Pocket Cards: When both pocket cards have the same color, the starting hand is called colored. Linked Pocket Cards: When there is only one rank difference between the pocket cards, the starting hand is called linked.
The reason why the rank of cards is so crucial has to do with the potential improvement of starting hands. A starting hand consisting of two cards of different ranks has a 49% chance of improving to a pair on the river, which is the fifth and final community card. However, the probability of improving the same starting hand to a pair of the higher-ranked card is only 28%. The likelihood of improving a starting hand where both cards have the same rank, commonly known as a pocket pair, to three of a kind is only 19%. The odds of improving two pocket cards of the same suit to a complete flush are significantly lower, and the chances of improving two pocket cards with just one rank difference to a straight are even lower.
Having one or both of the pocket cards ranked low renders the starting hand worthless. Such a hand will almost always lose at showdown if the table is full. The probability of forming a pair is significantly higher than the probability of forming a higher-ranked hand, and if a player only holds high pocket cards, they will end up with a high pair in approximately half of the cases where they choose to play until the river.
When you find yourself in the final betting round with more than one opponent remaining, it is crucial to consider that at least one of them is likely to have a pair, and it's not impossible for someone to have an even higher-ranking hand than this assumed pair. Everything depends on the specific community cards that can potentially create hands such as two pairs, three of a kind, a straight, or a flush. However, hands better than these are exceedingly rare.
On a fully packed table, roughly one out of every ten hands can be considered playable, give or take. Numerous factors, such as your position at the table and the playing styles and actions of your fellow players, may affect the number of playable hands, either increasing or decreasing it.
Put simply, the earlier you act in the first betting round, the stronger your hand must be in order to play it. Conversely, the later you act in the first betting round, the weaker hand you can play. The earliest position is held by the player sitting after the big blind, on the left side. The last position is held by the player marked with the dealer button. Although the small blind (SB) and big blind (BB) act after the player on the dealer button, they are not considered late positions because they have already placed bets and must also act first in the subsequent betting round if they choose to play their starting hands. When you are in the last position, on average, you should be able to play about twice as many starting hands as from the earliest position.
However, it is necessary to note that one must adapt to how other players play. If multiple players raise before you, the likelihood is high that several of them also hold strong starting hands. The more players that raise before you, the stronger starting hand you must hold in order for it to be playable.
Although the article was written with crowded tables in mind, it is still necessary to clarify the relationship between the number of players at the table and the playability of the starting hand. On a table with 5 players, on average, you should be able to play twice as many hands as you can on a table with 10 players. It must also be emphasized that there is a significant difference between having a single opponent remaining in the hand and playing at a table where there is only one opponent. You can play much looser at a table where there is only one opponent in total than you can on a crowded table where you only have one opponent left in the hand. Of course, you can play looser on a crowded table with only one opponent remaining in the hand compared to if you had multiple opponents remaining in the hand at the same table, but it cannot be compared to the style of play suitable for a table where there is only one opponent to begin with.
As you surely comprehend, it is necessary to lie down frequently when playing Texas Hold'em at a crowded table. So frequently that you will become bored if you only play at one table. Firstly, you will rarely have playable hands, and secondly, it will take a very long time for all players to act. Therefore, from the very beginning, it's all about playing at two crowded tables. As soon as you can handle two tables, you should add a third table.
The ability to play at multiple tables simultaneously is the true strength of online poker, and it is crucial that you take advantage of the opportunities presented to you, whether it involves playing at multiple tables or identifying and capitalizing on players who are weaker than yourself, a task that should come easily to you if you have absorbed the preceding chapter on playing style. It is imperative that you maximize the potential afforded to you in order to maximize your success in the world of online poker.