The first part of Texas Hold’em poker strategy that a lot of players need to learn about is starting hands, and how to play them.
We’re going to break down amounts of starting hands, categories and what you need to know about whether or not to call & limp, raise or fold.
In Texas Hold’em there are 1,326 possible starting hands – (52 x 51)/2 – and you need to know which ones give you the best shot at winning. Technically speaking, before the flop, many of these hands are identical. Ie: there are four variations of AK suited, etc.
From that, we can see that there are 169 non-equivalent starters. Whoa – that’s a lot math/numbers, right? Luckily, most of those hands are going to be thrown away.
You can think of hold cards as having three “shapes”: pairs, suited and offsuit. One hand out of 17 will be paired, 4/17 will be suited and 12/17 are going to be offsuit. From there, you can see there are a lot of shapes that aren’t going to fit at the table.
Just because cards are suited, doesn’t make them automatic plays. As a novice player, it’s hard to keep that in mind all of the time. “But they were suited” is a pretty classic thing to say after committing too much money to a lost-cause-pot.
Below is a breakdown of the value associated with starting hands and their chances of winning:
| Tier | Hole Cards | EV |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs | | 2.32-0.78 |
| 2 | AQs, TT, AK, AJs, KQs, 99 | | 0.59 – 0.38 |
| 3 | ATs, AQ, KJs, 88, KTs, QJs | | 0.32 – 0.20 |
| 4 | A9s, AJ, QTs, KQ, 77, JTs | | 0.19 – 0.1 |
| 5 | A8s, K9s, AT, A5s, A7s | | 0.10 – 0.08 |
| 6 | KJ, 66, T9s, A4s, Q9s | | 0.08 – 0.0 |
| 7 | J9s, QJ, A6s, 55, A3s, K8s, KT | | 0.04 – 0.01 |
| 8 | 98s, T8s, K7s, A2s | | 0.00 |
| 9 | 87s, QT, Q8s, 44, A9, J8s, 76s, JT | | (-) 0.02 – 0.03 |
Look this over and see where some of your starting hands are. The most important thing is getting out and seeing more hands, and learning for yourself.
Tags: Poker Hands, Tips
