
	Texas Hold'em Rules Hand Rankings Starting Hands Betting

TEXAS HOLD'EM STARTING HANDS

The most common mistake the novice players make is playing too many hands. Playing any two-suited cards, any ace or king, or weak hands like 76 off-suit is a sure way to lose money over the long run.

A good player is disciplined, and waits to play good cards. Playing smart poker is frequently boring. A good player typically sees the flop less than 25% of the time, the rest of the time they are studying their opponents and observing what sorts of cards they typically play.

Sklansky and Malmuth have published (in Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players, a must-have book) one of the most widely regarded groupings of starting hands.

Group 1: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs
Group 2: TT, AQs, AJs, KQs, AK
Group 3: 99, JTs, QJs, KJs, ATs, AQ
Group 4: T9s, KQ, 88, QTs, 98s, J9s, AJ, KTs
Group 5: 77, 87s, Q9s, T8s, KJ, QJ, JT, 76s, 97s, AXs, 65s
Group 6: 66, AT, 55, 86s, KT, QT, 54s, K9s, J8s, 75s
Group 7: 44, J9, 64s, T9, 53s, 33, 98, 43s, 22, KXs, T7s, Q8s
Group 8: 87, A9, Q9, 76, 42s, 32s, 96s, 85s, J8, J7s, 65, 54, 74s, K9, T8

A few notes on the above groupings - ATs means Ace Ten suited, AXs means any Ace and "X" card that are suited.

In order to understand when to play any of the above hands, you must be conscious of your position and the other players actions before you. (The position is in reference to where you are relative to the button.)

In general, the better the hand grouping is, the more positions you will be able to successfully play it from. For more detailed account of Sklansky and Malmuth's hand groupings, you should buy their book. It is well-worth the investment.

For a novice player, we would recommend the following starting hands as a guideline:

From any position:
Pairs: AA through TT
Suited cards: AKs through ATs, KQs, KJs, JTs
Unsuited cards: AK, AQ

From middle position:
Pairs: AA through 77
Suited cards: AKs through ATs, KQs through KTs, QJs, JTs, T9s, 98s
Unsuited cards: AK through AT, KQ, KJ, QJ, JT

From late position, play these in addition to those previously mentioned:
Pairs: Any pair
Suited cards: AXs, KQs through K9s, QJs, QTs, JTs, J9s, T9s, T8s, 98s, 97s, 87s, 76s
Unsuited cards: AK through AT, KQ through KT, QJ, JT, QT, J9

In late position you have a positional advantage. In the future betting rounds, you will have the opportunity to act last (or near last). Due to this positional advantage, and the fact that you have less chance of someone raising preflop after you, you can safely play many more hands. For any of the positions, if someone has raised the pot before you, you need much better cards to call with.

The above starting hand recommendations are only for when there have been raises in front of you. For example, you are in late position with 77, and someone has raised in front of you. Typically, you should fold the hand. The problem with calling a raise with any low pocket pair is that after the flop, unless you have flopped a set, it's very hard to know if you have the best hand (and, if there are several callers, most likely you won't have the best hand). The advantage of playing 77 when there's no raise in front of you is that if you make a set on the flop, you have a very good chance of having the best hand.

The importance of position is overlooked by most novice players, and should be taken advantage of by you. If there are a few callers and you have a premium hand, raise with it. Make it costly for other players to play poor hands. Don't voluntarily put yourself in a position where another player has the opportunity to make it costly for you to see the flop with a poor hand. If the other players are letting you see the flop cheaply, then you can safely play more hands.

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