Hands To Play In Poker

4/9/2022 admin

Preflop Poker Hands and Position. Position is everything in texas hold'em. It is definitely the most important aspect of the game. The importance of position in hold'em cannot be emphasized enough. You must play very tight poker in early position, but you should loosen way up as you get closer to the button. A pair of queens, also known as 'ladies,' rounds out the top three best starting hands for Texas Hold 'em poker. You will hear many groans from players over this hand. It looks so pretty and it is strong, but they have often had it busted in the past. If an ace or king comes on. At the begging of each round of Texas Hold 'Em poker, you are dealt two cards. These are your hole cards or starting hand. Those hole cards can eventually be used with the cards revealed in the flop, turn and river to assemble a (hopefully) winning hand. After you are dealt your starting cards, there is.

What Hands To Play In Poker Chart
Best Hands To Play In Poker
Hands To Play In Poker

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. Despite this difficulty, our coaches believe that following some general guidelines and adjusting from these is a better solution than having no guidelines at all. Given that well over half of your profitability in NL Hold’em is based on hand selection alone, we have developed these charts to help you better determine whether to play or fold.

There are no perfect No-Limit starting hand charts. That is because there are many factors that affect your decision, and charts cannot account for all of them. Some of these include:

The size of your opponent's stacks.
How loose or tight, passive or aggressive, your opponents are.
Where these opponents are located at the table – for example, does an aggressive player still have to act after you?
Your image at the table – for example, how tight or tricky you are perceived.

That being said, these charts will serve you well in most typical low-stakes No-Limit cash games, such as games with blinds of $1/$2, and home games. These games typically have several loose players at the table, and good opportunities for winning big pots with suited connectors and pocket pairs. With practice, you will be able to be a consistently winning player with these charts as a starting point. As you improve, you'll find yourself making adjustments to these charts based on the factors listed above, and more.

AGAIN: These charts are a good starting point for beginners. Specifically, Chart #1 recommends a significant amount of limping. This is great in loose, passive games but less often seen in tougher games. You’ll find other training material on Advanced Poker Training that may recommend a more aggressive approach for more experienced players.

Note: It would be a serious mistake to apply these hand charts before reading the Frequent Asked Questions first.

CHART #1 ‐ LOOSE, PASSIVE GAME (OFTEN 4-5 LIMPERS PER HAND)
NO ONE HAS RAISED YET

Raise Always
Call from Early Position, otherwise raise
Call always
Call from Middle or Late Position if the conditions are right (see Frequently Asked Questions)

CHART #2 ‐ TIGHTER GAME (FEWER LIMPERS) OR MORE AGGRESSIVE GAME
NO ONE HAS RAISED YET

Raise Always
Call from Early Position, otherwise raise
Call (or Raise) from Middle or Late Position if the conditions are right (see Frequently Asked Questions)

CHART #3 ‐ THERE HAS BEEN A SINGLE RAISE
(3‐5 TIMES THE BIG BLIND) BEFORE YOU

Re‐Raise Always
Call from Early Position, otherwise re‐raise
Call always
Call from Middle or Late Position if the conditions are right (see Frequently Asked Questions)

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

For the hands in yellow, what do you mean when you say to play these hands if the conditions are right? The hands in yellow are speculative hands. They should always be folded from Early Position. From other positions, they can be profitable given the right conditions. Some of the questions to ask yourself:

Are there other players who have called so far (the more, the better)?
Are the players who have called playing poorly after the flop? Will they pay me off if I hit something?
Is there an aggressive player still to act behind me (you might get raised and have to fold)?
If there has been a raise and no other callers, what chance do I have of using my position after the flop to win the hand even if I don't improve (Chart #3 only)?

Why does Chart #2 say to sometimes raise with the hands in yellow, but Chart #1 does not? We have different goals in mind. Using Chart #1, we want to call to encourage additional players to enter the pot. These hands will be immensely profitable when our loose, passive opponents enter the hand, and get trapped when we flop a set, or make a well-disguised straight. When using Chart #2, however, we want to size up the opponents still to act. If they are tight, we can raise. Sometimes, we'll pick up the blinds. Other times, our pre-flop aggression will allow us to take down the pot on the flop.

What's the difference between AKs and AKo? AKs means an Ace and King of the same suit. AKo means an Ace and King of different suits.

What are early, middle, and late position? Early Position is generally the first 2 (in a nine player game) or 3 (in a ten player game) positions after the blinds. Late Position is the “cutoff” position (to the right of the dealer), and dealer button positions. Middle Position is everything in between.

How much should I raise? As a general rule, raise 3 to 4 times the big blind, plus 1 extra big blind for every player who has called before you. So if there are 2 callers already, raise between 5 and 6 times the big blind.

What if someone raises after I call? Whether you call the raise depends on how much money the raiser has for you to win, how many other players are involved, and what type of hand you have. As a general rule, if you have a pocket pair, lean towards calling. If there are a lot of other players (and therefore a big pot), lean towards calling. In general, fold suited connectors from early position. Fold hands like KQ that don't play well against a raiser.

How do I play from the blinds? From the small blind, play the same hands you would play from late position, plus a few more. But don't call with junk hands like T5o, just because it is “cheap”. From the big blind, if there is a raise to you, play like you would if you had already called from early position.

The chart says to fold KQo to a raise. Really? Yes, this hand performs very poorly against typical raising hands. Against AK, AQ, AA, KK, QQ, you are a big underdog. Other typical raising hands like JJ, TT, 99, AJs, are slightly ahead of you as well. The only time you might call or re-raise is from late position, if the opener was in middle or late position, indicating they might have a wider range of hands.

I was told to fold AJo from Early Position, why do you say to call with it? Folding AJo is not a bad idea in many games. We included it because, at low stakes tables (even tight or aggressive ones), the players are often playing badly enough after the flop that it can be profitable. We used data from millions of hands of low-limit poker to analyze this. The same could be said for KQo, ATs, and KJs – you can make a small profit in the long run at most low-stakes games, but folding would be perfectly acceptable from early position.

Can I use these charts in a NL Hold'em tournament? The charts would be best applicable to the early stages of a NL tournament, when everyone has a deep stack. In the middle and later stages, they should not be used.

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The Top Texas Holdem Poker Starting Hands

Every Poker player knows that you don’t play every hand you’re dealt. But, how do you know which hands to play and which to fold?

Best Starting Hands in Texas Holdem Poker to Play

What Hands To Play In Poker Chart

How do you know which starting hands to play?

This is a question that every poker player, amateur or professional, should always be prepared for at the start of every hand, fundamental to poker strategy. You do not want to play every hand, you must know when to fold. If you know which starting hands to play, you can conduct the game in your favour.

Learn Texas Holdem Poker

Here are the Top 10 Best Starting Hands in Texas Hold’em Poker-

AA – Pocket Aces or Bullets is the strongest starting hand in poker. Play Strongly, But bear in mind – even though it’s is the best starting hand, you will be left with only one pair if the board doesn’t improve.
KK – Pocket Kings or Cowboys – The second-best starting hand after Aces. But if an Ace turns up post-flop, you will lose to anyone holding a single Ace in their starting hand.
QQ – Pocket Queens or Ladies – the third best starting hand with a winning probability of 80% pre-fop.
JJ – Pocket Jacks or Fishhooks – Pre-flop, it has a 78% chance of winning and is still a still a very strong hand. Be mindful of opponents.
AKs – Big Slick – Ace King suited is the top unpaired starting hand to have in a game of poker. Also called Anna Kournikova or Kalashnikov (AK rifle) by recreational players
Ts – TNT or Tension. The nickname for Pocket Tens is because having a pair of tens pre-flop is tense because of the high chance of overcards.
AQs – Big Chick – Ace Queen suited is another hand with the potential to win the pot.
AKo – Big Slick – Ace King off-suits also rank high in the chart and is capable of winning at least 40% of the time against any other hand (except aces or kings).
AJs – Armani Jeans – Ace and Jack suited is better than most other hands. However, if an opponent raises from early position, proceed with caution.
KQs – Marriage – King and Queen suited is a strong hand that can end up a making Royal Flush.

Other Possible Hands–

Best Hands To Play In Poker

Suited Connectors (98s, 76s, T9s)
Offsuit Connectors (T9o, 98o, 54o, JTo)
Suited Gappers (97s, T8s, KJs)

*s refers to suited cards (of the same suit)
*o refers to off-suited cards (of different suits)

There are a possible 169 non-equivalent starting hands (ignoring specific suits) in a standard 52-card deck in Texas Hold’em Poker. So, here’s a chart with detailing the win percentage of Texas Holdem starting hands-

A	K	Q	J	T	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2
A	85%	68%	67%	66%	66%	64%	63%	63%	62%	62%	61%	60%	59%
K	66%	83%	64%	64%	63%	61%	60%	59%	58%	58%	57%	56%	55%
Q	65%	62%	80%	61%	61%	59%	58%	56%	55%	55%	54%	53%	52%
J	65%	62%	59%	78%	59%	57%	56%	54%	53%	52%	51%	50%	50%
T	64%	61%	59%	57%	75%	56%	54%	53%	51%	49%	49%	48%	47%
9	62%	59%	57%	55%	53%	72%	53%	51%	50%	48%	46%	46%	45%
8	61%	58%	55%	53%	52%	50%	69%	50%	49%	47%	45%	43%	43%
7	60%	57%	54%	52%	50%	48%	47%	67%	48%	46%	45%	43%	41%
6	59%	56%	53%	50%	48%	47%	46%	45%	64%	46%	44%	42%	40%
5	60%	55%	52%	49%	47%	45%	44%	43%	43%	61%	44%	43%	41%
4	59%	54%	51%	48%	46%	43%	42%	41%	41%	41%	58%	42%	40%
3	58%	54%	50%	48%	45%	43%	40%	39%	39%	39%	38%	55%	39%
2	57%	53%	49%	47%	44%	42%	40%	37%	37%	37%	36%	35%	51%

Top Texas Holdem Starting Hands You Should Pray For