Texas Hold’ Em Starting Hands for Beginners

In Texas Hold ‘Em, if there’s one thing that separates winners and losers, it’s this: Winners know what starting hands to play and what to fold. Losers don’t.

It may sound really simple but it means a world of difference in Texas Hold ‘Em. Why’s that, you ask? It’s because most starting hands have absolutely no shot – zero, zip, nada – of winning the pot. That’s such an important factor to winning in Texas Hold ‘Em that I’ll repeat it again for emphasis: most starting hands have no shot of winning the pot.

Unaware of this basic reality, inexperienced Texas Hold ‘Em players tend to bet on so many hands, hoping for a miracle flop to deliver them the pot. Since they are so indiscriminating with their starting hands (it’s called “playing loosely”), they bet on hands that don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. And so, not surprisingly, they lose and lose and lose.

To win, a player must recognize a potential winning hand and ride it. That also means he must recognize a starting hand that means zilch and fold. Remember the old poker saying, “A bet saved is a bet earned.” That’s what a newbie has to learn.

There are complex calculations that prove the contention that most hands really have no chance of winning, but we really don’t have to go into that now, do we? Instead, let’s look at clear-cut proof that most hands can’t win. This proof is on display day in and day out in professional poker games across the globe.

Check out any live or TV poker game involving professional players and one of the first things that will strike you about the game is that players fold so often. They fold quickly after getting their starting hands or a few seconds after studying them. They fold more starting hands than they play. Most of the time, you’ll notice that about half or more of the players on the table will fold their starting hands. That’s because they already know what we are trying to teach you: most starting hands have no shot of winning the pot. After all, why else would poker pros fold so readily, to the extent that they only pay two or three of every 10 starting hands?

Yes, there’s magic in those starting hands. It’s your key to the pot of gold. Fortunately, this article will teach you virtually everything you will need to known about starting hands.

Don’t worry. You won’t have to do any heavy calculations because someone’s already done them for you, way back in 1976. His name is David Sklansky, a guy who quit the Wharton School of Business to become a professional poker player and a winner of three World Series of Poker bracelets. His book, the Theory of Poker, which he released in 1976, has become the quintessential poker primer and it lists the ranking of all two-card hands. With it, poker strategy was greatly simplified, like explaining rocket science to the natives. It’s the main reason why poker legend Doyle Brunson calls Sklansky “Einstein.”

Now, let’s go back to our first lesson, the matter of starting hands.

We’ll reveal today’s lesson in three parts, slowly, like a striptease. First, we’ll talk about the basic types of starting hands and some general ground rules for each of them. Second, we’ll talk about the rankings of starting hands. And finally, we’ll tell you a few things about poker position as it affects starting hands. This will be the most important thing you will learn yet in your young poker life.

Types of Starting Hands

In general, there are four types of starting hands.

Pocket Pairs

The most powerful starting hand is a pair of Aces. However, not all pocket pairs are powerful. For example, a pair of deuces is weak. Medium pairs can win a pot.

Connectors

These are cards that follow each other in a sequence, such as 8-9 or Q-K, whether they belong to the same suit or not.

Gapped Cards

These are cards that have a gap of one or more spaces between them, such as 3-7 or 10-Q, whether they belong to the same suit or not.

Big Cards

The four cards higher than ten – J, Q, K, A. They can be pocket pairs, connectors or gapped cards.

The “winnability” of each of these hands I shown in Sklansky’s table below. However, here are a few easy-to-remember general rules:

Now, with that orientation as background, here is the ranking of starting hands. The “s” means the cards belong to the same suit. Study this table carefully to decipher the difference between a strong hand and a weak one.

If you decide to play only the top 10 hands as listed above in Group 1 and 2, you can already expect your results in Texas Hold ‘Em to improve. However, there are occasions when you can play hands from Group 3 to 6 and still come out a winner, and they have everything to do with your position at the table.

This now leads us to our next lesson in your Texas Hold ‘Em odyssey: understanding poker position. Simply put, your position on the table influences how you play your starting hands.

Playing Different Positions

You can loosen your standards for starting hand selection and take more risks if you’re in a late position, especially if you’re sitting on the button. That’s because you have a chance to see how everyone plays and bets given the community cards. This can give you an idea of the possible hands of your opponents. By the same token, a player in an early position must tighten up his starting hand standards and become a little more conservative about the cards he plays.

Here’s a summary of how a poker player should play given his table position. A neophyte poker player should do all right if he can follow these three general rules.

As you get more experience and learn how to read other players, especially their tells, from the middle or late position, you can take calculated risks and bet beyond the boundaries of the three rules listed here. But that will come down the road. For now, follow these two lessons diligently – choose starting hands carefully and learn how to play from different positions – and that will be enough to improve your poker game dramatically and make you a formidable player.