Starting Hands in Poke

One of the first steps while learning how to play poker is understanding the poker hand rankings. However, merely knowing the Texas poker hands and solid poker hand rankings is not sufficient to be successful at the game. To be a poker pro, one must also learn which starting hands to play and which ones to fold based on the table positions. It is critical to understand how poker hands change according to the table position. Moreover, beyond understanding the poker hand rankings, hands that are worth playing, table positions, etc., a poker player must also take into consideration several factors before making an action: the number of players in the hand, the position and playing style of each player, and the action ahead of them, before making an action.

For instance, A♠️A♦️ and K♣️K♥️ are strong hands that can be played from most positions, while 8♠️4♦️is a weak hand, and a player must not proceed with this hand after the pre-flop round.

Here is a list of the best poker hands that includes the best Texas Hold'em starting hands you must learn to be a successful Texas Hold'em player. The guide also includes position-based starting hands, starting hand notations, types of poker hands, and which starting hands you should play based on your position on the poker table.

Making mistakes in the preflop betting round can ruin your poker game. The knowledge of these starting hands combined with your poker skills, strategy, and style of play can get you quite far in the game. While several players find some poker hands the best, others may prefer other poker hands; however, it ultimately comes down to how you use these poker hands with your skills in different situations within the game. Also, keep in mind that even the best starting hands may turn out to be bad if unsuitable community cards fall on the board.

Starting Hand Notations in Poker

Before understanding the various poker hands, you must also know about how poker hands are described. The starting hand notations in poker are usually indicated with 's', 'o', and '+'.

All texas Hold'em poker hands are divided into two categories: suited and offsuit. Suited poker hands are made of two cards of the same suit. For instance, K♥️ 10♥️, A♠️ K♠️, J♣️ 8♣️, 10♦️ 7♦️ are all suited hands. On the other hand, the Offsuit poker hands are made of two cards of different suits. For instance, K♦️ 7♣️, Q♥️ 9♦️, A♠️ 6♦️, 10♦️ 8♥️ are all offsuit hands.

S - denotes suited hands, implying that two cards are of the same suit.

O - denotes offsuit hands, implying that two cards are of two different suits.

➕- denotes that all similar hands ranking above it are included.

So, a JTs means a jack-ten suited which may be J♦️T♦️, J♥️ T♥️, J♣️ T♣️, or J♠️ T♠️. Similarly, a JTo means a jack-ten offsuit (two different suits) such as J♠️ T♥️.

The last hand notation denoted by '+' can imply different things based on what hand it accompanies. If there's a hand notation 22+, it means you should play 22 and all higher-ranking pocket pairs. An 88+ notation means you should play all pocket players from 88 and higher, so the range will exclude pocket pairs from 22 to 77.

For instance, a QQ+ denotes that similar hands or pairs that rank above QQ are also included. In this case, it means that pocket kings (KK) and pocket aces (AA) are also included.

If the '+' notation is at the end of a hand, such as A6s+, it means you should play all suited aces which are A6s or better. So, you should play A7s, A8s, A9s, ATs, AJs, AQs, and AKs. Similarly, if you see an A8s+ in the poker starting hands chart, it is an ace with a suited 8, 9, 10 or J. A6o means you should play all A7o or better offsuit aces.

Position-Based Starting Hands

Table position is a critical concept that every player must know and understand before playing MPL Poker. Table position refers to the position of each player on the table, the dealer button, the small blind and big blind. All poker hands in Texas Hold'em games begin with one player on the left of the dealer button posting the small blind and the next player posting the big blind as mandatory bets that rotate on the table after each hand.

For a 6-max table, the poker position names are:

Under the Gun (UTG)

Hijack (HJ) or Middle Position (MP)

Cutoff (CO)

Button (BTN)

Small Blind (SB)

Big Blind (BB)

In a full ring table of 9 players, the poker position names are:

Under The Gun (UTG)

UTG+1

UTG+2

Middle Position 1 (MP1) or LoJack (LJ)

Middle Position 2 (MP2) or Hijack (HJ)

Middle Position 3 (MP3) or Cutoff (CO)

Button (BTN)

Small Blind (SB)

Big Blind (BB)

The positions on a nine-handed table are as follows:

The player seated at the immediate left on the button posts the Small Blind, and the player on the left of that player posts the Big Blind.

The player seated immediately left to the player posting the Big Blind is always the first one to act in the preflop betting round. The position of this player is called Under the Gun or UTG.

Following UTG in a clockwise direction, the positions are UTG+1 and UTG+2. All the UTG positions are called early positions or EP. The players seated at UTG positions are the first players to act in pre-flop, and so their starting hand ranges must be tighter for the other player acting after them.

At the left of UTG+2 comes the LoJack and HiJack positions, respectively. These two positions are also referred to as the middle positions or MP.

To the left of the HiJack is the Cut Off Position and then the Button, which are referred to as late positions or LP.

The player at UTG starts the preflop round of betting, and the player at the Big Blind position ends the betting. In all subsequent rounds after the preflop round, the player at small blind (or the player to the left if the player at small blind folds) starts the betting round and the player at the button ends the round.

Since the player seated at the button is always the last one to act in the flop, turn, and river betting rounds, they should always implement a looser starting hands range as other players have already acted before them. The last player in the betting round is referred to as being in-position or IP, and other players are considered out-of-position or OOP.

When you look at a starting hands chart, three points should be clear:

The closer your hand is to the top of the chart, the stronger and the better it is.

You should be more aggressive with limpers and cautious with raisers.

You can play more hands from a late position.

Which Starting Hands Should You Play From Your Position?

Once you have learned about the poker table positions and their importance in a poker game, you must also understand which starting hands to play from your position. Below is a Position Chart you can use as a guide to know which poker hands to play from a particular position:

Playing Pairs and Suited Hands:

Playing Off-Suited Hands:

Starting Hand Ranges from UTG Position in Full-Ring Poker

The image represents all the possible starting hands in Texas Hold'em poker, while the red squares indicate the hands you should play from the UTG position. Take a closer look, and you will find that the pocket pairs 22 through AA bisect the table diagonally into two halves. The hands to the right of this line are all suited hands, and the ones to the left are the offsuit hands.

The highlighted hands on the table are the hands you should play from the Under The Gun (UTG) position. The ranges include 77+, T9s+, QTs+, KTs+, AQo+, and ATs+. This range is the tightest compared to other starting ranges.

You are more likely to face 3-bets raises and calls in the UTG position, so this poker hand range will play well postflop as they are the strongest starting hands.

Starting Hand Ranges from LoJack Position

The image represents all the possible starting hands in Texas Hold'em, while the red squares indicate the hands you should play from the LoJack position. The highlighted poker hand range on the table included the poker hands that you should 'raise first in' from the LoJack position when all the players in the early positions have folded.

This poker hand range includes all suited aces A2s+, suited connectors 76s+, pocket pairs 55+, one-gappers J9s+, and two-gappers Q9s+ as the LoJack position comes after the early positions. The poker hand range also includes a suited three-gapper K9s and an offsuit broadway hand AJo (broadway hands have two cards which are ace, king, queen, jack, or ten) because, in the LoJack position, you can include more hands in the starting hands since there are only a few players left to act after you.

Starting Hand Ranges from the Button

The poker hand range in the Button (BTN) position is much wider than the UTG and LoJack ranges. The hands that you can play in this range include most of the suited kings K4+, all of the pocket pairs 22+, almost all suited connectors 43s+, one-gappers 53s+, and several offsuit aces A4o+.

At the BTN position, you have only the Blinds to play after you; therefore, you can raise first in with many hands. The wide range of poker hands to raise first in also includes suited two-gappers 96s+, three gappers J7s+, offsuit hands like K9o, Q9o+, J9o+, and T9o+, and most of the suited queens Q6s+. With this range of starting hands at the button position, the blinds are more likely to fold, and you can win the pot before reaching the flop. Therefore, in this range, even the weakest hands can become profitable.

Types of Poker Hands

The right poker starting hand percentage is based on several factors. However, the most playable hands mainly fall into the following types of poker hands: Pairs, Aces, Connectors, Gappers, and Other Premium Hands. Let's take a look at different types of poker hands:

Pocket Pairs

Pairs are always good poker hands; however, there's a huge difference between a premium pair such as AA, KK, QQ and medium pairs such as 99, 88, 77, 66, 55 or small pairs such as 44, 33, 22. Premium pairs are much stronger than medium and small pairs in the poker hand rankings chart.

Premium Pocket Pairs

Premium pocket pairs such as pocket aces (AA), pocket kings (KK), and pocket queens (QQ), are usually good to be raised preflop so that weaker hands don't outdraw your strong hands. The TT+ hands can be raised from any position and are profitable in the long run. When you have an advantage, you should use it before the flop and build a big pot or go all-in. You can call a preflop bet to set a trap with pocket aces.

Middle Pocket Pairs

The medium pocket pairs from 99 to 55 are played quite similar to the low pocket pairs and get most of their value from the time when you flop a set such as a concealed three-of-a-kind. These pairs are good preflop holdings but you should not play them aggressively like you would with premium pairs. In a full ring game, 55 and 66 are considered the weakest hands that should be folded from an early position. The medium pairs are worth raising from middle to late position in an unopened pot and are capable of making you win the pot.

Low Pocket Pairs

The low pocket pairs from 44 to 22 are weak hands that you should never play as a raise first in from early positions. These hands can be profitable when you play them from late positions. With low pocket pairs, you may often hit a set such as a three-of-a-kind on the flop.

Offsuit Hands

Offsuit hands include several premium hands, sometimes playable hands, and weakest starting hands. Poker hands such as AKs, AQs, JJ, and AKo are attractive hands but not as strong as the premium pairs.

Best Poker Hands

The premium offsuit hands such as AKo and AQ0 are the best hands in this category that should be played as a raise first in from any position, in 6-max or full ring games. In a 6-max game, you can also use hands such as KQs and AJs as premium hands and open with these hands from any position.

Sometimes Playable

Poker hands like KQo and AJo stand on the borderline of premium hands. You should fold such hands from the early positions in a full ring game. Other offsuit hands included in the sometimes playable hands list are JT0+, QTo+, KTo+, and A4o through ATo. The other hands that are at the bottom of this range include A2o and A3o which should be played only sometimes from a late position.

Weakest Starting Hands

The weakest starting hands in Texas Hold'em games you should never play as a raise first in are Q5o, J6o, 84o, and 52o. It is critical to your game that you make it a habit of picking appropriate hands to play from each position as the majority of starting hands in Texas Hold'em fall into this category. You may experience these unplayable hands most times but you can still try opening with the weakest starting hands.

Aces

This category discusses the non-premium and non-paired aces such as A2 through AJs and other offsuit aces except AKo. Flopping an ace without a strong kicker can have devastating impacts on a non-premium ace hand because another ace hand with a higher kicker can dominate this hand easily. Suited aces are more appealing and you can consider suited aces as drawing hands to see the flop cheaply.

Suited Hands

Suited hands include connectors and gappers. Connectors are cards that are closely connected by rank while gappers are similar to connectors with a gap between the rank of the cards.

Suited Connectors

Suited Connectors are hands that include two cards closely connected by rank and are of the same suit. For example, the best-suited connectors are hands such as AKs, KQs, QJs, JTs, and T9s. These hands include cards that are of the same suit but not of the same rank. AKs is considered as a premium hand that can be played from any position. KQs is also a good hand like AKs. The QJs, JTs, and T9s are good hands that play well from most positions and possess the capability to draw to straights and flushes to win big pots.

The lower connectors in this category include 76s and 54s. You can play these hands as a raise first in from late positions but you should always fold these hands from early positions.

You can play offsuit connectors similarly, but they are generally weak hands. If the offsuit connectors are fairly high cards, the opposition is weak, and the pot is small such as 89o+, you can call or raise from a late position.

Suited Gappers

Suited Gappers are hands that include two cards of the same suit but of a closely related rank. For example, KJs, QTs, T8s, and 75s are suited gappers. While gappers aren't as profitable as connectors, you can still connect them with the board to win big pots. When using gappers, you should be more selective with your hands if the gap is big. There are hands that be made with two-gappers like KTs, Q9s, and 74s, and then there are three gappers like K9s, Q8s, and 73s. You can play the one-gapper top hand like KJs to raise from middle to late positions. The two and three gappers are playable from late positions only.

Best Poker Hands - Texas Hold'em Starting Hands

Ace-Ace

The best starting hand in Texas Hold'em poker is the Ace-Ace poker hand. Ace-Ace, also known as Pocket Rockets, Pocket Aces, American Airlines, or Bullets, can be played from every position - early, middle, and late. Pocket Aces are strong, so they are the most preferred pre-flop hand over any other two cards and 4:1 favorite over any other poker hand. The probability of being dealt pocket aces is 1 in every 221 poker hands. Aces win 80% of times but may lose against better ones.

King-King

The second best poker hand in Texas Holdem is the King-King poker hand that can help win big pots. The King-King poker hand is also called Pocket Kings, Cowboys, and King Kong. Pocket Kings are among the best poker hands against any hands other than pocket aces. Kings have a 70% equity versus an ace. Therefore, pocket kings are a strong pre-flop hand in poker.

Queen-Queen

Queen-Queen, also called Ladies or Two Queens, is a strong poker hand. While the Ladies make a great hand pre-flop, it can be difficult to play them post-flop, especially in the presence of overcards.

Ace-King (Suited)

Ace-King is a premium hand in Texas Hold'em and is one of the strongest drawing poker hands. The Ace King poker hand is also known as Anna Kournikova or Big Slick and is the fourth-best starting hand as it beats all pocket pairs except for pocket aces and pocket kings. A suited Ace-King is stronger than an unsuited Ace-King as the player can hit a nit flush easily. The poker hand holds a 34% equity in Texas Hold'em poker making it one of the strongest unpaired holdings even against the pocket kings.

Jack-Jack

Another one of the best starting poker hands is the Jack-Jack hand, also called Fishhooks or Hooks. It has a 38% equity versus AA-QQ and AK-AQ(suited). A JJ poker hand will make you win 20% of the times unless the flop shows an ace, king, or queen. The fishhook is a strong pre-flop hand over any lower pocket pair and a strong and against unpaired hands. If you hold the jacks in a late position, they are strong if the pot is unraised but not if another player in an early position raises the pot.

10-10

The 10-10 poker hand, also known as Dimes or Pocket Tens, are one of the favourites of poker players. The pocket tens are considered a strong poker hands in Texas Hold'em poker, as you can still win even if you don't get another 10 on the flop. However, it is sometimes wiser to fold pocket tens before the flop if there has been a lot of action by other players before you.

While some poker players believe a suited King-Jack to be a stronger poker hand than Jack-Jack, Pocket tens are also strong against any two random cards.

Ace-Queen (suited)

A suited ace-queen, also called Little SLick or Big Chick, is also one of the best starting hands in Texas Hold'em. Many poker players value the AQs above J-J and 10-10 as they consider this poker hand to be the second-best drawing hand. When AQ is suited, it makes the odds of winning 20%. Even though an Ace-Queen suited is a strong poker hand, it is sometimes better to fold even with a pair on the flop.

Ace-Jack

Similar to the Ace-King hand or an Ace-Queen hand, a suited Ace-Jack (AJs) hand can make a Royal Flush. However, with an Ace-Jack, you should be careful f your opponent from an early position has raised 3 bets. The Ace-Jack hand can lose against any Ace-King or Ace-Queen hand combination. The Ace-Jack is considered a good starting hand, and it makes the odds of winning 18% in combination with 5 up cards.

Ace-Ten

An Ace-Ten is a good poker hand due to the Ace high-card. With a J-Q-K on the board, an Ace-Ten can make a straight poker hand. However, if the Ace-Ten is unsuited, you should be careful playing this hand too strong. Usually, an Ace-Ten hand is still a good hand in combination with five up cards, which makes the odds of winning 17%.

King-Jack/Queen-Jack

For later positions, a King-Jack hand is a food starting hand. However, it can be beaten by the bigger hands in the above list of poker hands. Therefore, with a King-Jack, if a player raises big before, it is better that you fold. A suited King-Jack makes the odds of winning over 19% of the times but an unsuited King-Jack drops the odds of winning to 15%.

For a Queen-Jack hand in combination with five up cards on the board, the odds of winning are 17% of the time. Although bot King-Jack and Queen-Jack hands can be profitable, you must play these poker hands carefully while facing big bets.