A pair of aces is the best pre-flop hand in Texas Hold'em Poker

In the poker game of Texas hold 'em, a starting hand consists of two hole cards, which belong solely to the player and remain hidden from the other players. Five community cards are also dealt into play. Betting begins before any of the community cards are exposed, and continues throughout the hand. The player's 'playing hand', which will be compared against that of each competing player, is the best 5-card poker hand available from his two hole cards and the five community cards. Unless otherwise specified, here the term hand applies to the player's two hole cards, or starting hand.

2Limit hand rankings

Apr 14, 2009 Since a definitive guide on every hand and how and when to play it in every situation would take more words than a novel, this article will touch on the major points of basic pre-flop hands with broad strokes. Texas Holdem Starting Hands. Watch the video below for some immediate help picking the right Texas Hold'em Starting Hands.
Dec 18, 2018 Full-ring (or 9-handed) games are rare or absent from most online poker sites because 6-max games have replaced them. Skilled regulars prefer 6-max because of the increased hands per hour, and the removal of the three tightest positions (UTG, UTG1 and UTG2) means more opportunities to play pots with weak, passive players.

Known affectionately as American Airlines, pocket rockets, or simply the bullets, a wired pair of aces is the top starting hand in all of Texas holdem. As you can see, bringing aces to battle against nine random hands gives you nearly a one third chance of winding up the winner.

Essentials[edit]

There are 1326 distinct possible combinations of two hole cards from a standard 52-card deck in hold 'em, but since suits have no relative value in this poker variant, many of these hands are identical in value before the flop. For example, A♥J♥ and A♠J♠ are identical in value, because each is a hand consisting of an ace and a jack of the same suit.

Therefore, there are 169 non-equivalent starting hands in hold 'em, which is the sum total of : 13 pocket pairs, 13 × 12 / 2 = 78 suited hands and 78 unsuited hands (13 + 78 + 78 = 169).

These 169 hands are not equally likely. Hold 'em hands are sometimes classified as having one of three 'shapes':

Pairs, (or 'pocket pairs'), which consist of two cards of the same rank (e.g. 9♠9♣). One hand in 17 will be a pair, each occurring with individual probability 1/221 (P(pair) = 3/51 = 1/17).

An alternative means of making this calculation

First Step As confirmed above.

Poker Starting Hand Percentages

There are 2652 possible combination of opening hand.

Second Step

There are 6 different combos of each pair. 9h9c, 9h9s, 9h9d, 9c9s, 9c9d, 9d9s

To calculate the odds of being dealt a pair Unlocking high level duty roulette heavensward.

2652 (possible opening hands) divided by 12 (the number of any particular pair being dealt. As above) Closest casino to melbourne florida.

2652/12 = 221

Suited hands, which contain two cards of the same suit (e.g. A♣6♣). Four hands out of 17 will be suited, and each suited configuration occurs with probability 2/663 (P(suited) = 12/51 = 4/17).

Offsuit hands, which contain two cards of a different suit and rank (e.g. K♠J♥). Twelve out of 17 hands will be nonpair, offsuit hands, each of which occurs with probability 2/221 (P(offsuit non-pair) = 3*(13-1)/51 = 12/17).

It is typical to abbreviate suited hands in hold 'em by affixing an 's' to the hand, as well as to abbreviate non-suited hands with an 'o' (for offsuit). That is,

QQ represents any pair of queens,

KQ represents any king and queen,

AKo represents any ace and king of different suits, and

JTs represents any jack and ten of the same suit.

There are 25 starting hands with a probability of winning at a 10-handed table of greater than 1/7.^[1]

Limit hand rankings[edit]

Some notable theorists and players have created systems to rank the value of starting hands in limit Texas hold'em. These rankings do not apply to no limit play.

Sklansky hand groups[edit]

David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth^[2] assigned in 1999 each hand to a group, and proposed all hands in the group could normally be played similarly. Stronger starting hands are identified by a lower number. Hands without a number are the weakest starting hands. As a general rule, books on Texas hold'em present hand strengths starting with the assumption of a nine or ten person table. The table below illustrates the concept:

Chen formula[edit]

The 'Chen Formula' is a way to compute the 'power ratings' of starting hands that was originally developed by Bill Chen.^[3]

Highest Card: Based on the highest card, assign points as follows:; Ace = 10 points, K = 8 points, Q = 7 points, J = 6 points.; 10 through 2, half of face value (10 = 5 points, 9 = 4.5 points, etc.)

Pairs: For pairs, multiply the points by 2 (AA=20, KK=16, etc.), with a minimum of 5 points for any pair. 55 is given an extra point (i.e., 6).

Suited: Add 2 points for suited cards.

Closeness: Subtract 1 point for 1 gappers (AQ, J9); 2 points for 2 gappers (J8, AJ).; 4 points for 3 gappers (J7, 73).; 5 points for larger gappers, including A2 A3 A4

Add an extra point if connected or 1-gap and your highest card is lower than Q (since you then can make all higher straights)

Phil Hellmuth's: 'Play Poker Like the Pros'[edit]

Phil Hellmuth's 'Play Poker Like the Pros' book published in 2003.

Tier	Hands	Category
1	AA, KK, AKs, QQ, AK	Top 12 Hands
2	JJ, TT, 99
3	88, 77, AQs, AQ
4	66, 55, 44, 33, 22, AJs, ATs, A9s, A8s	Majority Play Hands
5	A7s, A6s, A5s, A4s, A3s, A2s, KQs, KQ	Majority Play Hands
6	QJs, JTs, T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s	Suited Connectors

Statistics based on real online play[edit]

Statistics based on real play with their associated actual value in real bets.^[4]

Tier	Hands	Expected Value
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 - 0.15
5	A8s, K9s, AT, A5s, A7s	0.10 - 0.08
6	KJ, 66, T9s, A4s, Q9s	0.08 - 0.05
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

Nicknames for starting hands[edit]

In poker communities, it is common for hole cards to be given nicknames. While most combinations have a nickname, stronger handed nicknames are generally more recognized, the most notable probably being the 'Big Slick' - Ace and King of the same suit, although an Ace-King of any suit combination is less occasionally referred to as an Anna Kournikova, derived from the initials AK and because it 'lo

9 Handed Poker Starting Hands