Best Poker Hands Holdem

NL Hold’em Starting Hand Charts

1. Best Starting Holdem Hands
2. Best Hands In Texas Hold'em

These are the traditional poker hand rankings, which are used in the most popular variants of poker (such as Texas Hold‘em). Whether you’re looking to learn how poker hands rank or what beats what in poker, you’ve come to the right place. Poker Copilot seems popular with Mac users and provides a HUD and database management for both Hold’em and Omaha. Its features are described in several short videos on a dedicated YouTube page. The software includes advanced filtering and a leakfinder function.

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. Although the order of the best poker hands to start with is sometimes contested, this list will give you a rough idea of which hands are stronger than others: #1. Pocket Aces (A♠ A♥). The very best starting hand in Texas Hold'em. The absolutely best hand in poker is the Royal Flush, which is made of Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten, and all of those must be the same suit. For Example, Ah Kh Qh Jh Th would make a Royal Flush hand and is unbeatable by any other combination.

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:

Best Starting Holdem Hands

1. The size of your opponent's stacks.
2. How loose or tight, passive or aggressive, your opponents are.
3. Where these opponents are located at the table – for example, does an aggressive player still have to act after you?
4. 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:

1. Are there other players who have called so far (the more, the better)?
2. Are the players who have called playing poorly after the flop? Will they pay me off if I hit something?
3. Is there an aggressive player still to act behind me (you might get raised and have to fold)?
4. 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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These are the traditional poker hand rankings, which are used in the most popular variants of poker (such as Texas Hold‘em).

Whether you’re looking to learn how poker hands rank or what beats what in poker, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s get started.

Poker Hands from Highest to Lowest

The following poker hand rankings relate to more traditional and popular game types, including:

• No Limit Hold’em
• Limit Hold’em
• Pot Limit Omaha
• 5 Card Draw

The hands are ranked from strongest to weakest.

1. Royal Flush
The best hand possible, a royal flush consists of A, K, Q, J and 10, all of the same suit (extremely rare).

2. Straight Flush
Also very rare, a straight flush consists of any straight that is all the same suit.

3. Four of a Kind
Four of a kind, or ‘quads’, consists of four cards of equal value along with another card known as a side card.

Best Hands In Texas Hold'em

4. Full House
A full house consists of three cards of one value and two cards of another.

5. Flush
A flush is a hand which has all cards of the same suit.

If 2 or more players get to showdown with a flush, the flush with the highest card wins.

6. Straight
A straight has 5 cards of consecutive value that are not all the same suit.

Note that an Ace can be either the high or low end of a straight, but not both at once. So, A-K-Q-J-10 and 5-4-3-2-A are valid straights, but 2-A-K-Q-J is not. 5-4-3-2-A is also known as the wheel, and it is the lowest possible straight.

7. Three of a Kind
Also known as ‘trips’, three of a kind is 3 cards of the same value and 2 side cards of different values.

8. Two Pair
Two pair consists of two cards of equal value, another two cards of equal value, and one extra card.

When two opposing players have two pair, the player with the highest pair wins the pot. For example, Aces and Threes beats Kings and Queens. If both players have the same highest pair, the player with the higher second pair wins. If both players have the exact same two pair, then the player with the higher extra card wins.

9. One Pair
One pair consists of two cards of the same value, and three extra cards. This is the lowest ranking “made” hand.

10. High Card
Five cards that do not interact with each other to make any of the above hands.

Tie-breakers and Kickers

In the event multiple players have the same poker hands, the extra cards come in to play. These cards are called ‘kickers’. The player with the higher kicker will take the pot in this event.

No Limit Hold’em Example: Player AandPlayer B

• Player A has K♥ 9♥
• Player B has A♠ K♦
• The flop, turn and river are K♠-T♣-T♦–4♠-2♣

This means the player’s final poker hands are:

• Player A: K♥ K♠ T♣ T♦ 9♥ for Two Pair, Kings and Tens with a Nine kicker
• Player B: K♦ K♠ T♣ T♦ A♠ for Two Pair, Kings and Tens with an Ace kicker

The winner of the pot is Player B because he has Player A ‘out-kicked’.

In a high card or one pair hand tie-breaker, both players can sometimes have the same kicker. In this case the second kicker is used, and then the third, and so on. If both players’ 5 card hands are identical, then they share the pot equally.

Top 20 Best Texas Hold’em Hands Rankings

I wanted to include something a bit more exciting in this article, so here’s the top 20 No Limit Hold’em starting hands in terms of raw all-in equity (or percentages).

Although the order of the best poker hands to start with is sometimes contested, this list will give you a rough idea of which hands are stronger than others.

I hope you enjoyed this list of poker hands rankings!

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Source:@Upswingpoker.com