When you’re starting on your poker journey, one of the first lessons you’ll learn is the type and strengths of different starting hands. Without knowing this, you don’t have a chance of surviving at the tables.
There is a total of 169 unique poker starting hands. That’s 13 pocket pairs, 78 suited hands and 78 non-suited hands.
This article will take you through the main types of poker starting hands and explain a little about how to play each hand.
Pocket Aces
Let’s start at the top. The best poker starting hands are the top pairs and the highest is aces. Pocket aces is the very best hand you can be dealt in Texas Hold’em poker. Preflop, meaning before any other cards are dealt, there’s not a single hand that is ahead of you.
Aces are incredibly strong because they have all other big pairs crushed, as well as all other broadway hands. People make the mistake of slowplaying aces, but the best play is often to try to get as many chips in the middle as possible as early on in the hand as you can.
Pocket aces are still vulnerable once the board is dealt, such as if other players hit a straight or flush. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or celebrity trying your hand, you occasionally need to be careful. Still, aces are very strong and you’re likely to get paid.
Other Strong Pairs
Behind only pocket aces is pocket kings, the second-best starting hand in the game. If you have kings, then you are only beaten by aces. You still have all of the other pairs well beaten, including queens and jacks.
The problem with kings, other than the small chance that other players have pocket aces, is that you can still be beaten if an ace is dealt as one of the board cards. If the opponent has even a small ace like ace-three, they still win if they hit.
Still, that shouldn’t stop you from being thrilled to see pocket kings and playing them as strongly as possible before the board is dealt. Once the board is dealt with, you need to be wary of aces, but in most cases, you can get paid post-flop.
Pocket Queens comes next and is still a very strong hand, the third-best starting hand in poker. Of course, now you’ll have to look out for aces and kings, but there’s still a lot of hands that you beat and it’s rare you’ll fold pre-flop.
Jacks and Tens
Pocket jacks and tens are often considered to be on the borderline between being premium pairs and middle pairs. They are still in very strong hands and ahead of a lot of other players. But now there’s also a lot that can beat you, including higher pocket pairs and broadways on the board such as queens, kings, or aces.
Pocket jacks and tens is where you’ll usually start to be a bit more cautious preflop and a lot more cautious postflop, looking out for hands that have you crushed. Still, you will usually bet and raise with these hands unless you see others getting really aggressive.
With hands like these, it often comes down to stack depth. In poker tournaments online, such as the Sit and Go tournaments, the stacks are usually relatively short and the action quick. In these circumstances, it’s often best to play for stacks with hands like jacks and tens. When it comes to online multi-table tournaments, stacks are often much deeper, so decisions need to be made more carefully, and the size of the pot controlled.
Premium Broadways
Premium broadway cards such as ace-king, ace-queen, king-queen and ace-jack, are among the best poker starting hands in the game. They will have a lot of other player’s hands dominated and usually play well postflop.
The problem here is that if you miss the flop, i.e. don’t hit one of your cards, then it’s tough to know when and how to continue. For example, if you have ace-king and neither an ace nor king comes, then you may be in a situation in which you’ll have to fold to a bet.
You’ll hit the flop around one-third of the time and will usually be ahead when you do make a pair, so there’s a lot of value in these hands, especially the strongest ones like ace-king.
Suited Connectors
Another category of poker starting hands is suited connectors. They are hands that are both the same suit and run together to give the possibility of making a straight, such as ten-nine suited.
Suited connectors are not considered premium hands and there are lots of situations in which you should fold the hand preflop. However, they do have great playability postflop, so if you can get into the pot for cheap then they are a viable option, especially if you are in position.
One-gap-suited connectors, such as ten-eight suited can also be played in a similar way, although you should keep in mind that they have less value than pure-suited connectors.
Small to Medium Pairs
Small to medium pairs are speculative poker starting hands. Usually, you’ll be playing these hands in order to try to hit a set (three-of-a-kind). The idea is to get in the pot cheaply and flop big, getting out of there if you miss.
There is a difference in the strength of these hands. For example, pocket nines are very different from pocket twos. With a stronger middle pair, you’ll still have lots of other pairs badly beaten and have a chance to win post flop.
