Best Texas Holdem Hand Ever
The Top Texas Holdem Poker Starting Hands
Every Poker player knows that you don’t play every hand you’re dealt. But, how do you know which hands to play and which to fold?
Common Texas Hold’em Hand Rankings In Texas Hold’em, the best poker hand is a royal flush, followed by a straight flush and then on down. In other variants the best hand differs.
Best Starting Hands in Texas Holdem Poker to Play
How do you know which starting hands to play?
Most of the time in Texas holdem you’ll still have the best hand with a flush in these situations, but you always need to know what the best possible hand is before deciding how much to risk in the pot. Other hands to watch out for include possible straights and boards that have a high likelihood of having two pair. The best possible one pair is shown in this example with the pair of aces and a king kicker. A High Card is the highest card in your hand when you have made no other hand. The example is the best high card hand possible with an Ace High and a King Kicker. Pocket Aces – statistically the best starting hand in Hold’em – are less than a 75% favorite against 2 or more opponents according to my Texas Hold’em hand rankings. If you’ve ever played Texas Hold’em you already know how important starting hand selection is. 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.
This is a question that every poker player, amateur or professional, should always be prepared for at the start of every hand, fundamental to poker strategy. You do not want to play every hand, you must know when to fold. If you know which starting hands to play, you can conduct the game in your favour.
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Here are the Top 10 Best Starting Hands in Texas Hold’em Poker-
- AA – Pocket Aces or Bullets is the strongest starting hand in poker. Play Strongly, But bear in mind – even though it’s is the best starting hand, you will be left with only one pair if the board doesn’t improve.
- KK – Pocket Kings or Cowboys – The second-best starting hand after Aces. But if an Ace turns up post-flop, you will lose to anyone holding a single Ace in their starting hand.
- QQ – Pocket Queens or Ladies – the third best starting hand with a winning probability of 80% pre-fop.
- JJ – Pocket Jacks or Fishhooks – Pre-flop, it has a 78% chance of winning and is still a still a very strong hand. Be mindful of opponents.
- AKs – Big Slick – Ace King suited is the top unpaired starting hand to have in a game of poker. Also called Anna Kournikova or Kalashnikov (AK rifle) by recreational players
- Ts – TNT or Tension. The nickname for Pocket Tens is because having a pair of tens pre-flop is tense because of the high chance of overcards.
- AQs – Big Chick – Ace Queen suited is another hand with the potential to win the pot.
- AKo – Big Slick – Ace King off-suits also rank high in the chart and is capable of winning at least 40% of the time against any other hand (except aces or kings).
- AJs – Armani Jeans – Ace and Jack suited is better than most other hands. However, if an opponent raises from early position, proceed with caution.
- KQs – Marriage – King and Queen suited is a strong hand that can end up a making Royal Flush.
Other Possible Hands–
- Suited Connectors (98s, 76s, T9s)
- Offsuit Connectors (T9o, 98o, 54o, JTo)
- Suited Gappers (97s, T8s, KJs)
*s refers to suited cards (of the same suit)
*o refers to off-suited cards (of different suits)
There are a possible 169 non-equivalent starting hands (ignoring specific suits) in a standard 52-card deck in Texas Hold’em Poker. So, here’s a chart with detailing the win percentage of Texas Holdem starting hands-
A | K | Q | J | T | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | |
| A | 85% | 68% | 67% | 66% | 66% | 64% | 63% | 63% | 62% | 62% | 61% | 60% | 59% |
| K | 66% | 83% | 64% | 64% | 63% | 61% | 60% | 59% | 58% | 58% | 57% | 56% | 55% |
| Q | 65% | 62% | 80% | 61% | 61% | 59% | 58% | 56% | 55% | 55% | 54% | 53% | 52% |
| J | 65% | 62% | 59% | 78% | 59% | 57% | 56% | 54% | 53% | 52% | 51% | 50% | 50% |
| T | 64% | 61% | 59% | 57% | 75% | 56% | 54% | 53% | 51% | 49% | 49% | 48% | 47% |
| 9 | 62% | 59% | 57% | 55% | 53% | 72% | 53% | 51% | 50% | 48% | 46% | 46% | 45% |
| 8 | 61% | 58% | 55% | 53% | 52% | 50% | 69% | 50% | 49% | 47% | 45% | 43% | 43% |
| 7 | 60% | 57% | 54% | 52% | 50% | 48% | 47% | 67% | 48% | 46% | 45% | 43% | 41% |
| 6 | 59% | 56% | 53% | 50% | 48% | 47% | 46% | 45% | 64% | 46% | 44% | 42% | 40% |
| 5 | 60% | 55% | 52% | 49% | 47% | 45% | 44% | 43% | 43% | 61% | 44% | 43% | 41% |
| 4 | 59% | 54% | 51% | 48% | 46% | 43% | 42% | 41% | 41% | 41% | 58% | 42% | 40% |
| 3 | 58% | 54% | 50% | 48% | 45% | 43% | 40% | 39% | 39% | 39% | 38% | 55% | 39% |
| 2 | 57% | 53% | 49% | 47% | 44% | 42% | 40% | 37% | 37% | 37% | 36% | 35% | 51% |
Top Texas Holdem Starting Hands You Should Pray For
Quick Basics:
- Every player is dealt two cards face down
- Five community cards are placed on the table (whose value is shown as the round progresses).
- All players try to make the best five-card combination from among the board and personal cards and bet on the same.
- Best hand at the end of the round is declared the winner(s) and wins the pot.
It’s only by knowing how to master the basics do you become a poker player who is taken very seriously by his/her opponents. Learn more about the basics of poker-
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Poker Diaries: When To Bet & When To Fold With The PreFlop Range Chart
Poker Diaries: Different Types of Poker Playing Styles & Personality
Poker Diaries: Importance of Playing in Position
Poker Diaries: What Are Outs & How To Calculate Them?
Poker Diaries: What are Pot Odds and Equity?
The Poker Hand Rankings are the Same for Texas Holdem, Omaha, Stud and many other poker games. Poker hands are shown form strongest to weakest in order of decreasing rankings.
Royal Flush
A K Q J 10
A Royal Flush is five cards of the same suit that make a straight of consecutive cards from a ten to an Ace. All suits are ranked equal in poker
Straight Flush
5 6 7 8 9
A Straight Flush is five cards of the same suit that make a straight of consecutive cards. In this case there is a 5-9 straight flush. All suits are ranked equal in poker
Four of a Kind
A A AA K
Best Texas Holdem Hand Ever Caught
A Four of a Kind is four cards of the same value. In this case there is four aces. The next card in order, the king is called the kicker and is the deciding card if two players have the same hand.
Full House
AA A K K
A Full House or a boat is five cards of the same suit that make a straight of consecutive cards from a ten to an Ace. All suits are ranked equal in poker. It is possible for one full house to beat another one with the three of a kind given priority value. The above example shows the top ranked full house.
Flush
A J 10 7 3
A Flush is five cards of the same suit. The highest card in the hand is the strength of the Full House - In this case it is an Ace High Flush which is the top ranked flush. An Ace High Flush would beat a King high Flush. All suits are ranked equal in poker
Straight
A K Q J10
A Straight is five consecutive cards. In this case it is an Ace high straight. The highest straight in the winning hand. In this case it is an ace high straight and it is the top ranked straight.
Three of a Kind
A AA K Q
Texas Holdem Best Hands Chart
Three of a Kind is three cards of the same value. In this case there is three Aces and the hand shown is the top ranking three of a kind.
Two Pairs
A A K K Q
Two Pair is any two pairs of cards with each pair being of the same value. In this case there is a pair of Aces and a pair of Kings with a queen kicker. This is the top ranking two pairs in the example.
One Pair
A A KQJ
Texas Holdem Hand Rankings
A Pair is two cards of the same value. The best possible one pair is shown in this example with the pair of aces and a king kicker.
High Card
AK Q J 9
A High Card is the highest card in your hand when you have made no other hand. The example is the best high card hand possible with an Ace High and a King Kicker.