Starting hands in poker

Published on Wednesday, September 02, 2009 8:15:00 PM

Although there are several hundred variations of poker games in the world, the majority of them share one comon factor: the ranking of poker hands! The ranking of poker hands is almost universal and is the fundamental piece of knowledge that you must dominate when you initiate your career of poker!

Although there are several hundred variations of poker games in the world, the majority of them share one comon factor: the ranking of poker hands! The ranking of poker hands is almost universal and is the fundamental piece of knowledge that you must dominate when you initiate your career of poker!

When you start to play No Limit Texas Holdem it’s better to avoid to play marginal hands, since it will make you vulnerable. If you never have played No Limit Holdem, it’s recommendable to only play pairs AA - 22, AK and AQ. With these hands you will not find yourself in any difficult situations and even so still be able to win pots. To only play these hands requires a lot of discipline since you not will be involved in a lot of pots. Using this strategy will give you much time to study your opponants at the table. You could also use a poker odds calculator and learn to memorise odds and in which position to play.

To gain ground and to make your life easier we have below presented a recommended chart of starting hands in poker based on position.

Starting Hands - Early Position

Early Position	Un-raised Pot	Re-raised Pot
AA KK QQ	Raise	Re-raise
JJ	Call	Call
TT99	Call	Fold
88 77	Call 1	Fold
AKs AK	Raise	Re-raise
AQs AQ AJs	Raise	Call
AJ ATs A9s	Call	Fold
A8s A7s	Call 1	Fold
KQs	Call	Fold
KJs	Call 1	Fold
QJs	Call 1	Fold

Starting Hands - Middle Position

Middle Position	Un-raised Pot	Re-raised Pot
AA KK QQ	Raise	Re--raise
JJ	Raise First in, Call 1	Call
TT	Raise First in, Call 1	Fold
99	Call	Fold
88 77	Call 1	Fold
66 55	Call 2	Fold
44 33 22	Call 3	Fold
AKs AK	Raise	Re-raise
AQs AQ AJs	Raise	Call
AJ ATs AT	Raise First in, Call 1	Fold
A9s A8s A7s	Call	Fold
Axs	Call 1	Fold
KQs KQ KJs	Call	Fold
KTs	Call 1	Fold
QJs QTs	Call 1	Fold
JTs	Call 2	Fold
J9s	Call 3	Fold
T9s	Call 3	Fold
89s	Call 3	Fold

Starting Hands - Late Position

Late Position	Un-raised Pot	Raised Pot
AA KK QQ	Raise	Re-raise (RR)
JJ TT	Raise 1, Call 2	RR 1 Option, Call All
99	Raise First in, Call 1	RR or Fold against 1 player, Call 3
88 77	Raise First in, Call 1	Call 3
66 55	Call 2	Call 4
44 33 22	Call 3	Call 4
AKs AK	Raise	Re-raise
AQs AQ AJs	Raise	RR 1 Option, Call All
AJ ATs	Raise 1, Call 2	Fold
AT Axs	Raise First In, Call 1	Fold
A9	Raise First In; otherwise Fold	Fold
KQs	Raise 1, Call 2	Call
KQ KJs KJ KTs	Raise First In, Call 1	Fold
KT K9s	Call 2	Fold
K8s K7s	Call 3	Fold
Kxs	Call 4	Fold
QJs	Raise First In, Call 1	Call 4
QJ QTs	Raise First In, Call 1	Fold
QT Q9s	Call 2	Fold
Q8s	Call 4	Fold
JTs	Raise First In, Call 1	Call 4
JT	Call 3	Fold
J9s	Call 2	Fold
J8s	Call 4	Fold
T9s	Call 2	Call 5
T8s	Call 3	Fold
98s	Call 3	Call 5
87s	Call 4	Fold
76s	Call 4	Fold

Starting Hands - Late Position

BLINDS	SB Un-raised Pot	SB Raised Pot	BB Raised Pot*
AA KK QQ	Raise	Re-raise (RR)	Re-raise (raise limpers)
JJ	Raise 1, Call 2	RR 1, Call 2	Call (raise 1 limper)
TT 99	Raise 1, Call 2	RR 1, Call 2	Call
88 77	Call	RR Lone Late, Call 3	Call 2, or Middle or Late
66 55	Call	Call 3	Call 2, or 1 Late
44 33 22	Call	Call 3	Call 2
AKs	Raise	Re-raise (RR)	Re-raise (raise limpers)
AK	Raise	Re-raise or Call	Re-raise or Call (raise limpers)
AQs AQ	Raise 1 or 2, Call 3	RR 1 or 2, Call 3	Call (raise 1 or 2 limpers)
AJs ATs	Raise 1, Call 2	RR Lone Late, Call 1	Call
AJ AT	Raise 1, Call 2	RR Lone Late, Fold	Call
A9s	Call	RR Lone Late, Fold	Call
A9 A8	Call	Fold	Call 1 Late, Fold
Axs Ax	Call	Fold	AXS Call, Ax Fold
KQs	Call	Call 2, or 1 Late	Call
KQ	Call	Fold	Call
KJs	Call	Call 4, or 1 Late	Call
KJ	Call	Fold	Call 2, or 1 Late
KTs	Call	Fold	Call
KT	Call	Fold	Call 2, or 1 Late
K9s	Call	Fold	Call
Kxs	Call	Fold	Call 3
QJs	Call	Call 4	Call
QJ QTs QT	Call	Fold	Call
Q9s Q8s	Call	Fold	Call 2, or 1 Late
Qxs	Call 3	Fold	Call 3
JTs	Call	Call 4	Call
JT J9s	Call	Fold	Call 2
J8s	Call	Fold	Call 3
J7s	Call 3	Fold	Call 5
T9s	Call	Call 5	Call 2
T9 T8s	Call	Fold	Call 3
T7s	Call 3	Fold	Call 4
98s	Call	Call 5	Call 2
98 97s	Call 2	Fold	Call 3
96s	Call 4	Fold	Call 5
87s	Call	Fold	Call 3
87 86s	Call 3	Fold	Call 4
85s	Call 4	Fold	Fold
76s	Call	Fold	Call 3
76 75s	Call 3	Fold	Call 4
65s	Call 2	Fold	Call 3
65 64s	Call 3	Fold	Fold
54s	Call 2	Fold	Call 4
54 53s 43s 32s	Call 4	Fold	Fold

* In the Big Blind, cap with AA, KK, and sometimes QQ. Only call re-raises with JJ, AKs, AK, AQs, AQ and AJs. Raise limpers where indicated.

Source: Internet Texas Hold’em by Matthew Hilger