Hold'em Starting Hands

One of the most frequently asked questions by novice poker players is "What are good starting hands in hold'em?" This is an important question to ask, because with so many different possible hands that you can be dealt, it's hard to know which ones are good to play and which are not. Learning to play good starting hands will be one of the most fundamental points of your game as you become a better player.

In hold'em, it is important to play good hands because playing weak hands will often put you in the situation of playing a dominated hand. Constantly playing with the second or third best hand is one of the biggest traps of the beginning poker player, so we'll try to set you straight by only playing preimum hands.

The best starting hand in hold'em is Ace-Ace, also known as "Aces", "American Airlines" and various other nicknames. While holding Ace-Ace won't guarantee you to win the pot, it does put you in the position of holding the highest possible pair before the flop is even dealt. Following Aces, the next best hand is King-King or simply "Kings". You can always play these two hands, since they both stand a good chance of winning the pot. After the flop, there's still a chance to be beaten however, so it's never too late to fold these hands if you get a bad feeling that you're beat.

Besides the easy to play Aces and Kings however, there are many other good hands like pocket Queens, Jacks and Ace-King ("Big Slick") which are very good too. Here's a chart of starting hands ranked into different groups:

(Note the "s" denotes a suited hand)

Tier-1 hands are almost always playable and are often raised pre-flop because they are the best starting hands. With AA through JJ, you already hold a pair, which is valuable considering that most people will not pair on the flop.

If you hold AKs however, you will usually need to flop an Ace or King to pair your hand and make it valuable. If you don't pair, you are only holding an Ace highcard, so it becomes a little trickier to play.

Tier-2 hands are also strong and you will see many players raise with these hands pre-flop as well. Unlike most of the Tier-1 hands however, these hands usually require you to flop a pair or flush draw be a good hand. When you do flop a pair with a Tier-2 hand, it will often be the top pair. Along with having top pair, your kicker will be strong as well. This helps in situations where another player has flopped top pair as well, but with a weaker kicker.

If you flop a flush draw (that is, if there are two similiar suits on the table as the cards you are holding), then you will be likely drawing to the nut flush. This is very useful against players who are drawing to weaker flush draws, such as a King high or Queen high flush.

Tier-3 are moderately strong hands share similar traits with Tier-2 hands, in that they often will have top pair with a strong kicker if you make your hand on the flop. However, these hands are slightly weaker than Tier-3 hands and can have vunerable kickers. With hands like KJs and QJs too, these hands can only draw to the second best flush, which leaves the possibility of another player holding the the Ace high flush draw.

Tier-4 hands are playable hands if they pair up on the flop or make an Ace high flush draw. Tier-4 hands have moderate kickers and can usually survive to win a pot. However, it is not uncommon to see Tier-4 hands beaten by other higher Tier hands, so it's advisable to play some of these hands with some caution if things start to look dangerous and many bets are being made at the table.

The last of the playable hands belong in the Tier-5 group, which represents hands that tend to make weak top pairs and kickers, but have added value because they have other drawing possibilities such as straights and flushes. Tier-5 hands should usually only be played from late position, when you are one of the last players to act at the table. The reason for this is because Tier-5 hands are often beaten by better hands, so it's better to be in late position, where you can see the action before it gets to you. This way, if there are a lot of bets before you, you can decide to fold your hand or not. On the other hand, if everyone checks to you, then your hand might be strong enough to bet after all.

So, if you want to have a general guide of good starting hands, use the charts above to give you an idea of what hands you should play. If you are dealt any cards that aren't listed in the charts above, it's probably a moderate hand at best and you won't miss too much in the long run if you don't play it.

(Note that the idea of starting groups is loosely based off of the book Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players by David Sklanskly and Mason Malmuth, which you can find in the Poker Books page.)