Top Ten Hold’em Starting Hands
When beginner Texas Hold’em players first pick up the game, there’s a tendency to want to over value hands and to call big raises with mediocre starting cards. The common mistake is believing that having a Ace with any kicker is something worth holding on to, or thinking that any suited cards (two hearts, two spades, etc) will more often than not lead to a flush. Until you learn the more intricate math and theory behind Hold’em, you would be wise to adhere to a system followed by many intermediate and even some professional poker players. That system involves playing only the top ten starting hands. Now just how aggressively or conservatively you should play the top ten hands depends on where in the list the particular hand ranks.
Here are the Top Ten Texas Hold’em Starting Hands:
1. AA
2. KK
3. QQ
4. AK
5. JJ
6. 10-10
7. 9-9
8. 8-8
9. AQ
10. 7-7
Now there is some debate as to order of these hands, and yes it is true that any pocket pair has a slight mathematical edge over any Ace-X hand, but hands like AK rank higher overall because they carry a higher potential for success on the flop, turn and river.
Stick with the top ten hands during the early stages of your poker development and you will find yourself winning more when it counts and losing less overall. Then as your skill grows, you can start to add a wider range of hands to your repertoire.
