How Many Different Poker Starting Hands Are There

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NL Hold’em Starting Hand Charts

One aspect of the game of No-Limit Hold’em that causes beginning players much grief is deciding which hands to play and which hands to dump. NL Hold’em is much more difficult than Limit Hold’em because the value of a hand depends on so many factors other than just the cards in your hand. Despite this difficulty, our coaches believe that following some general guidelines and adjusting from these is a better solution than having no guidelines at all. Given that well over half of your profitability in NL Hold’em is based on hand selection alone, we have developed these charts to help you better determine whether to play or fold.

  • Suited hands contain two cards of the same suit, like J♣9♣, A ♥ K ♥, K♠Q♠ and 9 ♦ 3 ♦. All other starting hands are in the offsuit category, like A♠8 ♦, 7♣5 ♥ and K ♥ 9 ♦.
  • There are 13 pocket pairs you can be dealt as starting hands: 2-2 through A-A. There are 78 unpaired hands that you can be dealt in Texas Hold’em, ignoring suit (e.g. A-2, K-10, 6-2). Those same hands make up another set of 78 when suited (e.g. 9♥-8♥, A♣-8♣, Q♦-J♦).

While there is no official rule for how chip values are assigned, there are common standards used for most poker events. A complete basic set of poker chips used in private poker games or other gambling games is usually comprised of white, red, blue, green, and black chips. Larger, high-stakes tournaments may use chipsets with many more colors. Learn to Play Poker in no time: Our poker tutorial is a great way to learn the card.

There are no perfect No-Limit starting hand charts. That is because there are many factors that affect your decision, and charts cannot account for all of them. Some of these include:

StartingHow many different poker starting hands are there bad
  1. The size of your opponent's stacks.
  2. How loose or tight, passive or aggressive, your opponents are.
  3. Where these opponents are located at the table – for example, does an aggressive player still have to act after you?
  4. Your image at the table – for example, how tight or tricky you are perceived.

That being said, these charts will serve you well in most typical low-stakes No-Limit cash games, such as games with blinds of $1/$2, and home games. These games typically have several loose players at the table, and good opportunities for winning big pots with suited connectors and pocket pairs. With practice, you will be able to be a consistently winning player with these charts as a starting point. As you improve, you'll find yourself making adjustments to these charts based on the factors listed above, and more.

AGAIN: These charts are a good starting point for beginners. Specifically, Chart #1 recommends a significant amount of limping. This is great in loose, passive games but less often seen in tougher games. You’ll find other training material on Advanced Poker Training that may recommend a more aggressive approach for more experienced players.

Note: It would be a serious mistake to apply these hand charts before reading the Frequent Asked Questions first.


CHART #1 ‐ LOOSE, PASSIVE GAME (OFTEN 4-5 LIMPERS PER HAND)
NO ONE HAS RAISED YET

  • Raise Always
  • Call from Early Position, otherwise raise
  • Call always
  • Call from Middle or Late Position if the conditions are right (see Frequently Asked Questions)

CHART #2 ‐ TIGHTER GAME (FEWER LIMPERS) OR MORE AGGRESSIVE GAME
NO ONE HAS RAISED YET

  • Raise Always
  • Call from Early Position, otherwise raise
  • Call (or Raise) from Middle or Late Position if the conditions are right (see Frequently Asked Questions)

CHART #3 ‐ THERE HAS BEEN A SINGLE RAISE
(3‐5 TIMES THE BIG BLIND) BEFORE YOU

  • Re‐Raise Always
  • Call from Early Position, otherwise re‐raise
  • Call always
  • Call from Middle or Late Position if the conditions are right (see Frequently Asked Questions)

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

For the hands in yellow, what do you mean when you say to play these hands if the conditions are right? The hands in yellow are speculative hands. They should always be folded from Early Position. From other positions, they can be profitable given the right conditions. Some of the questions to ask yourself:

  1. Are there other players who have called so far (the more, the better)?
  2. Are the players who have called playing poorly after the flop? Will they pay me off if I hit something?
  3. Is there an aggressive player still to act behind me (you might get raised and have to fold)?
  4. If there has been a raise and no other callers, what chance do I have of using my position after the flop to win the hand even if I don't improve (Chart #3 only)?

Why does Chart #2 say to sometimes raise with the hands in yellow, but Chart #1 does not? We have different goals in mind. Using Chart #1, we want to call to encourage additional players to enter the pot. These hands will be immensely profitable when our loose, passive opponents enter the hand, and get trapped when we flop a set, or make a well-disguised straight. When using Chart #2, however, we want to size up the opponents still to act. If they are tight, we can raise. Sometimes, we'll pick up the blinds. Other times, our pre-flop aggression will allow us to take down the pot on the flop.

What's the difference between AKs and AKo? AKs means an Ace and King of the same suit. AKo means an Ace and King of different suits.

What are early, middle, and late position? Early Position is generally the first 2 (in a nine player game) or 3 (in a ten player game) positions after the blinds. Late Position is the “cutoff” position (to the right of the dealer), and dealer button positions. Middle Position is everything in between.

How much should I raise? As a general rule, raise 3 to 4 times the big blind, plus 1 extra big blind for every player who has called before you. So if there are 2 callers already, raise between 5 and 6 times the big blind.

What if someone raises after I call? Whether you call the raise depends on how much money the raiser has for you to win, how many other players are involved, and what type of hand you have. As a general rule, if you have a pocket pair, lean towards calling. If there are a lot of other players (and therefore a big pot), lean towards calling. In general, fold suited connectors from early position. Fold hands like KQ that don't play well against a raiser.

How do I play from the blinds? From the small blind, play the same hands you would play from late position, plus a few more. But don't call with junk hands like T5o, just because it is “cheap”. From the big blind, if there is a raise to you, play like you would if you had already called from early position.

The chart says to fold KQo to a raise. Really? Yes, this hand performs very poorly against typical raising hands. Against AK, AQ, AA, KK, QQ, you are a big underdog. Other typical raising hands like JJ, TT, 99, AJs, are slightly ahead of you as well. The only time you might call or re-raise is from late position, if the opener was in middle or late position, indicating they might have a wider range of hands.

I was told to fold AJo from Early Position, why do you say to call with it? Folding AJo is not a bad idea in many games. We included it because, at low stakes tables (even tight or aggressive ones), the players are often playing badly enough after the flop that it can be profitable. We used data from millions of hands of low-limit poker to analyze this. The same could be said for KQo, ATs, and KJs – you can make a small profit in the long run at most low-stakes games, but folding would be perfectly acceptable from early position.

Can I use these charts in a NL Hold'em tournament? The charts would be best applicable to the early stages of a NL tournament, when everyone has a deep stack. In the middle and later stages, they should not be used.


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Now you are familiar with the Starting Hands chart and how to use it, let’s take a more detailed look at the types of hands that are in the chart, and what we are looking for with each type of hand.

All of the hands in the starting hand chart fall into one of the four categories below.

Lets take a look at each in turn.

Big Pocket Pairs

AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT

It’s always a nice feeling to look at the cards you have been dealt and see a big pocket pair. These are powerful hands and hands that should be played aggressively, however you should also be aware that if these hands are played badly then there is an increased chance you may not win the pot.

Before the flop, there is a good chance you have the best hand especially with AA, or KK. The only way someone before the flop is ahead of you is if they have a higher pocket pair.

Aim

Our first aim with big pocket pairs is to limit the field, and to do this we act aggressively before the flop. We want most opponents to fold, and if we raise or re-raise then most weaker hands will get out of the way. Ideally with a big pocket pair we want to be playing against a maximum of 2 opponents.

The reason for this is that big pocket pairs become a much weaker hand when played against multiple opponents, because of the increased chance that one of those opponents will hit cards that make their hand better than your pocket pair.

Too many beginners slow play these hands by just calling the big blind, allowing multiple opponents to see the flop. This will lead to a lot of bad beats with your pocket Ace’s getting beat by an 8-6 that was allowed to limp in and hit two pair on the flop!!!

How Many Different Poker Starting Hands Are There People

By being aggressive and raising before the flop, not only are we protecting our premium hand by limiting the field, but we are also getting more money into the pot at a time when we have a very strong hand.

So what are we looking for on the Flop? Well obviously hitting a third card on the flop to make three of a kind would give us a monster hand but this will only happen about 1 in 8 times.

We are (in a lot of cases) already ahead before the flop with our big pocket pair, so all we are looking for from the flop are cards that are lower than our pocket pair and no scare cards that could help our opponents overtake us and take the lead. An ideal situation would be for cards lower than our pocket pair to come on the flop and our opponent to hit top pair, in which case he might think he is in the lead and be prepared to put a lot of money in the pot.

Example 1

We hold K K and the flop comes down 2 A 9, all of a sudden anyone who is holding an Ace has taken the lead and because your opponents have already called a raise to play this hand the chances are high that they hold an Ace in their hand.

Example2

We hold A A and the flop comes down 7 8 9. This is a very worrying flop, as there are both Straights and Flushes on.

Although it may be a hard lay down in certain situations you will have to consider laying down a big pocket pair, if a big bet is made and you think there is a chance you could be beaten.

If you believe you are still in the lead after the flop then carry on betting aggressively, so that your opponents are forced to make a decision and pay to carry on, if they are on a draw and you let them have free or cheap cards on the turn or river, they could bust you.

If a scare card comes then you will have a decision to make. By all means make a bet to see how your opponent acts, but if they start raising you or calling very quickly then be prepared to fold your hand as they could have you beat.

High Cards

AK AQ AJ etc

The definition of high cards is any two unpaired cards which are both a 10 or higher.

These hands can again be strong hands, but would be behind before the flop to anyone holding a pocket pair. With these hands you need to hit cards to make it into the best hand.

Aim

On the flop we are looking to hit top pair, so if we are holding AQ, then you want the flop to come down with either an Ace or Queen as the top card on the flop.

What you don’t want is 2nd pair, so in the example above if the flop came down K Q 3 you would be very wary of someone holding a King.

We are also looking for powerful draws, A nice flop could give you Straight draws, and if you are holding suited high cards then you could also be in line for a powerful flush possibility.

Careful aggression is the way to bet these hands. We know why it is important to be aggressive, but we should also be wary of hands that could be beating us with these sorts of cards. In the example above even though we have hit top pair with a pair of Queens we could still be behind to someone holding pocket Kings or Aces.

Small Pocket Pairs

99, 88, 77 and lower

Although these are decent hands to play, and you may be in the lead before the flop, these are hands that are easily beaten and can be difficult to play after the flop.

Aim

What we are looking for here is to hit a third card on the flop to make three of a kind. It’s about a 1 in 8 chance of hitting, but when we do hit, then we have not only a very powerful hand, but also a disguised powerful hand.

Lets say we hold 8 8 and the flop comes down A 8 5. Anyone who is holding top pair with Aces will be fairly confident thinking they are in the lead and will be prepared to put money into the pot, not realising that they are actually way behind to your three of a kind.

You will find that opponents make mistakes in this sort of situation and as you know we profit from our opponents mistakes. The ideal turn or river card to come above would be another Ace as anyone holding an A in their starting hand would have hit three of a kind and will be prepared to put a lot of money into the pot, a pot which you are going to win with your disguised full house 8-8-8-A-A.

If you do not hit your three of a kind on the flop, then it is likely that you will no longer have the best hand, especially in a multi-way pot. Here we would be looking to fold to any large bets.

Don’t chase the hand, if you don’t hit your three of a kind on the flop then I suggest you fold your hand to any decent bets.

The only situations which would be different to this, are as follows:

  • If your hand has gained more ‘outs’ (cards that could hit that can improve your hand) eg: you hold 8-8 and the flop comes down 9-6-7, here you have picked up an open ended straight draw with any 10 or 5 that hits on the turn or river making your hand into a straight.
  • All the cards on the flop are lower that your pocket pair – in this situation you may still have the best hand but be careful of straight possibilities.

In the above situations it may be the correct move to stay in the pot depending on the amount that your opponent is betting.

Drawing Hands

Our drawing hands are split into 3 categories

  1. Suited Connectors eg: 9 8
  2. Suited Gapped Connectors eg: J 9
  3. Suited Ace’s eg: A 4

Aim

With these hands we want to get into the pot cheaply to see the flop and we want to be playing in a multi-way pot (multiple players) so that the pot is a reasonable size. The reason for this is with drawing hands we will be considering the Pot Odds, this is something you will learn about in more detail later on in the course.

Suited Connectors eg: 9 8

How Many Different Poker Starting Hands Are There Now

Although these cards are not individually very powerful, they can give us a chance of drawing either a straight or a flush, or even a mega monster hand such as a Straight Flush.

By being in the hand we always have a chance to flop other hands like two pair, or three of a kind if the flop is kind to us.

Suited Gapped Connectors eg: J 9 or J 8

A gapped connector is very similar to Suited Connectors except there is a gap in between your hole cards (not consecutive). The concept of playing is the same but they are slightly weaker than Suited connectors, which is why there are not many Suited Gapped Connectors in the Starting Hands chart.

Suited Ace’s eg: A 4

Here we have the opportunity to draw a Nut flush, if any 3 cards come on the Flop, Turn or River of the same suit we have in our hand, then we have the best possible Flush (with the Ace high) .

These hands must be played very carefully though. We are looking to hit 2 pair or better. If we pair our Ace on the flop then our hand is still very weak, because of the low kicker card anyone else who has also paired their Ace will have us beat.

How Many Different Poker Starting Hands Are There Every

Practise Time

How Many Different Poker Starting Hands Are There Bad

Now you understand a bit more about each type of hand and what we are looking to achieve with each. Don’t fall into the trap of getting caught up with a hand when you hit something else other than what you are aiming for. These are often very weak situations and inexperienced players can lose money if they are not careful.

Poker Bankroll Challenge: Stage 2

  • Stakes: $0.02/$0.04
  • Buy In: $3 (75 x BB)
  • Starting Bankroll: $28
  • Target: $6 (2 x Buy In)
  • Finishing Bankroll: $34
  • Estimated Sessions: 2

Use this exercise to continue to get used to the starting hand chart and knowing what position you are in, but also start thinking about each starting hand you play in terms of what category of hand it is and what you are looking for on the Flop / Turn / River.