Poker pro and CardsChat Ambassador Jeff Gross runs you through Poker Starting Hands Guide on CardsChat. Our comprehensive guide is great for brand new, begin. The two cards that you are dealt at the start of a hand in Texas Hold'em are your weapons. If you want to play a hand, your cards need to be strong enough to fight against your opponents' cards to win the pot. At the core of every winning poker player is good starting hand strategy. Texas Hold'em starting hands table. Texas hold'em starting hands A complete guide to proper starting hand selection. When playing poker there is not a single decision you will have to make as often as whether or not to play your hand. And since the key to winning in poker is making the most correct decisions as often as possible, good starting hand selection will be very important. A number of poker experts have written on the subject of good poker starting hands for Texas Holdem. Beginners should read the best poker writers to further their study of poker hand strength. David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth of 2+2 fame designed an influential set of Texas Holdem starting hand. HU Poker Starting Hands - On the Button (In Position) The button in heads up poker is no different then the button in a 6-max or full ring game - you will have position throughout the entire hand. Because of the positional advantage, the button is where you should have the widest hand range.
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. Poker series rules. 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.
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:
- The size of your opponent's stacks.
- How loose or tight, passive or aggressive, your opponents are.
- Where these opponents are located at the table – for example, does an aggressive player still have to act after you?
- 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:
- Are there other players who have called so far (the more, the better)?
- Are the players who have called playing poorly after the flop? Will they pay me off if I hit something?
- Is there an aggressive player still to act behind me (you might get raised and have to fold)?
- 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.
Poker Starting Hands Guide Template
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.
Poker Starting Hands Guide Printable
Read all our instructional articles
Basic Strategy:Tips : Position : Starting Hands : Bluffing : Betting : Money Management
The two cards that you are dealt at the start of a hand in Texas Hold'em are your weapons. If you want to play a hand, your cards need to be strong enough to fight against your opponents' cards to win the pot.
At the core of every winning poker player is good starting hand strategy.
Texas Hold'em starting hands table.
I'm not going to mess about here, I'm just going to give you the starting hand strategy table for you to get your teeth into. The tables below give starting hand recommendations for both full ring and short handed games depending on your position at the table.
How to use the starting hand strategy table.
First thing that you need to do is consider your position in the hand, because this is going to determine the range of cards that you are going to be able to play profitably.
- If you are in early position, you should stick to playing the hands in red only.
- If you are in middle position, you should play the hands in red, as well as the hands in blue.
- If you are in late position, you should play the red and blue hands, along with the hands in green.
So essentially, the better your position is at the table, the more hands you can play.
However, if you are in one of the later positions and there has been a raise before you, then you should forget about playing the hands in green, and stick with the ones in red and blue. This is because players raising from early position will typically have a strong hand, so you should also have a premium hand to play against them. Playing the green hands against a raiser from early position will usually put you in pretty bad shape.
Full ring starting hand strategy.
When you are playing at a full ring table that holds around 10 players, you really need to tighten up your starting hand selection. This is because the large number of players at the table increases the likelihood that at least one player has a premium hand, and so you want to be sure that you have one of the best hands at the table every time you see a flop.
The starting hand table may look to be very strict, but this is simply a rough guide to help beginner players find their feet in Texas Hold'em. After you start to learn the game and become more experienced, you can start to open up your starting hand selection to incorporate different hands in different situations. However, if you are a new player, it is advised that you stick with this table as it will give you the best shot at winning as you start out.
Short handed starting hand strategy.
Poker pro and CardsChat Ambassador Jeff Gross runs you through Poker Starting Hands Guide on CardsChat. Our comprehensive guide is great for brand new, begin. The two cards that you are dealt at the start of a hand in Texas Hold'em are your weapons. If you want to play a hand, your cards need to be strong enough to fight against your opponents' cards to win the pot. At the core of every winning poker player is good starting hand strategy. Texas Hold'em starting hands table. Texas hold'em starting hands A complete guide to proper starting hand selection. When playing poker there is not a single decision you will have to make as often as whether or not to play your hand. And since the key to winning in poker is making the most correct decisions as often as possible, good starting hand selection will be very important. A number of poker experts have written on the subject of good poker starting hands for Texas Holdem. Beginners should read the best poker writers to further their study of poker hand strength. David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth of 2+2 fame designed an influential set of Texas Holdem starting hand. HU Poker Starting Hands - On the Button (In Position) The button in heads up poker is no different then the button in a 6-max or full ring game - you will have position throughout the entire hand. Because of the positional advantage, the button is where you should have the widest hand range.
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. Poker series rules. 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.
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:
- The size of your opponent's stacks.
- How loose or tight, passive or aggressive, your opponents are.
- Where these opponents are located at the table – for example, does an aggressive player still have to act after you?
- 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:
- Are there other players who have called so far (the more, the better)?
- Are the players who have called playing poorly after the flop? Will they pay me off if I hit something?
- Is there an aggressive player still to act behind me (you might get raised and have to fold)?
- 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.
Poker Starting Hands Guide Template
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.
Poker Starting Hands Guide Printable
Read all our instructional articles
Basic Strategy:Tips : Position : Starting Hands : Bluffing : Betting : Money Management
The two cards that you are dealt at the start of a hand in Texas Hold'em are your weapons. If you want to play a hand, your cards need to be strong enough to fight against your opponents' cards to win the pot.
At the core of every winning poker player is good starting hand strategy.
Texas Hold'em starting hands table.
I'm not going to mess about here, I'm just going to give you the starting hand strategy table for you to get your teeth into. The tables below give starting hand recommendations for both full ring and short handed games depending on your position at the table.
How to use the starting hand strategy table.
First thing that you need to do is consider your position in the hand, because this is going to determine the range of cards that you are going to be able to play profitably.
- If you are in early position, you should stick to playing the hands in red only.
- If you are in middle position, you should play the hands in red, as well as the hands in blue.
- If you are in late position, you should play the red and blue hands, along with the hands in green.
So essentially, the better your position is at the table, the more hands you can play.
However, if you are in one of the later positions and there has been a raise before you, then you should forget about playing the hands in green, and stick with the ones in red and blue. This is because players raising from early position will typically have a strong hand, so you should also have a premium hand to play against them. Playing the green hands against a raiser from early position will usually put you in pretty bad shape.
Full ring starting hand strategy.
When you are playing at a full ring table that holds around 10 players, you really need to tighten up your starting hand selection. This is because the large number of players at the table increases the likelihood that at least one player has a premium hand, and so you want to be sure that you have one of the best hands at the table every time you see a flop.
The starting hand table may look to be very strict, but this is simply a rough guide to help beginner players find their feet in Texas Hold'em. After you start to learn the game and become more experienced, you can start to open up your starting hand selection to incorporate different hands in different situations. However, if you are a new player, it is advised that you stick with this table as it will give you the best shot at winning as you start out.
Short handed starting hand strategy.
Seeing as there are less players at the table, you can afford to open up your starting hand requirements quite a bit. If you stuck with the full-ring starting hand table, you would be playing too few hands and missing out on good opportunities to make money.
Short handed tables are going to be harder to play than the full ring tables because the action is generally going to be wilder and less predictable. Poker minigame. You are almost forced to play more hands, which means that unless you know what you are doing, the chances are that you are going to lose more money than you would at a full ring game.
Again, just as with the full ring table, the short handed table is merely the basic guide for a beginner player. As you progress, you will be able to work out how to profitably include other starting hands into the line up. But as for now, stick with this table if you're just getting to grips with short-handed play.
Starting hand strategy overview.
If you are a new player, these tables are really going to help set you up in the right direction. Even though this has only been a pretty rough guide on which hands to play in each position, it should have helped to build a solid foundation for you to build upon.
A lot of the time, there are going to be other factors like the type of players who you are up against, and/or the action that has taken place before you that will have an influence on your decision to play a hand. It's always best to use your head in poker, rather than relying on a table or rule for every play you make. So whilst this table will be a handy guide for now, try not to rely on it too much, and start to develop your knowledge of good starting hand strategy as you play.
At the end of the day, poker isn't really poker if you are playing from a set of rules. Always try and use your head when making decisions - they will be more profitable that way.
Go back to the sublime Texas Hold'em guide.
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