Texas hold 'em hands
Encyclopedia
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
game of Texas hold 'em
Texas hold 'em
Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...
, which belong solely to the player and remain hidden from the other players. Five community cards
Community card poker
Community card poker refers to any game of poker that uses community cards , which are cards dealt face up in the center of the table and shared by all players. In these games, each player is dealt privately an incomplete hand , which are then combined with the community cards to make a complete...
are also dealt into play. Betting begins before any of the community cards are exposed, and continues throughout the hand. The player's "playing hand", which will be compared against that of each competing player, is the best 5-card poker hand available from his two hole cards and the five community cards. Unless otherwise specified, here the term hand applies to the player's two hole cards, or starting hand.
Essentials
There are (52 × 51)/2 = 1,326 distinct possible combinationCombination
In mathematics a combination is a way of selecting several things out of a larger group, where order does not matter. In smaller cases it is possible to count the number of combinations...
s of two hole cards from a standard 52-card deck in hold 'em, but since suits have no relative value
Relative value
Relative value is the attractiveness measured in terms of risk, liquidity, and return of one instrument relative to another, or for a given instrument, of one maturity relative to another...
in poker, many of these hands are identical in value before the flop. For example, and are identical, because each is a hand consisting of an ace and a jack of the same suit. There are 169 nonequivalent starting hands in hold 'em (13 pocket pairs, 13 × 12 / 2 = 78 suited hands and 78 unsuited hands; 13 + 78 + 78 = 169). These 169 hands are not equally likely (see Poker probability (Texas hold 'em)
Poker probability (Texas hold 'em)
In poker, the probability of many events can be determined by direct calculation. This article discusses computing probabilities for many commonly occurring events in the game of Texas hold 'em and provides some probabilities and odds for specific situations...
). There are 25 starting hands with a probability of winning at a ten-handed table of greater than 1/7. Hold 'em hands are sometimes classified as having one of three "shapes":
- Pairs, (or "pocket pairs"), which consist of two cards of the same rank (e.g. ). One hand in 17 will be a pair, each occurring with individual probability 1/221 (P(pair) = 3/51 = 1/17).
- Suited hands, which contain two cards of the same suit (e.g. ). Four hands out of 17 will be suited, and each suited configuration occurs with probability 2/663 (P(suited) = 12/51 = 4/17).
- Offsuit hands, which contain two cards of a different suit and rank (e.g. ). Twelve out of 17 hands will be nonpair, offsuit hands, each of which occurs with probability 2/221 (P(offsuit non-pair) = 3*(13-1)/51 = 12/17).
It is typical to abbreviate suited hands in hold 'em by affixing an "s" to the hand, as well as to abbreviate non-suited hands with an "o" (for offsuit). That is,
- QQ represents any pair of queens,
- KQ represents any king and queen,
- AKo represents any ace and king of different suits, and
- JTs represents any jack and ten of the same suit.
Texas hold 'em hand groups
David SklanskyDavid Sklansky
-Life and career:Sklansky was born and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, where he graduated from Teaneck High School in 1966. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, but left before graduation. He returned to Teaneck and passed multiple Society of Actuaries exams by the time he was 20, and worked...
and Mason Malmuth
Mason Malmuth
Mason Malmuth is an American poker player, and author of books on both poker and gambling. He is the owner of Two Plus Two Publishing, which publishes books and runs an online gambling discussion forum.Malmuth was born and grew up in Coral Gables, Florida...
assigned each hand to a group, and proposed all hands in the group could normally be played similarly. Stronger starting hands are identified by a lower number. Hands without a number are the weakest starting hands. As a general rule, books on Texas hold'em present hand strengths on the assumption of a nine or ten person table. The table below illustrates these groupings with those corresponding to off-suit cards below the main diagonal and those for cards of the same suit above.
| |A | |K | |Q | |J | |10 | |9 | |8 | |7 | |6 | |5 | |4 | |3 | |2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | A |
| K | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | K |
| Q | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | S | U | I | T | E | D | Q |
| J | 4 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 8 | C | A | R | D | S | J |
| 10 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 10 | |||||
| 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 9 | ||||
| 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 8 | ||||||
| 7 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | |||||||||
| 5 | O | F | F | S | U | I | T | 8 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | ||
| 4 | C | A | R | D | S | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 4 | ||||
| 3 | 7 | 8 | 3 | |||||||||||
| 2 | 7 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| |A | |K | |Q | |J | |10 | |9 | |8 | |7 | |6 | |5 | |4 | |3 | |2 |
Alternatively, these groups can be viewed in the following list format. Note that within each line the hands are ordered for ease of reading (rather than by strength).
| Tier | Hands |
|---|---|
| 1 | AA, AKs, KK, QQ, JJ |
| 2 | AK, AQs, AJs, KQs, TT |
| 3 | AQ, ATs, KJs, QJs, JTs, 99 |
| 4 | AJ, KQ, KTs, QTs, J9s, T9s, 98s, 88 |
| 5 | A9s...A2s, KJ, QJ, JT, Q9s, T8s, 97s, 87s, 77, 76s, 66 |
| 6 | AT, KT, QT, J8s, 86s, 75s, 65s, 55, 54s |
| 7 | K9s...K2s, Q8s, J9, T9, T7s, 98, 64s, 53s, 44, 43s, 33, 22 |
| 8 | A9, K9, Q9, J8, J7s, T8, 96s, 87, 85s, 76, 74s, 65, 54, 42s, 32s |
Chen formula
The "Chen Formula" is a way to compute the "power ratings" of starting hands that was originally developed by Bill Chen.Highest Card
Based on the highest card, assign points as follows:
Ace = 10 points, K = 8 points, Q = 7 points, J = 6 points.
10 through 2, half of face value (10 = 5 points, 9 = 4.5 points, etc.)
Pairs
For pairs, multiply the points by 2 (AA 20, KK = 16, etc.), with a minimum of 5 points for any pair. 55 is given an extra point (=6).
Closeness
Subtract 1 point for 1 gappers (AQ, J9)
2 points for 2 gappers (J8, AJ).
4 points for 3 gappers (J7, 73).
5 points for larger gappers, including A2 A3 A4
Add an extra point if connected or 1-gap and your highest card is lower than Q (since you then can make all higher straights)
Limit Hand Rankings
Phil HellmuthPhil Hellmuth
Phil Hellmuth is an American professional poker player. He is best known for holding a record 11 World Series of Poker bracelets, for winning the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker and for his temperamental, "poker brat" personality...
's: "Play Poker Like the Pros"
| Tier | Hands | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | AA, KK, AKs, QQ, AK | Top 12 Hands |
| 2 | JJ, TT, 99 | (cont.) |
| 3 | 88, 77, AQs, AQ | (cont.) |
| 4 | AJs, ATs, A9s, A8s | Majority Play Hands |
| 5 | A7s, A6s, A5s, A4s, A3s, A2s, KQs, KQ | (cont.) |
| 6 | QJs, JTs, T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s | Suited Connectors |
Statistics based on real play
Statistics based on real play with their associated actual value in real bets.| Tier | Hands | EV Expected value In probability theory, the expected value of a random variable is the weighted average of all possible values that this random variable can take on... |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs | 2.32 - 0.78 |
| 2 | AQs, TT, AK, AJs, KQs, 99 | 0.59 - 0.38 |
| 3 | ATs, AQ, KJs, 88, KTs, QJs | 0.32 - 0.20 |
| 4 | A9s, AJ, QTs, KQ, 77, JTs | 0.19 - 0.15 |
| 5 | A8s, K9s, AT, A5s, A7s | 0.10 - 0.08 |
| 6 | KJ, 66, T9s, A4s, Q9s | 0.08 - 0.05 |
| 7 | J9s, QJ, A6s, 55, A3s, K8s, KT | 0.04 - 0.01 |
| 8 | 98s, T8s, K7s, A2s | 0.00 |
| 9 | 87s, QT, Q8s, 44, A9, J8s, 76s, JT | (-) 0.02 - 0.03 |
Nicknames for starting hands
In poker communities, it is common for hole cards to be given nicknames. While most combinations have a nickname, stronger handed nicknames are generally more recognized, the most notable probably being the "Big Slick" - Ace and King of the same suit, although an Ace-King of any suit combination is less occasionally referred to as an Anna KournikovaAnna Kournikova
Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova is a Russian retired professional tennis player. Her beauty and celebrity status made her one of the best known tennis stars worldwide, despite the fact that she never won a WTA singles title. At the peak of her fame, fans looking for images of Kournikova made her name...
, derived from the initials AK and because it "looks really good but rarely wins." Hands can be named according to the strength of the hand (e.g., paired aces are sometimes known as rockets representing their strength); a historic event (e.g., A's and 8's - dead man's hand
Dead man's hand
The dead man's hand is a two-pair poker hand, namely "aces and eights". This card combination gets its name from a legend that it was the five-card-draw hand held by Wild Bill Hickok, when he was murdered on August 2, 1876, in Saloon No. 10 at Deadwood, South Dakota.According to the popular...
, representing the hand held by Wild Bill Hickok
Wild Bill Hickok
James Butler Hickok , better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized.Hickok came to the West as a stagecoach...
when he was fatally shot in the back by Jack McCall
Jack McCall
John "Jack" McCall , known by the nickname "Crooked Nose Jack or Broken Nose Jack, was the killer of James "Wild Bill" Hickok, shooting him from behind, an act that among admirers of Hickok and students of Hickok's history has given rise to the phrase "the coward Jack McCall."-...
in 1876); many other reasons like animal names, alliteration and rhyming are also used in nicknames.
See list of poker hand nicknames for many examples.