169 Poker Starting Hand Combinations – How Low Do They Go?
Most people know a Royal Flush is the best achievable hand in poker. They will also know that pocket-Aces is considered the ultimate starting hand in Texas Hold ’em. However, working backwards and understanding the worst hands in poker is not straightforward.
There are 169 possible combinations of two-card Texas Hold ’em starting hands and 1,326 different starting hand combinations when suits are taken into consideration. The odds of being dealt pocket-Aces are 220/1. At the other end of the scale, is it less than 7/4 that your starting cards are not paired and are both valued at 9 or lower.
Here, you can discover the worst starting hands in Texas Hold ’em. We will look at the probabilities of notable hands prevailing when played against two random cards and the likelihood of you being dealt specific cards to help with your online poker strategy.
2-7 Not a Hold’Em Hand From Heaven
While your head probably insists 2-3 is the worst two cards you could be dealt in Texas Hold ’em, it is 2-7 that ranks as the lowest starting hand amongst the 169 ‘non-suited’ hand possibilities. The reason is that 2-3 presents the possibility of making straights, whereas four community cards will need to come into play to make a straight playing 2-7.
In an all-in pre-flop situation, depending on the suits, the probability of 2-7 beating pocket-Aces ranges between just 10.8 and 12.4 percent. For reference, pocket Aces will beat Ace-King 87 percent of the time. It will also conquer a rival pocket pair 80 percent of the time and prevail over 6-7 suited 77 times out of 100.
Sat in 168th position on the hand rankings list is 2-8. The starting hands, 3-8 – which Jonathan Tamayo held when winning the 2024 World Series of Poker Main Event – 2-8, 3-9, 4-9, are immediately above it. Once again, none of these hands can be used together to make a straight with 3 community cards. The aforementioned 2-3 actually ranks 159th on the list of most desirable starting hands.
The lowest-ranked hand that features a picture card is Jack-2 – it sits 155th in the starting hand rankings. Similarly, the highest-ranked hand that features a 2 is Ace-2. It occupies 117th on the list.
The Poker Computer With Strange Results
Remarkably, 7-8 sits a few places above Ace-2 on the starting hand ranking chart. Its positioning is due to its potential to feature in so many straights. Such is the value of ‘suited cards’ due to their potential to make a flush; 7-8 suited occupies a lofty 48th position on the chart.
Many would have heard the phrase’ computer hand’, which refers to Queen-7 suited. It is a middling, marginal hand, but contrary to myth, it does not derive its name from being the hand that has as many starting hands listed above it as below it. Queen-7 suited is the 61st most desirable starting hand in Hold’em.
The first listed pairs – baby pocket pairs 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 – should be seen as cards to play ‘cheaply’ in the hope of flopping a set. They sit in positions 50-52 in the list of powerful starting hands, a full 15 positions below a simple Jack-Queen.
What Are the Odds of That?
Only tiny .1 percent increments separate many Hold ’em hole cards, and so, for the most part, it is not necessary to get fanatical about starting hand selection. Common sense dictates that the rarer a specific starting hand is, the more likely it is to prevail. That does not go for A-K-suited, which is rarer than A-A, but will lose to it 87 percent of the time!
The Likelihood of Being Dealt Specific Starting Hands
| Combination | Odds |
|---|---|
| AKs (or any specific suited cards) | 330.5/1 |
| AA (or any specific pair) | 220/1 |
| AKs, KQs, QJs, or JTs (suited cards) | 81.9/1 |
| AK (or any specific non-pair incl. suited) | 81.9/1 |
| AA, KK, or QQ | 72.7/1 |
| AA, KK, QQ or JJ | 54.25/1 |
| Suited cards, jack or better | 54.25/1 |
| AA, KK, QQ, JJ, or TT | 43.2/1 |
| Suited cards, 10 or better | 32.2/1 |
| Suited connectors | 24.5/1 |
| Connected cards, 10 or better | 19.7/1 |
| Any 2 cards with rank at least Queen | 19.1/1 |
| Any 2 cards with rank at least Jack | 10.1/1 |
| Any 2 cards with rank at least 10 | 5.98/1 |
| Connected cards (of consecutive rank) | 5.37/1 |
| Any 2 cards with rank at least 9 | 3.81/1 |
| Not connected nor suited, at least one 2-9 | 0.87/1 |
Regardless of Rank, Do Not Overrate Hands
The best way to be successful playing poker is to work out the game’s probabilities – such as the strength of starting hands against potential rivals’ hands and drawing cards arriving – while playing and simultaneously calculating the math.
In our expert opinion, the highest-ranked Texas Hold ’em starting hand that is most commonly overrated is King-Queen. The hand may sit 20th on the list, but a flat call from an opponent holding Ace-King or Ace-Queen is possible in a pot where a pre-flop raise has been made.
Suffice it to say, you can never be fully confident one pair is ahead when flopping a Queen or a King. If an Ace is flopped, you can easily imagine your hand is losing, and if neither an Ace, King or Queen flops, it is easy to convince yourself your hand is behind.
5-6 suited (listed 63rd) is another problematic hand to play in many situations. An ideal flop featuring 5-5 or 6-6 is highly unlikely to appear; a straight draw is more probable. A 7-8-X board means you will be drawing to a 4 or a 9 to make a straight. However, that 9 should be considered a dead out.
If the turn card is a 9 (showing a 7-8-X-9 board), your 5-6 straight is the third-best possible straight in play. Both 6-10 and the much more likely Jack-10 have you drawing dead, and an Ace-10, 10-10, and even King-Jack type hand still have outs to beat you heading to the river. The best online poker sites will show you the odds of your hand winning in an all-in situation. Win or lose, it usually makes beneficial study information.
