Top Strategies for Winning with the Best Poker Starting Hands
The thrill of staring down at Pocket Rockets (a pair of Aces), one of the best starting hands in poker, is undeniable. You’ve got the strongest hand on the board, for now. But while the math is undeniable, it’s what you do with good poker starting hands that is ultimately important.
The best starting hand in Texas Hold ’em Poker is pocket aces. © Photo by Clifford Photography on Unsplash
What Are the Best Starting Hands in Poker?
Many people use poker and Hold ’em Poker almost interchangeably. But there is a whole world of the game out there that doesn’t involve Hold ’em at all. So, when we talk about poker, it’s important that we first define which game we’re talking about.
After all, the best hand in Hold ’em is different than the best hand in Omaha Poker and definitely different than the best hand in Razz. And with many US online casinos offering more and more exotic poker games or tournament structures like HORSE or ROSE, it is important to know the difference.
The Best Hold’em Starting Hands
In Hold’em, we get two starting cards face down. Mathematically, the strongest starting hands in Hold ’em are AA, KK, QQ, AK suited, and JJ. But playing them correctly is key to extracting the most value from these hands.
Below, we’ll take a look at the top five starting hands and how you need to play them.
Pair of Aces
Replicating the style of Teddy KGB in “Rounders” where you check to a single raise with pocket Aces is not a good idea. Most often, you’ll want to push in heavy pre-flop. Letting too many players see the flop will cost you all of your mathematical edge with the best hand in Hold ’em.
You have well over an 80% advantage over any other random hand, and the hands most likely to call you, KK and AK, suited are still well over 80% likely losers in this situation, with the AK suited being a winner only one in ten times.
Yes, you would like one call here, but probably not two, and once the flop comes, any limpers make this once dominant hand anyone’s guess. Push in pre-flop enough to narrow down any calls to a very small range of hands unless you know your opponents very well.
Pair of Kings
While any dealt premium pair is generally considered one of the good poker starting hands, anything less than Aces leaves us vulnerable to an Ace or a wet board on the flop. So again, with Kings (or Cowboys as they are known), we need to get aggressive pre-flop because someone holding Ace/ King has about a one in three odds at beating you.
Many players holding A/K may call a three or even four-bet pre-flop, knowing they are behind. They do this because they know they still have lots of potential to make your life miserable depending on the flop, and this is even more true if they hold A/K suited.
You may find you need to play K/K even more aggressively than A/A to prevent others with good poker starting hands from seeing the flop.
Pair of Queens
While Queens are the third-highest Hold ’em poker hand, they become even trickier to play as we drop down the premium pairs range. The bet advice remains the same: stay aggressive pre-flop. This is still a three-bit hand. Don’t get timid now; there is plenty of time for that post-flop.
The biggest thing to be aware of is that there will be an ace or king on the flop about one in three times. Now, you’re playing second pair, and if you didn’t get aggressive pre-flop and the board is “wet”, you are facing having to fold what started as a very promising hand.
If you always start with the worst hand, you never have a bad-beat story to tell.– Chuck Thompson, Professional Poker Player, AZ Quotes
A/K Suited
“Big Slick” is a coveted hand in Hold’em and generally ranked the fourth best hand, but it is despised by many of the playing public because while it feels like a winner, many lack the skill to get value from this hand.
Again, aggression early will save you from aggravation later. This hand is at least a raise, if not more, depending on the bet action and number of players. Some people will tell you to raise even after a three-bet, though if either of the blinds has action, you may want just to call.
Personally, we think even a four-bet deserves a call in most situations. If you hit the flop, you need to stay aggressive. Setting traps or slow playing will cost you money in the long run with a hand this strong.
Pair of Jacks
Another hand that many people find challenging to play, and everyone seems to have a different opinion on how to play, is a pair of jacks or Kid Dyna-o-mite. Let’s be clear: this is still one of the top five best-starting hands in Hold ’em Poker, and we need to bet it accordingly.
Again, a three-bet or even a four-bet against looser players can extract equity from a strong starting hand. Only a couple of hands have you beat at this point, and you can get good value for your strong hand. That being said, if you know your opponent and they are unlikely to be three-betting with anything other than premium pairs, then you may need to let this one go.
This hand becomes much trickier after the flop. There is likely to be an overcard or two, and so now we have to think about position. If we’re in position, we think a bet against one overcard is the right call, and if out of position, a call. Without an overcard on the flop, you have to be willing to bet and force limpers out, especially from an early position.
While Hold ’em is far and away the most widely played form of poker today, there are several other popular varieties.
Best Starting Hands in Omaha Poker
Omaha is the second most popular poker variant in the world. The Pot limit game, in particular, is known as a wild game with large pots. In Omaha, the player receives four down cards and must use two of these along with three of the five community cards to make the best hand.
So starting out, the best hand in Omaha Poker is A/A/K/K double suited. Omaha Hi-Lo or Omaha 8 is a version where both the highest and lowest hand play, and the pot is split. We will discuss this version of the game a bit later.
Below are the top ten best-starting hands for regular Omaha or the pot limit game. Every hand listed is double-suited.
- A/A/K/K
- A/A/J/T
- A/AQ/Q
- A/A/J/J
- A/A/10/10
- A/A/9/9
- A/A/x/x
- J/T/9/8
- K/K/Q/Q
- K/K/J/J
The Best Starting Hand in Low Ball Games
Some poker variants like Omaha 8 or Razz are called lowball games because the winning hand is the worst possible Poker hand. For instance, in Razz, you are dealt two face-down cards and one face-up card called the door card.
Because the Ace is considered the lowest card and straights or flushes aren’t counted, the best-starting hand in Razz is A, 2, 3. It becomes very easy to draw the best hand in Razz, A,2,3,4,5, with the remaining four cards to be dealt.
Likewise, in Omaha Hi-Low, the best starting hand is A,A,2,3 double suited as you can play this hand either for the high or low hand. While this game isn’t always spread at land-based casinos, you can find it at almost all online poker sites.
Conclusion
While the best-starting hands drastically increase our chance of winning, no matter what the poker game is, it is ultimately up to us to make sure we play the hands aggressively and extract the most value and equity we can.
The math may be in our favor, but nobody gets paid for the best-starting hand in poker, only for playing it out. Take a hard look at who you are playing with, your position, and even the stacks, but if you have a top 2 or 3% hand, you have to be willing to push all in early.
If playing tighter opponents you may need not to be quite so aggressive, but in general, win small pots pre-flop by forcing out all but the top hand or two, and then hopefully, your better-starting hand will pay off. And remember, all of this gets easier with practice.
