No Limit Hold'em - Starting Hands

[KillJoy]

Different starting hands mean different strength. Starting hand (hole cards) is the first two cards dealt to players before the first round of betting begins. There are 1326 possible hole card combinations that can be dealt from a single deck. All these combinations fall into one of the three categories:

• Pairs – often called pocket pairs. One pair is composed of two cards of the same rank. The strength of pairs is pretty obvious. With a pair, you already have a made hand that can possibly win without the help of the community cards to follow.

• Suited Hands – these are hole cards of same suit (color), e.g. AK both diamond. Suited cards also add strength. They are more valuable than unsuited cards because they give you a better chance of making a flush.
Many of the playable hands are “connected”. E.g., a queen and a jack. They are close together in their value. Cards that are suited and connected give you more ways to win. Ace King suited is one of the best hands in poker, as you have outs to making big pairs, the best straight and the best flush.

• Unsuited Hands – these are hole cards with different starting value and color, e.g. K of diamond and 8 of hearts.




This starting hand chart is actually very loose by most standards. It wouldn’t be a bad idea at all to cross off some of the lesser hands if you're just starting out. The better the hands you start with, the more aggressively you can play them.

Both of these charts deal with “position”.