All Poker Starting Hands Ranked
Below you will find a list of poker hands in order from highest to lowest to help you get started, as well as the top starting hands for Texas Hold'em. Click the button on the right to get a cheat sheet that displays the traditional poker hand rankings, which are used in the most popular variants of poker (such as Texas Hold‘em). So for all these reasons I think you will almost certainly find that these are the two best poker starting hands in the game. And by that I mean the most profitable! These 3 Poker Hands are Also Hugely Profitable The next three most profitable poker starting hands are as follows.
In poker, when you hear the word “hand,” this is referring to a set of 5 playing cards that each player will be dealt and maintain for the duration of the game. Each hand has a different rank and is compared to the ranks of the other hands at the table.
The hands are all revealed in what’s called the “showdown,” and based on which hand has the higher rank, this will determine who takes the pot.
The rank of each hand is determined by particular patterns within the cards that the player’s holding. Before you go play poker, you’ll still want to learn the basics of the game in further detail, but I’ll go through each hand in detail so that you’ll at least have that knowledge.
Poker is a fun game that can take up hours of your Saturday night with a group of friends, or can take you through the night and into the morning at the casino. Here are the seven hands that you’re going to need to understand when playing poker.
1- High Card
So when you’re playing poker and each player reveals their cards, and nobody has one of the qualifying hands below in this list, it’ll come down to who has the highest cards—we call this the “high card.”
The ranking of each card in order starts with an Ace (an Ace can sometimes be the highest or lowest card), followed by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King.
In most cases, a high card hand ends up losing—almost invariably, someone has something in their hand that’s higher than just high card—even if it’s just a pair. If you end up with a high-card hand, you should probably fold. It’s unlikely that you’re going home with any money on that pot.
2- Pair
One pair in poker is when a player has two of the same card. For example, when a player has two Kings, two Aces, two fives, etc.
The ranking of a pair is the same as when it comes to high card, except now it’s just who has the highest pair of the same card.
If players reveal their hands and a couple players have the same pair (for instance, if two players show their cards and they both have a pair of 3s), then the winner will be determined by which player has the highest kicker.
The kicker is the highest ranking card out of the three remaining cards in the player’s hand. Essentially, it’s the “high card” that’s left over after the two pairs are counted.
So if a player’s kicker is an Ace, and while the other player’s kicker is a King, than the player with the Ace kicker will win the hand.
Two pair might feel like a pretty strong hand, but it’s still low on the list. If you’ve got two pair, you better be pretty sure that your opponents only have a pair before you make a bet.
3- Three of a Kind
Three of a kind in poker is when a player has three of the same card. If a player has three 3s, three Jacks, three 10s etc., this would be three of a kind.
The ranking of three of a kind is the same as what has been explained so far. Three of a kind also comes down to the highest three cards that are revealed by the showdown, followed by the highest kicker in the hand.
Three of a kind is actually a pretty strong hand. If you’ve got three of a kind, you might want to consider making some bets.
That being said, if you’re playing Texas Hold ‘Em, you might want to think twice, especially if your three of a kind is made up of two community cards. In that case, it’s possible someone else has a pair and the other three of a kind—making a full house, which I’ll get to in a minute and which is a very strong hand—and you could end up losing big time.
4- Straight
A straight in poker is when a player has five cards in a sequential rank. For example, a straight could be having a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or it could be a 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace.
If two players both show a straight, then the winning hand will come down to whichever straight has the highest rank. So if a player has a straight with the high card being an Ace, that’s going to beat a hand with the high card being a King.
Having a straight that’s a 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace is known as a Broadway straight. Having a straight that’s a 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace is known as a Baby straight.
A straight is a powerful hand. It falls right in the middle of hand rankings, and it’s rare enough that it’s definitely worth playing. If you find that you’ve got a straight, consider playing it a little slow at first, then making some big bets at the end.
5- Flush
A flush in poker is having five cards that all have the same suit. A suit in poker is a heart, diamond, club, or spade. The cards don’t need to be in a sequential rank like a straight, just the same suit.
If two players have a both show a flush, whether that’s revealing a hand with five hearts, or five spades, then the winning hand is going to come down to which player has the highest and then second highest ranking card in their hand.
So if a player shows a 10, 2, 3, Jack, Ace (all cards with same suit), that will beat a flush with 5, Jack, 3, 7, 9 (all the same suit), with the Ace being the highest ranking card out of both flushes. Flush hands that differ by suit alone and have the same highest ranking card would be considered equal hands, no hand being higher ranked than the other.
This does happen from time to time, where players have equal hands and equal kickers. When that happens, the pot is split.
6- Full House
A full house, originally called a full hand, is a pretty amazing hand to be dealt in the game of poker. You’ll see players that are dealt this hand moving a lot of their chips into the betting pot, because this hand is a pretty hard hand to beat.
A full house consists of the combination of a pair and a three or a kind. This could be 3, 3, 3, Jack, Jack, or 7, 7, 7, 5, 5.
The determination of who would win if two players were to both reveal a full house first comes down to the highest ranking three of a kind, or “triple” followed by the highest ranking pair.
So in the example above, the highest ranking hand would be the hand with the triple 7’s. Full house hands that have a different suit but equally ranked cards would be considered equal hands.
7- Four of a Kind
Like a three of a kind, a four of a kind is four of the same ranking cards instead of three of the same ranking cards.
So Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack would be an example of a four of a kind.
If two players both show four of the same ranked cards, then the winning hand, like the rest of the poker hands listed, will come down to the highest ranked set of four cards. So four Jacks is going to beat a hand showing four 7s.
Four Kings is going to beat a hand of four Jacks. This is not a common hand to be dealt, but it’s quite the destructive hand if you play it slow.
8- Straight Flush
So this is a dirty hand right here. The legendary straight flush. A straight flush is pretty self-explanatory, consisting of five cards of the same suit all in a sequential order, just like the straight that has been explained above. Having a 5-high straight flush is known as “the steel wheel.”
Each straight flush in ranked by the highest ranking card of the sequential cards. So five clubs with a Queen being the highest ranked card is going to beat a hand containing five hearts with a 10 being the highest ranking card.
This is the rarest hand to be dealt in poker.
9- Five of a Kind
Taking the “Royal flush” out of the picture, this is the highest possible hand that a player could be dealt in a poker game.
Like the three of a kind of four of a king, the five of a kind is a hand of five of the same ranked card. If two players both show a five of a kind, then whoever has the highest ranked set of quintuplets will win the round.
This hand doesn’t come up very often because it requires a joker card or wild card. If you’re playing without wild cards, you won’t see this hand.
Conclusion
Poker is an amazing game with a variety of hand combinations. If you want to win big at real money online poker or in the casinos, you better have a solid understanding of the different possible hand combinations and how they work.
What’s your favorite poker hand? Tell me in the comments.
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. 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.
All Poker Starting Hands Ranked Against
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.
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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.
All Poker Starting Hands Ranked Nba
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.
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.