Texas Holdem Hand Strength

Texas Hold'em Starting Hand Rankings In this article, we ranked starting hands in Texas Hold'em by the winning chance. Using our poker odds calculator engine, we first calculated the 'fixed-preflop, post-river' winning probability of all 169 types of starting hands. CasinoEuro: Up to 200 Wager-Free Spins on First Deposit. Choose from THREE awesome Welcome Offers when you sign-up Texas Holdem Hand Strengthand make Texas Holdem Hand Strengthyour first Texas Holdem Hand Strengthdeposit at CasinoEuro. Deposit and play through £25 to get 25 wager-free spins. Deposit and play through £100 to get 100 wager-free spins.

Based on the tabulated data and chart generated, there are a few interesting observations to be made. The are listed below:

1. Pair A is best hand

There should be no surprise that Pair A is the best hand. Having a pair A, helps you to easily get the best possible double pair combo or three-of-kind combo. While it might be harder to strike straight or flush with it, those scenarios are typically less likely to happen. Thus, making pair A better in general.

2. Offsuit 72 is the worst hand

This might be less known to people and it could be counter intuitive. Some might have thought that perhaps Offsuit J2 would be worse than Offsuit 72. But, that is not the case.

Texas Holdem Poker Hand Strength

To understand why this is the case, we can start thinking about what are combinations that are most likely to lead to a winning combo assuming no one folds. Given any hands, we are more likely to win with double pair, followed by 3-of-a-kind, straight flush and so forth.

With offsuit 72, we are more likely to win double pair of pair 7 and pair 2, followed by three-of-a-kind and so on. However, it is also worthwhile to note that it is highly like other players has a better double pair or three-of-a-kind. This bring us to the next important lesson to learn.

3. Having a suited, closely connected hand with A, K or Q is better than having pairs that is less than 9

If you were to investigate the table or chart, the hand ranked 5th is Suited AK. What is even more interesting is pairs hand only took 6 spots from rank 1 to rank 20. Most of the remaining spots were taken up by suited, closely connected hands with a high card like A, K or Q.

Texas Hold'em Hand Strength

The reason for this is similar to previous point that we made. It is more frequent that players will win using double pairs or 3-of-a-kind. Therefore, having a higher card helps to push you to a better standing to win.

One final note on this topic - Pair 9 is the last pair hand ranked in the top 20 hands. Playing any other pairs hand may not be as good as conventional wisdom might suggest.

4. Winning chance drops fast within the top 7 ranked hands

This is the lesson that really took us by surprised. While developing our poker odds calculator, we did had a sense that odds of winning was somewhat asymmetric. But, the chart above really solidify how much the asymmetry was.

Within the top 7 ranked hands, the probability of winning drops really fast from paired A to paired K and so forth. If you get the top 7 hands, you really should work hard to get through the preflop.

5. You are more likely to win a 6 players match than a 9 players one

A player with hands that are in the top 7 ranks in a 6 players game have a much better chance of winning in a 9 players game. For example, Paired A has roughly 49.5% preflop winning probability in a 6-player game compared to only 35% in a 9-players game. While 14.5% difference is not as big as it sounds, it has a significant impact on the pot odds that you will need to make a value play. In short, it might be easier to make money off a 6 players game rather than a 9 players game.

6. In a no-folding six players match, your hand range to play is very large

This point is not as crucial as other points we have made. But, we find this observation quite interesting although it is unlikely to happen in real life.

Suppose that we are in a no-folding 6 players Texas Hold'Em match. During every betting session, our pot odds is 5-to-1. This means that for every $1 we bet, we stand to win $5.

Based on this pot odds, our break-even pot equity or winning odds is around 16.67%. Using the chart above, we can see that we can play any hands better than rank 106. This means that players can play 105 types of hands out of 169 types (59.2% of all types) and still perform better than break even! Basically, you have a very large hand range to play in this type of situation.

Nonetheless, this is a just-for-fun analysis, which does not happen that often in real life. Based on some of our experience playing, it could happen sometimes during preflop though.

7. Our hand rankings are similar to Sklansky hand groups

Sklansky hand groups was formulated by David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth. Both of these old school poker players understand the math very well. It is no surprise that our hand rankings aligns very well with their proposed hand groups.

Sklansky hand group proposes that Tier 1 group consists of pair A, pair K, pair Q, pair J and suited AK. These cards are essentially ranked 1 to 5 via our Monte Carlo simulation. The same observation can be made for Sklansky Tier 2 and Tier 3 hand group.

There are quite a few poker variations out there, but Texas Hold’em poker is one of the more popular ones to play, especially in high-stakes tournaments and casinos. In fact, when we say poker, we’re usually referring to Texas Hold’em poker specifically, or the lesser-played five-card stud. Despite this, many versions follow the same hand values as Texas Hold’em poker.

Why are hand strengths important to know? Well, if you’re new to the game, it’s vital you memorize the order of hands so you know when to bet. Hand strength dictates your probability of winning, even when you have no hand at all. Let’s take a look at the hand strengths for Texas hold’em poker from best to worst!

Royal Flush

This hand is so rare you probably will never see it in person. In fact, your chance of getting a royal flush in any given hand is .00001%. Why’s it so rare? It’s the highest cards: A, K, Q, J, 10 in any of the four suits, meaning there are only four ways to get it. It’s also the best hand in poker, so if you are one of the lucky few, you’re going to win the round.

Straight Flush

The straight flush is like a royal flush, but with any other five cards in sequential order and the same suit. A good example would be K, Q, J, 10, 9 in any of the same suit. Remember that the higher the combination of cards, the better the hand is.

Four of a Kind

This hand is what it sounds like: four of the same card. Also very rare because you would need all four cards in the deck. Think four 10s, four Jacks, and so on.

Full House

Here’s where the hands start to get more common. A full house is 2 of one kind (any suit) and 3 of another (any suit). So a combination would be 2 5’s and 3 Aces. The higher the combination, the better the full house is. Full Houses are ranked by their triplet pairs first, then their doubles. If they just differ in suit, then they are equally ranked.

Flush

A flush is five cards in any numerical order, but they all have the same suit. So five cards that are diamond, or five that are hearts. It doesn’t count if you only have four, so be careful not to risk too much if you’re missing a card for a flush.

Straight

Right below a flush is a straight. These are cards in sequential order, but not the same suit. 2,3,4,5,6 (6-high) is the lowest form of straight, so that hand would lose to a 3,4,5,6,7 (7-high) straight.

Three of a Kind

This one is pretty straightforward: three of the same number. J, J, J, etc. They do not have to be the same suit (and can’t be unless you use multiple decks).

Two Pair

A two pair is two sets of the same numbers. J, J, 10, 10 is a good example. This is a really common type of hand, as the probability to get it is fairly good. The numbers don’t have to match suits.

Pair

Holdem Hand Strength Chart

This is the second lowest hand: two of the same number. A, A is the highest pair you can have.

High Card

Texas Holdem Hand Strength Chart

When all else fails, the highest card wins. Even if you don’t have a great hand, your high card is important, and has decided many matches. Your high card is ALWAYS in play, so even if you have a great hand, remember that if someone matches your hand strength, the high card will decide the winner. Keep this in mind, because it happens a lot.

Now that you know the basic hand strengths in Texas Hold’em poker, you’re ready to start playing! Try playing without betting first so you get a feel for the game without the pressure of tossing chips away. Good luck! See more how-tos over at our blog!