Top 10 Poker Hands Pre Flop
Even if you are a neophyte to the game of poker, there are some basic tenets that you have before you even pick up a stack of chips to bet. One, when you get pocket Aces, you pound your opposition with a pre-flop raise otherwise everyone and their brother gets to play the hand and potentially crack your bullets. Two, you don’t need to play “special” hands like a 7-2, universally recognized as the worst hand in poker. Finally, there isn’t a such thing as “funsies,” 99% of the time you’re playing poker for a reason – normally to make some money.
Beyond that, the education of a poker player gets a bit grey. Here’s a basic thought on some hands that new players will play simply because “someone told them it was worthwhile” or “but (insert professional player here) always plays this hand” or even “I had a feeling.” If you can put these into your repertoire of hands you need to fold pre-flop, you’ll potentially find that your sessions are more profitable.
Hilm’s first blow came when Jerry opened the action pre-flop with 8h 8c to 10x’s the pot and Hilm called with Kh Qs. It seemed like the 8s Td Ah flop would allow Hilm to easily get away from the hand, especially when Yang bet another 3 million, but for some reason Hilm called. Pocket aces is the best starting hand in poker. When you’re dealt pocket aces you’ve got the best hand pre-flop, period. One of the best things about pocket aces is that you dominate other strong starting hands like KK, QQ and JJ so there’s huge potential to win a massive pot.
Jack-10 (Suited or unsuited)
At first glance, J-10 is a pretty sweet looking hand. It holds the potential to make four nut straights, the only two card combination to be able to do that, and it can let you float a bet on the flop if they are suited and two of that suit hit the felt. The problem with J-10 is that it doesn’t play well after the flop.
If you get a flop that contains a Jack, then you have issues with the kicker that, in most cases, is going to be dominated by an opponent playing Q-J, K-J, or A-J. If you pair the ten, then the same situation is in play with a similar number of options that beat you – A-10, K-10 and Q-10. If they are suited and the two matching suit cards that come on the flop are under the ten, then there is a chance (a slim one, about 1-in-592) that an A-K, A-Q, or K-Q is out there to clip you. And let’s not even get into the potential for straights (K-Q, Q-9, 9-8) should you flop two pair.
There are two options here: hit perfectly and hope someone ignores the straight potential of the board, calling your bets all the way, or missing and having to let the hand go. If you get a flop like K-Q-x, about the only people who might come with you are pocket pairs (King, Queen or “x”) or those that have you beaten (A-K, A-Q, K-Q, any King or Queen combination and the pairer for the “x”). If the flop comes empty – say A-7-4, for example – then you’re left with air to bluff with; most wouldn’t consider chasing it any further with this dismal holding.
Baby pairs
Everyone loves to potentially crack a big pair by playing a small one – between deuces and fives – and set mining their way into the lead. But what happens when you’ve completely missed with your little ones? It gets pretty ugly in this case.
In pre-flop action, the baby pairs don’t hold up well if there is a great deal of action in front of you. Say you’re sitting on deuces on the button when someone fires a bet out of middle position, the hijack calls and the cutoff three-bets the situation. Your pocket deuces don’t look so good now, do they? There’s nothing wrong with sending the hand to the muck here and, in fact, it is the proper play with the flurry of activity ahead of you.
The baby pairs don’t hold up well if the cards on the flop are all higher cards, at best giving you the fourth-best hand after the flop. They also don’t work well as a straight filler. For example, if you have pocket treys and fill out a 2-4-5 flop to make it an open ended straight draw, there are other potential players that crush your baby pair or could best you in a straight situation.
Extremely Gapped Suited Cards
If you were to get dealt two extremely gapped cards – say a K-2 or a Q-3, for example – there would, for most players, be little hesitation in putting those in the muck. Why then, if there is the same symbol in the corner for each card, does it make a difference? While their suited nature does open the potential for a flush, it isn’t going to do much in any other circumstance.
If that flush draw comes, then you’re committing with weak holdings – sneaky for the flush potential, yes, but weak otherwise. If you flop a King, then you have kicker issues that come up and the same works if you hit the kicker – your top card might not be enough to win at showdown unless you make trips with the kicker.
Summary
We sometimes have to play hands we’d rather not play on certain occasions. But if you can control when you voluntarily put chips in play to hands, making sure they have strong potential (not always, mind you, but more often than not) instead of weaker holdings, you should find more success on the tables. And isn’t winning hands – and the chips that go along with those hands – why we sit down at the table?
Poker is all about maximising your gains from big hands (and bluffs) while minimising your losses when you’re behind. However, regardless of how well you play through the post-flop period of your game, it is your pre-flop hand selection which will determine how successful you will be.
The pre-flop sets up your play for the rest of the round similar to how a first serve in a tennis match ets up the rest of that point. If you make poor hand selection in no limit holdem pre-flop then it’s very likely that the rest of your game will suffer and you’ll be caught out in awkward situations.
With regards to hand selection, a number of professional poker players such as David Slansky, Phil Hellmuth and Dan Harrington have all proposed their own starting hand charts based on your table position. However each of these strategies differs slightly since the playing style of each of these players differs. Dan Harrington is one of the most well known TAG tournament poker players, whilst Phil Hellmuth tends to mix up his game between TAG and LAG.
Premium Hands – AA, KK, QQ and AK
These top four hands (AA, KK, QQ, AK) are the best 2% of pocket cards that you can be dealt in No Limit Holdem. Whenever you’re dealt these hands you’ll want to raise them up or be happy committing your entire stack into the pot pre-flop.
The chances are that you’ll be ahead of your opponent pre-flop with any of these hands. This means that you’ll want to built the pot as large as possible pre-flop and get rid of any limpers who’re trying to see the flop cheaply. If you’re first to act then make an open raise of around 3-4 BBs however if someone has already raised in front of you then you’ll want to re-raise them around 3x their opening raise. Bear in mind that if you have a premium pair such as KK and get called by a lower pocket pair (e.g. 55) then you’re still an 80% to 20% favourite.
Mid Pocket Pairs (77 – JJ), Broadway Cards and High Suited Connectors
Mid pocket pairs (77 – JJ) and high suited connectors (e.g. JQs/KQs) are very strong hands especially in 6-max cash games however because they are not as strong and can easily be dominated by premium hands listed above you’ll naturally want to play them a little slower.
From late position, pocket pairs including JJ become excellent 3betting hands. The value of these hands increases in late position (e.g. LP/CO) since you can recognise weaknesses and get maximum information/reads at the table. You’ll also have a positional advantage in all of the future betting rounds since you will be last to act.
These hands are also excellent hands to semi-bluff with early on since they are strong enough to get called with, have good implied odds for hitting a monster on the flop, but at the same time they are weak enough for you to be satisfied with everyone folding around and giving you the blinds. Although you can raise/bluff these hands from late position, I personally recommend limping with them from early position since they are much harder to play from EP – MP.
Poker Flop Odds
Low Pocket Pairs, Suited Aces and Suited/Non-Suited Connectors
These are your “marginal” sets of pre-flop hands. Low pocket pairs (22 – 66), suited aces and non-suited connectors are essentially limping hands with some 3bet value from position. They are also excellent hands for 3betting light with. Of course they are not very strong in totality, but the implied odds from these hands gives them a lot of value on weak tables where you get to regularly see the flop cheaply.
The advantage of playing non-suited/suited connectors such as 56o is that these middling cards tend to hit a lot of flops. You’d be surprised by just how often you’ll hit mid-pair or a straight draw with a hand like 109o or 56s in no limit holdem. By exercising good pot-control with these types of hands you’ll have a good deal of success with them.
With regards to calling 3bets with these hands I would be very inclined to fold them. The majority of the time these types of hands require favourable pot-odds to be profitable to play (meaning 2 or more players in the pot with deep stacks behind them). If you get re-raised with these hands then you’re better off folding (unless you’re short-stacked in a tournament in which case you’ll just want to shove all-in).
Top 10 Poker Hands Pre Flop Odds
Junk Hands – 72o/58s/92o etc…
Phil Hellmuth's Top 10 Poker Hands
Any hands not already covered will be considered junk hands and you’ll want to throw them away. For new players in particular, it’s really important that you don’t both limping with junk hands such as 72o since the odds will always be against you. Sure, you might be able to catch a flop such as 772 but the chances of this happening means that in the long term you’ll be bleeding chips and diminishing your bankroll playing these sorts of hands.