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Texas Holdem Hand RankingsBecause the only statistical advantage a Texas Hold'em poker player has is tied to their two unique hole cards, one of the first things any player should learn is how to correctly evaluate the strength of their starting hands. It's easy to see the importance of these two cards when you consider how many hands end before the flop. And while there's no predicting the “luck of the draw,” you can certainly improve your odds by going into the draw with the best possible hand. Below is the most common top ten rankings for Texas Hold'em starting hands. 1. Ace-Ace There is more than one system used to evaluate starting hands in Texas Hold'em, and the one that holds true for you will depend on your personal strategy. That's why Ten-Ten also frequently appears in these lists. Don't be surprised to see the bottom ranks switched up frequently depending on the ranker's personal preferences. That said, AA is universally considered to be the best starting hand in Texas Hold'em. That's because it's a made hand – in other words you've already got a combination – and it's the highest possible pair in the deck. Your odds of getting a pair of deuces and a pair of Aces are the same, but your odds of winning with either vary greatly. For example, it's quite common to see a player with pocket rockets go all-in pre-flop, but a player that goes all-in with a baby pair is probably desperate. Where the top Texas Hold'em starting hand lists start to differ is after the third best hand of QQ. Now the value of the pairs are getting low enough to be easily beaten if an opponent pairs higher on the flop, which means that many players would rather have suited connectors that offer outs toward everything from a pair to a straight or a flush. Other players disagree and will always favor a made hand, and these players tend to be more aggressive pre-flop as they protect their vulnerable pairs. Players that prefer post-flop action will find that suited connectors offer more options when drawing and will rank them accordingly. There are other, more advanced variables to consider when evaluating your hand. These include: table size, your own stack size, and your position at the table. For example, at a nine-player table, the odds of one of your opponents getting a better starting hand are high. In these scenarios, most players only want to put their chips behind the best starting hands. Alternately, when you have fewer opponents the relative strength of middling hands increases as the odds of someone having a better hand decrease. Statistically, the odds of winning with any of these hands are so close (and so good) that you'd be advised to go into the flop with Kings even if you knew your opponent held Aces. After all, the flop is the great equalizer; what's most important is that you go into it well-armed.
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