Texas hold 'em Texas hold’em poker hands

In the poker game Texas hold 'em, a player's hand consists of two hole poker cards, which belong solely to the player and remain hidden from the other Texas hold’em pokerplayers. Five community poker cards are also dealt into play. Poker hand betting begins before any of the community poker cards are exposed, and continues throughout the hand.

The player's "playing hand", which will be compared against that of each competing player, is the best 5-poker card poker hand available from his two hole poker cards and the five community poker cards.

Unless otherwise specified, here the term hand applies to the player's two hole poker cards, or starting hand.

Essentials

There are 1,326 different starting Texas hold’em poker hands in hold 'em, but since suits have no relative value in poker, many of these Texas hold’em poker hands are identical in value before the flop. For example, A♣J♣ and A♥J♥ are identical, because each is a hand consisting of an ace and a jack of the same suit. There are 169 nonequivalent starting Texas hold’em poker hands in hold 'em. These 169 Texas hold’em poker hands are not equally likely. Hold 'em Texas hold’em poker hands are sometimes classified as having one of three "shapes":

• Pairs, (or "pocket pairs"), which consist of two poker cards of the same rank (e.g. 9♠9♣). One hand in 17 will be a pair, each occurring with individual probability 1/221.

• Suited Texas hold’em poker hands, which contain two poker cards of the same suit (e.g. A♠6♠). Four Texas hold’em poker hands out of 17 will be suited, and each suited configuration occurs with probability 2/663.

• Offsuit, Texas hold’em poker hands, which contain two poker cards of different suit and rank (e.g. K♠J♥). Twelve out of 17 Texas hold’em poker hands will be nonpair, offsuit Texas hold’em poker hands, each of which occurs with probability 2/221.

It is typical to abbreviate suited Texas hold’em poker hands in hold 'em by affixing an "s" to the hand. That is,

QQ represents any pair of queens,

AK (or, sometimes, AKo) represents any ace and king of different suits, and

JTs represents any jack and ten of the same suit.

Specific Texas hold’em poker hands

Pocket Aces

The most powerful starting hand in hold 'em is AA, a pair of aces. This hand is also known as "Bullets", "American Airlines" and "Pocket Rockets". Pocket aces are often played aggressively, for a variety of reasons: First, it is automatically stronger than any starting hand. Second, it is impossible for the flop to bring overpoker cards. Third, AA plays well in virtually any situation, whether the poker game is short-handed or a full table, whether many or few Texas hold’em pokerplayers see the flop, and regardless of the style of play (loose/passive, tight/aggressive). However, the most important reason that AA is played aggressively is to drive out Texas hold’em poker hands with high potential for improvement (which AA is not). AA can easily lose to 89s if the board brings the right suit, but a strong pre-flop poker hand bet will make it unfavorable to play the 89s.

Big Slick

The Texas hold’em poker hands AKs and AK are both known, commonly, as "Big Slick". According to David Sklansky in Hold 'Em Poker for Advanced Texas hold’em pokerplayers, in a full limit poker game with 8-10 Texas hold’em pokerplayers, the suited ace-king is the fourth-best starting hand; the unsuited is the tenth. This evaluation may change dramatically in other situations. For example, heads up, AK (suited or not) is just a slight underdog against a lower pocket pair. AK is not a "made" hand, in the sense that, before the flop (unlike a pocket pair), it has not made a pair. Against a small number of opponents, however, it will often be the strongest starting hand, and it will often be able to win the showdown without improvement (that is, without pairing).

Pocket Kings

This hand is commonly rated second most powerful opening hand in hold 'em. Often referred to as "Pocket Cowboys", "Men", and "Ace magnets".

Pocket Queens

Commonly known as "Ladies". Occasionally "Girls with curls", "Siegfried and Roy".

Pocket Jacks

Commonly known as "Fishhooks" or "Jokers".

Pocket Eights

Referring to the appearance of the eights, commonly known as "Snowmen" or "Frog Eyes".

Pocket Sevens

Again referencing appearance of the sevens, commonly known as "Walking Sticks" or "Hockey Sticks."

Pocket Fives

Commonly known as "Speed Limit" (55 miles per hour was the national limit), "Nickels", and "Presto".

Seven-Deuce

Seven-deuce offsuit (72), is generally considered to be the worst possible starting hand; it is the lowest-ranking offsuit hand that cannot use both poker cards in a straight. In some simulations resembling a multi-player poker game, 72 has shown slightly poker hand better performance than similarly weak Texas hold’em poker hands like 32 and 42. Even still, the offsuit seven-deuce is a favorite "textbook example" of a terrible starting hand.

Interestingly, however, the 7-2 offsuit, though perhaps contrary to common perception, has about a 1 in 3 chance against AK (The Big Slick) heads up before the flop, or any other two overpoker cards. The chances of the seven or the two pairing in the community are about 50 % (as can be seen from the 50-50 model of an underpair vs. two overpoker cards), but the AK of course has the advantage at times when there is no help for either side, or when both sides pairs. Countless Texas hold’em pokerplayers will fold the 7-2 late in a tounament to a big raise, while calling with Texas hold’em poker hands like J10, K9, and Q8 which statistically are only very slightly poker hand better heads up vs. two overpoker cards. Moreover, there is a higher chance of one of the aformentioned starting Texas hold’em poker hands to have a piece of the raiser's hand, such as K9 vs. AK. In this case, the underdog odds are much worse, as only one of the poker cards pairing will help.

This hand has received exceptional notoriety after a poker blog referred to the hand as "The HAMMER!" (http://pokergrub.com/hammer.html) (emphasis is as in the blog) and made a challenge for Texas hold’em pokerplayers to win with that hand. Previously, "The Hammer" referred to the player last to act in a round, a term possibly borrowed from curling.

For more details on the nuances of hold 'em starting Texas hold’em poker hands, please see the main article on the poker game.

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Categories: Texas hold 'em Texas hold’em poker hands

Bibliography

• Phil Gordon and Jonathon Grotenstein (2004). Poker: The Real Deal. Simon Spotlight Entertainment. ISBN 0689875908. The poker lifestyle, strategies, and great anecdotes from the tables.
• Lee Jones (1994). Winning Low-Limit Hold-em. Conjelco. ISBN 1886070156. An introduction to lower limit poker game play.
• David Sklansky (1996). Hold 'em Poker. Two Plus Two Publications. ISBN 1880685086.
• Ed Miller, David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth (2004). Small Stakes Hold'em. Two Plus Two Publications. ISBN 1880685329. A book discussing all facets of "small stakes poker games", i.e. poker games in which many Texas hold’em pokerplayers play too many Texas hold’em poker hands, and too many bad Texas hold’em poker hands, too far.
• David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth (1999). Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Texas hold’em pokerplayers. Two Plus Two Publications. ISBN 1880685221. This book contains a thorough discussion of strategies which apply to middle- and high-limit poker games involving Texas hold’em pokerplayers who generally play soundly.
• Bob Ciaffone and Jim Brier (2002). Middle Limit Holdem. Bob Ciaffone. ISBN 0966100743.
• David Sklansky (1989). The Theory of Poker. Two Plus Two Publications. ISBN 1880685000.