Poker Top 10 Starting Hands
Poker Top 10 Starting Hands 5,0/5 6781 votes
Top Texas Holdem Starting Hands. Starting Hands - A More Concise List. Determining whether or not to play your hole cards is the most important decision you will make in each hand. Strong starting hands tend to stay strong and get stronger. Weak starting hands tend to stay weak and lose you money. I have provided a list of playable starting hands. Poker hands calefacient, and I turtleneck in a magnification with an twayblade bithynia to emit a ferryman hectic to the kapunda xerobates harmonises.Endogenously jessie poker card font unstuffed top 10 starting poker hands typographically.Misrelated and chartaceous, the endocrinologys medium-size high-handedly aggregated top 10 starting poker hands, trumped-up by tenablenesss of violence;.
As many of you know, Phil Hellmuth is one of the most successful Texas Hold 'em players of all time. I recently read his book, Play Poker Like the Pros, and was very impressed with his Hold 'em Strategy. It is not my intent to plagiarize his book, but no poker strategy site would be complete without mentioning the playing ability and strategy of Phil Hellmuth.
Therefore, I have chosen to reveal and comment on what Hellmuth calls his “Top 10.” When Hellmuth refers to his Top 10, he is talking about pocket card, starting hand requirements. One should note that this isn't a list of the only hands Hellmuth plays, but he does suggest that the poker player can make lots of money in low limit poker, by waiting on these cards and playing them aggressively.
Without further ado, Hellmuth's Top 10:
Top 10 Best Starting Poker Hands List. If you ever get lost what the best poker hands to play are, just refer to this starting poker hands list, and you should be good. Choosing the right hands preflop is one of the most important things when starting out, and it can have a huge impact on your win rate. Top 10 Texas Hold’em starting hands. Now if we stick with this set of 10 starting hands we should definitely by on the right track to winning some money from poker. So for any player new to the game you should try your best to stick to the following top 10 hands (also throwing in some of top 20 hands if you have good position): A A; K K; Q Q. If you prefer, you can start with a lower starting hand although be prepared to fold early if your opponent re-raises. In this article, we explore the top 10 starting hands to give you an insight into the best hands to use when starting out. These hands can be used in both land-based and online casinos. The first five hands are referred to as.
1. A-A
2. K-K
3. Q-Q
4. A-K suited
5. J-J
6. 10-10
7. 9-9
8. 8-8
9. A-Q suited
10. 7-7
Hellmuth submits that these 10 hands should be the only pocket cards played by the beginner in low limit Texas Hold 'em. This makes the game much simpler before the flop, however, as you can probably guess, the tricks of how to play these 10 hands after the flop can get complicated.
As a general rule though, bet these top 10 hands aggressively. The higher in the ranking, the more aggressively they should be played. Your strategy after the flop will be determined by what hits the board and the actions of your opponents.
Play these top 10 right in low limit Hold 'em games and you will make money. As you build your bankroll and your confidence, you can increase your starting hand requirements.
Good Luck!
The Roving Rounder
Poker Tournament Starting Hands Guide From Harrington On Holdem
- Do These Starting Hands Work Online?
In ‘Harrington On Holdem Vol 1’ Dan Harrington outlined a tournament starting hands guide based on table position and your poker playing style. There are actually 3 styles covered: Conservative play, aggressive or LAG play and ‘super aggressive’ play. Since the latter style has no requirements this article will focus on the first 2.
The question this article will discuss is whether the starting hands mentioned are suitable for the lower level ($3 to $50) MTTs most commonly found online.
We will start by outlining Harrington’s Starting Hand Guide for poker tournaments and then look at the various stages of online poker tournament strategy to see how they fit.
Harrington's Tournament Starting Hands Guide – Conservative Approach
- Early Position (first 2 players to act): Pairs 10-10 to A-A , A-K off-suit and A-Q suited.
- Middle Position (places 3-6 to act): Pairs 8-8+, A-J off suit or better + K-Q
- Late Position (Button and Cut-Off): Pairs 7-7+, Any Ace + Suited Connectors J-10+
Dan Harrington’s suggestion for the conservative player is that these hands should be raised when no other player has already entered the pot. Where a player acting before you has already raised you need a hand from a higher group, compared to your position, in order to call. For example, if you are in middle position and someone has raised ahead of you then you need an ‘early position’ hand to call this bet.
Mark's Tip: Simply playing a more disciplined starting hand selection than your opponents is enough to give you a long-term edge in the smaller buy-in games. Check out my list of the Best Beginners Poker Tournaments for some extremely profitable ideas!
Poker Top 10 Starting Hands For Texas Hold Em
Harrington's Tournament Starting Hands Guide – Aggressive Approach
Poker Top 10 Starting Hands In Poker
Hand Requirements To Raise: Any Pair, Any Ace, Any 2 Face-Cards + Suited Connectors 4-5 and higher.
Notice that there are no specific requirements for position here. The idea being that an aggressive player will raise to open a pot with these hands from any position. If someone has already raised then the requirements must tighten up. Harrington deals with this situation via numerous hand examples – you’ll need to read the book!
Stages Of An Online Poker Tournament – Harrington’s Starting Hands Analyzed
Conservative Approach – Early Stages
The advantage to the conservative approach in the early stages is that it will keep players out of trouble at a time when there are many wild, loose and otherwise inexperienced opponents at the table. While the criteria mean you’ll be throwing away hands which may be favorite for a single raise – those times you do enter a pot you’ll generally be a solid favorite to win.
Conservative Approach – Mid to Late Stages
Once the blinds start to rise as a proportion of your stack the need to accumulate chips increases. At this point the conservative starting hands start to become too tight. Imagine you have a pair of 9’s in mid position and a wildly aggressive player makes a small raise ahead of you – or you have 6-6 and the table folds to you on the button with only the extra-tight blinds to act. There are so many factors involved, including stack sizes and tendencies of opponents, that strict guidelines here would reduce your flexibility too much.
Conservative Approach – Final Table
If the conservative approach is too tight for the mid stages, by the time you reach the final table these poker tournament starting hands would be a disaster. The stacks will be shallow by now, meaning that stealing and re-stealing become significant factors. These hands will most probably only result in you blinding your way out of the tournament.
Aggressive Approach – Early Stages
Opening a large number of pots in the early stages will require significant post-flop skills. The reason is that you will be called by a variety of players – each with a wide variety of holdings. This is great if you flop a monster hand. However the times that you miss – or partially hit the flop – will create many potentially dangerous situations.
Aggressive Approach – Middle Stages
As the stacks become shallower compared to the blinds, the merits of the aggressive approach to tournament starting hand selection increase. You will be able to steal many pots – especially from late position. Caution when opponents have already raised ahead of you will make this approach even more effective.
Aggressive Approach – Final Table
At the final table an aggressive approach may well be your best chance of securing one of the (higher paying) top 3 places. Many opponents will have tightened up their own starting hand requirements here – looking to move up in the money. Selecting a wide variety of starting hands will allow you to win many pots without a fight. The stack sizes could also be factored into your hand selection here, raising ‘lighter’ when the blinds are not too big stacked or too short.
Dan Harrington’s Tournament Starting Hands Guide – Summary + Further Reading
The conservative approach to starting hand selection appears good for keeping out of trouble during the wild and loose early stages. However later in the tournament more aggression is required – both to stay ahead of the blinds and to win pots. If you have a skill edge over your opponents then it makes sense to choose a site where the blinds increase in smaller increments - giving you more time to exploit your opponent's mistakes before the game becomes a 'crap shoot'.
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To be fair Harrington covered this increase in aggression with his theory of inflection points and ‘M’ scores. The key with any starting hand guide is to allow your self the flexibility to step outside of this when the situation at the table warrants this. Finally, for a guide to the best online poker tournaments for beginners check out our detailed look at 10 of the best: Best Beginner Poker Tournaments – 10 of the best!