"Starting Hands" by Gareth 'The Nugget' Jones

March 12, 2010

Top 10

1 Ace - Ace	2 King - King	3 Queen - Queen	4 Ace - King (suited)	5 Ace - Queen (suited)
6 Jack - Jack	7 King - Queen (suited)	8 Ace - Jack (suited)	9 Ace - King (offsuit)	10 Ten - Ten

Bottom 5

1 Two - Seven (offsuit)	2 Two - Eight (offsuit)	3 Three - Eight (offsuit)	4 Two - Nine (offsuit)	5 Two - Six (offsuit)

There can be some disagreement to these rankings and they are open to much debate. Opinion can differ say between rankings seven and eight (I personally prefer Ace-Jack suited to King-Queen suited) but differing opinions are what make the world go around.

One of the most important aspects of successful poker are good starting hands and that ranks along side of course, Positional play, Bluffing, Reading and Power Play ect..

Big pairs (Aces, Kings and Queens) play themselves although the skill can often be in how to extract the maximum amount of chips from your opponent in a competition with these premium hands, for instance if you have position on an aggressive player i.e. you are to speak or act after them. If they raise before you how do you play a pair of Aces?  One could be tempted to smooth call and hope they hit a little bit of the flop say King high and they have Ace-King and bet out at you again.

However, if they have a pair and catch a set then you are in trouble. Opinion again makes the world go around.

When your pocket pair is smaller than the three premium hands (Aces, Kings and Queens) it is interesting to see pocket Jacks for instance falls behind in ranking to Ace-King and Ace-Queen Suited. In a heads up situation the comparison between the two hands is an absolute coin toss.

The reasoning behind the worst ranked hands are more obvious. 2-7 Offsuit has no real straight draw or flush draw prospects and if you make a single pair it is not very high and you have a small kicker.

It is said that the earlier the position that you are in the stronger ranking your hand and you should play, for instance if there are 3-4 flat callers then Jack-10 Suited is quite an attractive hand. But in first position with nine players to act behind you it doesn't seem quite as appetising.

In summary, good starting hands are the major aspects of successful poker. Play with rubbish cards and they can get you in trouble. Play with good cards and play them aggressively is the recipe for success.

Good Luck - Kind regards

THE NUGGET

Gareth Jones