A Straight Flush is the best poker hand category, and the Royal Flush serves as an Ace-high Straight Flush. One rung beneath that is Four of a Kind. On this site you can find all possible combinations of preflop hands that can occur in Texas Hold'em Poker. As a bonus you will also learn the nicknames of the different hands. The hands are ranked from #1 to #169, where #1 is the best. This ranking is applicable when the poker table is full ring (9-10 people). 'Poker Math 2020: Pre-flop Principles is the best pre-flop content on the market. Phil will show you a different way to see PLO. He will change your intuition and you will realize that almost all the field make some serious pre-flop mistakes. The Strongest Poker Hands – Before and After the Flop Before the flop is dealt, the strongest hands are easy to spot. Aces, Kings and Queens top the list – with Ace-King not far behind. The relative strength of poker hands in Texas Hold’em changes as the community cards are dealt.
Betting before the flop can sometimes be a blind bet, because when the flop comes things can change drastically. What can seem like a clear advantage can turn into a trap when the Turn or River or Flop cards hit the poker games.
To calculate with which hand you have better chance against other hands, we have assembled the most common grouping of hands against other hands along with their chances of winning (all the way to the River).
Same Hand – ex. QJ vs. QJ
Can you guess the odds? That's right, 50%-50%. If it's suited vs. offsuit, the suited has the edge of course, a 2.5% advantage.
Pocket Pair vs. Two Overcards – ex. 99 vs. KQ
This is a close call. The pocket pair has a small advantage with 55 % to the two overcards' 45%. In the case of having a hand like QJ-suited the advantage is with this hand over a hand with a small pocket pair (55 or lower), because with the QJ you can still form a Straight without having the pair lower your chances of achieving it.
Pocket Pair vs. Smaller Pocket Pair – ex. AA vs. 88
The bigger pair has the advantage here, of course, with 80% to the lower pair's 20%.
What Is The Best Hand In Poker Pre Flop Game
Pocket Pair vs. Two Undercards – ex. KK vs. J9
The pair is the favorite with 80% to 20%. The two undercards have a chance of between 23% and 14%, depending on if they are suited and if the pocket interferes with their straight making ability or not.
Pocket Pair vs. Same Card & One Undercard – ex. KK vs. KQ
This can be a shifty situation. The Pocket Pair has the upper hand here (no pun intended) with about 85% to 15%, while in case the other pair is suited the odds change to 80% to 20% at best.
Pocket Pair vs. Same Card & One Overcard – ex. QQ vs. AQ
The advantage here is on the side of the pair with between 70% to 30% and 65% to 35%.
Pocket Pair vs. One Undercard & One Overcard – ex. JJ vs. KT
The odds here are similar to those of the hands above, with 70% to 30% in favor of the pair.
Two Undercards vs. Two Overcards – ex. AK vs. QJ
While the advantage here is clearly with the overcards – 65% to 35%, the odds change when the undercards are far enough from the overcards and suited without matching the overcards' suit, to around 60% to 40%.
Two Middle Cards vs. Undercard & Overcard – ex. KT vs. QJ
In this case, the edge is with the over/under cards. 60% to 40% which can be reduced to around 52% to 48% if it involves middle-suited connectors that are not of the same suit as the over/under cards and if there is no straight making interference.
Dominated with the Same High Card – ex. QJ vs. QT
The hand with the higher card has a big advantage with around 66.6% to 33.3%. This advantage starts to diminish as the kickers get lower due to split pot possibilities.
Dominated with the Same Low Card – ex. AQ vs. KQ
The hand with the higher card has a 66% advantage, while if it's a suited connector against unsuited cards that has a small chance of making a straight the higher kicker hand has a maximum advantage of 40%.
It seems lately I’ve had many discussion about the wisdom of going all in pre-flop. There are of-course time when it is the right thing to do… and obviously times when it’s absolutely the wrong thing to do. As with all things in poker, there are gray areas where “it depends” on a lot of different factors. My recent discussions center on my take that I think the use of the pre-flop all in is overused, and detrimental to your survival in a tournament.
In general there is a lot of value to having the ability to make a decision after the flop. There’s an equal value in having the ability to put your opponent to a decision. Imagine you make a bet pre-flop, and your opponent just calls. The flop comes and you hit top pair, while he whiffs completely. You make another bet, he folds, and you win a pot. Now imagine you make a huge bet pre-flop (all in, or putting your opponent all-in), and your opponent calls with his AK because “why not, it’s a good hand”. The flop still hits you, and you’re ahead, but now you have no ability to push your opponent to a decision, and you *have* to see two more cards… which of course hit your opponent, and there go all those wonderful chips.
Let’s look at a few situations where some people might decide to go all in pre-flop.
1) Pocket aces/big pocket pairs. I’ve seen a lot of people simply push all in with pocket aces the first chance they get to bet. In my view it’s correct to do so if you are a short stack, or if there already have been raises and re-raises in front of you. In rare cases where you know you’ll get called by someone with a lesser holding simply because you pushed (they view you as on tilt), then go for it. For all other situations, you should read my opinion on playing pocket aces. The short version is that you should bet enough to get everyone but one person to fold. If that happens, you should be no worse than 60% to win, and are mostly like 80% or higher to win.
2) A big Ace (AK, AQ). It should be assumed that pushing with a decent hand holding when you are short stacked is usually the right thing to do. But what if there is a raise, re-raise and an all-in in front of you? How would you feel about those holdings now? I know I’d grumble as I folded, but mathematically speaking, it’s probably the right thing to do. Even if you luck out and hit the flop with top pair, you now have no more chips to use to make someone on a draw to fold. On the flip side, what if you have a big stack. Calling or pushing all in with a big ace is probably a coin-flip. If your opponent has a pair, then they are technically ahead, giving you that classic coin flip. Would you want to wager a large portion of your chips on a coin flip?
3) The flip side of that is having a small/medium pocket pair. You are almost always ahead pre-flop in this situation, but often you are going to get called by someone with two over-cards, and around a 50% chance to win. Whether you bet, or just call in these situations is a discussion for another time (and a decision I probably get wrong far too often), but pushing all in because you are “technically ahead” just invites someone who needs to to take advantage of a coin flip.
4) Other hands. Having a short stack obviously opens up your all-in hand range a lot… but otherwise, there aren’t many reasons to put all your chips in pre-flop without a pocket pair or a big hand. Of course if you know you can get someone to fold, because you’re a mind reader, then do what you gotta do.
…
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pushed all in pre-flop with a big ace or a pocket pair and get called with someone with a hand that is a coin flip. Remember, that coin flip assumes you’ll see all five community cards. If only I had made a bet, got a call and then did a continuation bet (regardless of whether I hit the flop or not)… because if your opponent is not already holding a made hand (pocket pair), they will generally miss the flop completely 66% of the time (which means only 1 out of 3 times will they actually hit one of their cards). After that, your hand may be a lot more than 50% to win with only two more cards to go.
What Is The Best Hand In Poker Pre Flop Poker
You may lose chips using these methods, but if you feel you can play a good game post flop (which can including proper reads), then you want to keep your options open post-flop. It’s better to lose some chips, than all of your chips.