Now that you understand the position concept we are going to expand on that by looking at the subject of which starting hands to play and which to throw in the muck.
- Poker Starting Hands By Position
- Poker Fixed Limit Starting Hands Meaning
- Poker Fixed Limit Starting Hands 2017
- Poker Starting Hand Chart
- Best Starting Poker Hands
- Poker Fixed Limit Starting Hands Video
- Poker Fixed Limit Starting Hands 2017
This is the area where inexperienced players become fish, simply by not having the ability to fold weak hands before the flop. You can save a lot of money at this stage of the hand just by simply choosing not to play.
The Importance of Starting Hand Selection
As you know Poker is a game of maths and probability. It is therefore possible to know which starting hands are most probable to win a hand and this has been statistically proven in many studies. These studies have been able to rank starting hands according to how likely they are to win the hand against a random selection of opponent’s starting hands.
The first thing that you must learn in Texas Hold'em is which starting hands are good and which ones should be folded preflop. Although the answer depends on the number of people in the game and the type of game, here is a general guide to use when you are just starting out and want to win at low limits. Poker Table Position - Starting Hands in Poker. As you can see, it is very important to have an understanding of position in poker and how it relates to all of the decisions you make, namely what hands you choose to play and from where.
- The following chart is a beginners guide for standard full ring limit hold'em games with 9 or 10 players. NOTES: When facing more than one raise BEFORE you act: raise with group1 hands, fold everything else. When facing a raise AFTER you act:raise with group 1 hands, call one more bet with all other hands.
- Nov 22, 2016 I would love to be able to review hands and answer questions sent in by readers, so if you have a LHE hand or question please don’t hesitate to send it to email protected. (Note: Now that you know how to extract max value in limit, why not learn how to do it in no limit?
- Betting limits apply to the amount a player may open or raise, and come in four common forms: no limit, pot limit (the two collectively called big bet poker), fixed limit, and spread limit. All such games have a minimum bet as well as the stated maximums, and also commonly a betting unit, which is the smallest denomination in which bets can be.
- Starting Hand Selection. What hands should you play if you’re going to be patient and selective? Well, that depends in large measure upon your position relative to the dealer button. The best starting hands are playable from any position, but other hands have very different characteristics. We have created a starting hand chart that can be.
- This table comes from the book Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players by David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth. This is a strategy book for limit Hold'em, but the starting hand groups do have some practical use in no limit Hold'em. What is the Sklansky and Malmuth starting hands table? The table is a general ranking of hands in Texas Hold'em.
Starting hand
By Starting Hand we mean the two hole cards which are dealt to you at the start of each hand.
Since we now know which are the best starting hands in poker then we can apply this knowledge to our strategy. Remember, when we play a hand, we want to play with the odds in our favour, and by selectively choosing which starting hands we play we can ensure this.
Of course if we just waited for the two or three best poker starting hands then we wouldn’t actually play many hands as the probability of these cards being dealt is only once in a while.
So we combine the position concept with our starting hand concept, to allow us to only play a narrow starting hand selection when out of position and to play a wider range of starting hands when we are in position. Therefore the benefit of playing in position makes up for the weaker starting hands we may play.
Starting Hand Groups
You could look at all the statistical information and studies, but we’ve taken all the work out of it for you. The following section is a key part of your strategy and you should practise choosing the right action before the flop using the poker starting hands chart below.
We have chosen 46 different hands that we will play depending on the position and situation we are in. Those 46 hands have been separated into 8 groups named Group A to H. Group A are the strongest hands in poker based on the statistics and group H are the weakest hands that we are willing to play. Of course there are many more hand combinations weaker than the hands in Group H, but we are not interested in playing with these and they will be folded into the muck straight away.
Group B
AK
QQ
Group D
AQs
AQ
AJs
99
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88
Group F
AT
KQ
KJs
QJs
44
33
22
Group H
KJ
KT
QJ
Poker Starting Hands By Position
J8s
T8s
87s
76s
The ‘s’ next to some of the hands stands for Suited, so two cards of the same suit. ‘AJs’ could stand for A J whereas ‘AJ’ could stand for A J
Take a minute just to browse the hands in each group, you don’t need to memorise these, as you can use the chart to refer to, and once you have used it for a while, you will start to remember which hands are in which groups.
Poker Starting Hand Charts
Ok, so now we have our selection of 46 hands, and have split them into 8 groups based on strength, now what? Well we won’t just automatically play any of those 46 hands when they are dealt to us, we will make a decision based on the position we are in, and the situation we are faced with at the table.
When we are in position we will play a wider range of groups and out of position we will only play the stronger groups. Similarly when opponents have shown strength at the table by raising we will only play the better cards against them.
There are three charts, UNRAISED, RAISED and BLINDS. These are our Action charts, and show us what action to take when we have a hand in one of the starting hand groups.
The three charts are:
- UNRAISED – When everybody acting before you has either folded or called the big blind.
- RAISED – When somebody acting before you has raised.
- BLINDS – When you are in either the small blind or the big blind position and somebody acting before you has raised
UNRAISED | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Everybody acting before you has either Folded or Called the Big Blind | ||||
Action | Early Position | Mid Position | Late Position | |
Opening Raise | A B C D | A B C D E | A B C D E F | |
Call a Re-Raise | B C | C | C D | |
Raise a Re-Raise | A | A B | A B | |
Call the Big Blind (if Multiway Pot) | F G | G H |
RAISED | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Someone acting before you has Raised already | ||||
Action | Early Position | Mid Position | Late Position | |
Re-Raise | A B | A B | A B | |
Call | C | C | C D |
BLINDS | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
After a Raise and You are in the Blinds | ||||
Action | Raised from Early Position | Raise from Mid Position | Raised from Late Position | |
Unraised Blinds – Play as if you were in Late Position in the Unraised chart | ||||
Re-Raise | A | A B C | A B C D | |
Call | B C D | D E | E F |
To use the charts, just follow these steps:
- What group is your starting hand in? if it isn’t in any group then you Fold.
- What Situation are you in? Choose one of the three action charts relevant to the situation you are in.
- What Position are you in? Look at the column in the chart for the position you are in.
- Starting Hand Group not shown? If your starting hand group is not shown in that column, then you Fold.
- Starting Hand Group Shown? If your starting hand group letter is shown then take the action the chart is showing you.
The different actions in each of the charts are:
- Opening Raise – Make the first Raise
- Call – Just Call when a person has Raised
- Re-Raise – Re-Raise a person who has Raised
- Call a Re-Raise – Call when someone Re-Raises your original Raise
- Raise a Re-Raise – Re-Raise when somebody has Re-Raised your original Raise
- Call the Big Blind – Just call the big blind amount (also known as ‘limping in’)
Quick Reference
I don’t expect you to memorise all the starting hand groups and action charts. The way to learn them is by putting them into practise and then over time you will start to memorise them. But to start with, you can refer to the charts while you are playing.
You can either just bookmark and pull this page up each time you play or we have a couple of other methods to make your life a bit easier.
Printable Starting Hands Chart
A neat and tidy, A4 size starting hand chart which you can print and keep in front of you for quick reference while you are playing.
To download the Starting Hands Chart right click on the link and select save target as.
It is a PDF file, so to view and print this you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you don’t have this you can download it here.
Starting Hands Chart Desktop Wallpaper
Use this as your computer desktop wallpaper. It is designed so that whilst you are playing poker, you can place your poker table window over the Poker Professor logo and all the charts will be visible around the table. Neat huh!
To download the Starting Hands Wallpaper right click on the link and select save target as.
To set as your desktop wallpaper, right click on the file you have just downloaded and select “Set As Desktop Background”.
The wallpaper is optimised for a desktop screen size of 1920×1080 as this is the most common. It should work with most other desktop sizes as well as windows should automatically resize it for you.
Starting Hand Examples
Lets take a look at some example starting hands and walk through what the charts are telling you to do and what thought process to follow.
Example Hand 1
You are sitting in early position and are dealt A J. You are first to act and so nobody has bet before you.
- What group is my hand in – AJ is a Group E hand
- What situation am I in – Nobody has raised before me so UNRAISED
- What position am I in – Early Position
Poker Fixed Limit Starting Hands Meaning
So from the answers to the above questions we look at the UNRAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Early Position. You will see that Group E is not shown in that column so we are not allowed to play a Group E hand in Early position in this situation and so we would fold this hand.
Example Hand 2
You are sitting in early position and are dealt A K. You are first to act and so nobody has bet before you.
- What group is my hand in – AK is a Group B hand
- What situation am I in – I am first to act so it is UNRAISED
- What position am I in – Early Position
So from the above we look at the UNRAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Early Position. You will see that with a group B hand we are told to make an opening raise. So we would enter the hand by making a Raise (We will look at details of how much to raise later in the lesson).
Example Hand 3
You are sitting in Mid Position and are dealt A A. A Player in early position has raised the pot up to 3 times the Big Blind.
- What group is my hand in – AA is the best starting hand and therefore a Group A hand
- What situation am I in – There has been a raise by a player in early position, so it has been RAISED
- What position am I in – Mid Position
So, we look at the RAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Mid Position. You will see that with a group A hand we are told to make a Re-Raise. So we would enter the hand by making a Re-Raise. (We will look at details of how much to raise later in the lesson)
Example Hand 4
You are sitting in Mid Position and are dealt 9 9. A Player in early position has raised the pot up to 3 times the Big Blind.
- What group is my hand in – 99 is a Group D hand
- What situation am I in – There has been a raise by a player in early position, so it has been RAISED
- What position am I in – Mid Position
So, again we look at the RAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Mid Position. You will see that we are not allowed to play an already RAISED pot in Mid Position with a group D hand. So we fold this hand.
Example Hand 5
You are sitting in Late Position and are dealt 8 7. Two Players acting before you have limped in and called the big blind.
- What group is my hand in – 87s is a Group H hand
- What situation am I in – There has been two limpers, but no raise, so it is UNRAISED
- What position am I in – Late Position
So, we look at the UNRAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Late Position. You will see that we are allowed to Call a Multi-way pot with a group H hand (multiple players playing the hand). As two people have already called and the blinds will likely also call we can call the big blind and play the hand. So we would call the big blind on this hand.
How much should I Raise?
An opening Raise in general should be between 3 to 4 times the Big Blind. Anywhere in this range is ok, and as guide to start with I would raise the following amounts:
- When you are in EARLY POSITION Raise 4 times the Big Blind
- When you are in MID POSITION Raise 3.5 times the Big Blind
- When you are in LATE POSITION Raise 3 times the Big Blind
You should mix and match the size of your raises to prevent your opponents getting a read on your betting patterns, but the above can act as a general guide whilst you get used to your new strategy.
The reason to Raise more in Early position is because we are out of position and want to put as much pressure on our opponents as we can.
How much should I Re-Raise?
A Re-Raise should in general be between 2 – 4 times the original Raise, As a guide:
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Poker Fixed Limit Starting Hands 2017
- When it has been Raised from EARLY POSITION Raise 2 times the Raise
- When it has been Raised from MID POSITION Raise 3 times the Raise
- When it has been Raised from LATE POSITION Raise 4 times the Raise
The reason for this is it is more likely that a player in late position has raised with a weaker hand than a player in Early position.
Poker Starting Hand Chart
Practise Time
Well, that was a lengthy lesson and a lot to take in. Don’t worry, with practise it will start to become second nature, and that is exactly what you should do now with the first stage of your bankroll challenge.
Poker Bankroll Challenge: Stage 1
- Stakes: $0.02/$0.04
- Buy In: $3 (75 x BB)
- Starting Bankroll: $25
- Target: $3 (1 x Buy In)
- Finishing Bankroll: $28
- Estimated Sessions: 1
Use this exercise to get used to selecting which starting hands to play and which not to play according to the Starting Hands chart and get used to understanding what position you are in at the table. Don’t get too carried away at this stage though, play conservatively and be aware that someone may have a better hand than you. We are going to learn in more detail about betting after the flop later in the course.
Playing before the flop is your first opportunity to voluntarily put money in the pot. Don’t just toss in the first single bet to be a part of the action. Make good decisions by following the advice given in this lesson and stick to our recommended starting hand requirements until you gain more experience. There is no shame in folding and waiting for a better hand to play. Lucky nugget no deposit bonus codes. On the contrary, the shame is in falling prey to the donkey’s mantra of “any two will do!”
Before we mention starting hand requirements, let’s talk about the mindset that captures successful limit play. That mindset is the ability to be patient and selective about the hands you play. Patience is a critical element to winning hold’em play. Good players exercise the patience to wait for hands that they know have positive expectation and then play them aggressively. In a nutshell this strategy describes the selective, aggressive mantra that has been espoused by Krieger, Sklansky, Malmuth, Caro, and every other credible limit hold’em pundit of the last several decades.
Tight is Right
The tight-aggressive approach is the backbone of a successful limit player’s strategy. The reason this approach is so successful is simple—the vast majority of the poker playing public are long term losers who do not have the discipline or knowledge to beat the game. Let your opponents make the mistake of playing too many hands while you become more selective. It will pay dividends. If you only play hands that figure to be the best against opponents who play too many mediocre hands, it just makes sense that you will win money. This critical skill is the foundation upon which other skills need to be added to make you a formidable limit hold’em player.
The most common mistake made by limit hold’em players is that they play too many hands. Look, no one enters a casino or logs on to an online game with the intention of folding hand after hand. But when you look at the entire universe of possible two-card starting hand combinations you might be dealt, the vast majority of them are junk, which means the correct play is to fold most of them. If there’s one tip that will raise your game significantly, it’s this: be selective with the hands you choose to play, and then be aggressive with the hands you do play.
Starting Hand Selection
What hands should you play if you’re going to be patient and selective? Well, that depends in large measure upon your position relative to the dealer button. The best starting hands are playable from any position, but other hands have very different characteristics.
We have created a starting hand chart that can be used as a guide. This chart will load as a PDF document (link opens in a new window), which you can view on screen or print off for easy reference.
Understand that our attempt to categorize starting hands by their strength and positional considerations is a loose guide. There are many factors that may encourage you to tighten or loosen your play from these guidelines. As in all poker decisions the phrase, “It depends” comes to mind. That is to say our starting hand chart is a guide, not a set of intractable rules.
In fact, you may want to look at a starting hand chart this way:
- If you’re a beginner or a consistently money-losing player, treat this guide as the gospel.
- If you’re an experienced player, you can treat these recommendations as a guide.
- If you’re a skillful, winning player, please consider these recommendations a point of demarcation for your own creative, winning play.
But before you decide to deviate from these guidelines, have a reason for taking action that’s at variance from our recommendations.
Best Starting Poker Hands
We haven’t included every possible starting hand on our chart. Unplayable hands, also known as ‘junk’ don’t need any further explanation. I’m sure you will recognize them. In fact, the majority of the hands you’ll be dealt will fall into this category. Let your weak undisciplined opponents play 7-2 because it was suited—you throw them in the muck where they belong.
Type of Games
It’s important to be aware that different games play differently. The texture of the game—whether it’s tight and aggressive, tight and passive, loose and aggressive, loose and passive, or a mixture of these, will dictate what hands you should play. For example, if you’re playing in a loose and passive game, you can limp in from early position with small pocket pairs. If you’re playing in an aggressive game these hands are better off mucked from early position.
There is an old adage in poker relating to how tight or loose the game in which you’re in is being played. The adage advises to play tighter than the table. While this is obviously an over simplification it is generally true. While tight is certainly right, all you need do is play tighter poker than the table. The reason this will work is that through prudent hand selection coupled with your position you will be playing fewer (and generally better) hands than your opponents. However, expect loose games to tighten and tight games to become looser, and be ahead of that curve to ensure you’re in the most profitable zone at all times.
Calling vs. Raising
A lot of limit hold’em players will limp in pre-flop rather than raise. If you’re in a passive game and have a hand like J-Ts then you might want to limp because you’re looking to get as many people into the pot with you as possible in anticipation of flopping a big hand like a straight or flush—and making money from a large number of opponents. If you have a pair or high cards that can win without improving, such as A-K, you’re much better off raising and narrowing the field down to heads-up than you are by simply calling and inviting a number of players to enter the pot after you, one of whom might get lucky and steal the pot away from you.
Poker Fixed Limit Starting Hands Video
If you call and are then raised, you’re going to call one more bet and see the flop. If it’s raised and re-raised, some players will do the same thing, regardless of the strength of their hand. Imagine entering the pot with the speculative hand of for a single bet from middle position. Now the player to your left raises, another player re-raises and yet another player makes it four bets, which is normally the cap in fixed limit. Weaker players will normally call as they have already invested a bet and the hand does have lots of potential. Stronger players would recognize the futility of throwing away three extra bets when it is apparent that they are way behind the competition. These distinctions will become clearer and clearer as your experience grows.
Cold Calling Raises
If the pot has been raised before it’s your turn, you must tighten up significantly and adjust for the position of the raise. Inexperienced limit hold’em players will frequently cold-call raises with mediocre and potentially dominated hands, such as A-J and K-J. These are costly errors. Be selective and avoid cold-calling raises with hands that have a slim chance to catch the cards they need to enable you to win the pot. Most good players, if they don’t have a very good hand, will simply throw their hand away and wait for a better opportunity. Remember that it takes a much better hand to call a raise than it does to make the initial raise yourself.
Always observe the pre-flop betting action in a limit hold’em game, because it provides valuable information about the strength of your opponent’s holdings. If there’s a bet and a raise and someone cold-calls, my first thought is “here’s a guy with A-Q who is terrified of a big pair and even more terrified of A-K”. He thinks A-Q is a pretty good hand and says to himself… “I’ll call and see what happens with it.” Of course it’s important that you assign a range of hands to your opponents, not just a specific hand. But most players will re-raise before the flop when they hold a premium hand and cold-calling a raise or cold-calling a re-raise is usually a sign of a hand that’s not in first place.
Conclusion
Poker Fixed Limit Starting Hands 2017
The question or whether to hold’em or fold’em is the first and most important decision you will make. If you’re new to limit hold’em then study our starting hand chart and follow the guidelines given in this lesson. Starting hand selection may differ slightly from pundit to pundit but these are a solid outline for a beginner to embrace. As your experience and knowledge of the game increases your starting requirements will vary based upon how tight or loose your table is, knowledge of the tendencies of players yet to act behind you, any betting that has occurred in front of you, and your current table image.
If you only play hands that figure to be the best against opponents who play too many mediocre hands, it just makes sense that you will win the money. Playing tight requires patience which many or even most recreational players just don’t exhibit. They are in the game to play, not sit to there and fold hand after hand and sit on the sidelines. This is the reason that most poker players are long term losers—they play too many hands. Sure they can get lucky playing junk on occasion and that is what keeps them coming back but their lack of patience and discipline is their financial undoing. If you truly seek success you must have the discipline to be patient.
Related Lessons
By Tom 'TIME' Leonard
Tom has been writing about poker since 1994 and has played across the USA for over 40 years, playing every game in almost every card room in Atlantic City, California and Las Vegas.
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