Reexamining Starting Hands in Limit Texas Holdem Poker

Most Limit Hold’ Em books place starting hands into ‘categories’ that are to be played from different positions or situations [category 1, 2, and so on]. This method of separating hands into groups is not without its problems though: The most glaring problem is that a certain hand may be stronger than another in a particular situation, but if the situation is changed the reverse becomes true. In Limit Texas Holdem, aside from the top four or five hands, the situation is what dictates the strength of your hand.

It should be relatively easy to rank starting hands: 88’s are better than 66’s, AK is better than AT, and so on. But, what about a hand like 22? Why do people raise and re-raise AK, but simply limp or fold 22’s? Even though 22’s are better than AK heads-up it’s the situation that dictates what you need to do.

This is what makes the whole process of ranking starting hands next to impossible. Perhaps the easiest way to prove my point is to take a look at four separate sources -David Sklansky’s Hold’ Em Poker for Advanced Players: Lee Jones’s Winning Low Limit Hold’ Em: Ken Warren’s Winner’s Guide to Texas Hold’ Em: And a computer simulation done by EVGR.com– and we’ll see how they rank the top 20 hands and if they can come to any type of consensus:

Well, everything appears to be going just fine, that is until we get to the #4 ranked hand, at which point Ken Warren puts AKs ahead of JJ. And from there all hell breaks loose! For example, you have David Sklansky ranking KQs at #11, Lee Jones at #7, Ken Warren at #15, and EVGR at #10 -that’s a difference of eight places. Sklansky lists JTs at #12, a hand that unfortunately wasn’t strong enough to be included on any other authors’ top 20 list! There are 169 possible starting hand combinations in Texas Hold’ Em, and the experts can’t get past #4 without controversy!

The craziest part of the whole thing is that nobody is wrong! You heard me right, they come to different conclusions, and nobody is wrong. You see, the problem with trying to come up with a set-in-stone hand ranking is there are two simple variables that must be taken into consideration, and without being involved in the hand you can’t answer these questions:

1. How many, and which, players are in the pot?
2. Has anyone shown strength (raised or re-raised)?

Before you can judge your hand’s strength you must ask those two questions. Certain hands increase in value (or do not lose value) based on the number of opponents in the pot, while other hands decrease in value. The same holds true when faced with a raise; some hands maintain their value, while other hands decrease in value. Therefore, depending on the scenario JTs may indeed be better than 88 or AQ; or vice-versa!