Starting Hands in Poker

What Are Starting Hands?

A starting hand is the two hole cards dealt to a player before the first betting round in poker (this page will focus only on Texas Hold'em). The strength of the starting hand is important in judging whether the hand is worth entering the pot with. Starting hands can vary from pocket pairs to hands that rely on the community cards to improve and form a five-card hand that ranks highly on the poker hand rankings. See examples in the Starting Hand Chart.

Types of Starting Hands

Starting hands can be split into different categories. It's possible for a starting hand to fall into more than one category. Knowing the types of starting hands provides a useful foundation for understanding poker hand strength. Here are some common categories:

Pocket pairs

A pocket pair is two hole cards of the same rank. A pocket pair is already a made pair before the flop, which distinguishes it from hands that need to improve. High pocket pairs like AA and KK are the strongest starting hands in Texas Hold'em. They are strong hands in their own right and often don't need to improve to carry good showdown value. Low pocket pairs like 22 and 33 are often played in the hope of hitting a third card of that rank on the board to improve to a set, or better.

Broadway hands

Broadway is the highest possible straight, A-K-Q-J-T, so individually these are known as Broadway cards. A starting hand consisting of premium Broadway cards is a strong holding, like AK or AQ. If they make pairs, they will be high ones, which generally match up well against other hands. Other Broadway starting hands, such as KJ or QT, are comparatively weaker but still have the potential to make strong pairs and straights. A suited Broadway starting hand holds more strength because the shared suit adds high flush potential.

Suited connectors

Suited connectors are two cards of consecutive rank and of the same suit, such as 9♥ 8♥ or J♠ T♠. Suited connectors are drawing hands with strong drawing potential: the shared suit gives them a better chance at making a flush and the consecutive ranks offer straight opportunities. A suited one-gapper, such as 9♦ 7♦, is weaker in comparison, because the missing rank between the two cards reduces the straights the hand can complete.

Suited aces

A suited ace is an ace with a lower card of the same suit, such as A♠ 8♠ or A♦ 4♦. A suited ace can form the nut flush, if three more cards of the same suit appear on the board, so it is a hand with a lot of potential. That potential is often realized when a lower flush is made by an opponent.

Starting Hand Chart

The chart below gives a broad idea of how likely it is for a player to decide to play a starting hand from early, middle or late position in an unraised pot. They are not recommendations and it's important to remember, it is possible for a player to play any starting hand from any position.

Tier	Example hands	Likelihood of being played (by position)
Tier	Example hands	Early	Middle	Late
Very strong	AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, AK	Very likely	Very likely	Very likely
Strong	99, 88, AQ, AJ, AT, KQ	Likely	Very likely	Very likely
Moderate	77, 66, 55, KJ, QJ, JT	Quite likely	Likely	Very likely
Weak	72, J4, T3, 85, Q2, 94	Very unlikely	Very unlikely	Unlikely

Suited starting hands have an increased likelihood of being played.

The very best starting hands like AA, KK, QQ are very likely to be played from any position. The weaker the starting hand is, the less likely it will be played, especially in earlier positions. Whether a hand should be played or not is situational and not solely based on hand strength and position.

Starting hands and position

Position describes where a player sits relative to the dealer button, and it affects how likely a player is to enter the pot. In early position, players have less information available to make an informed decision and are among the first to act after the flop (out of position). This makes it a more vulnerable position to play from so it is a show of strength to enter the pot from early position, and likely a player will have a strong starting hand. The later the position a player opens from, the wider range the player tends to have.

Frequently Asked Questions

The best starting hands are the premium holdings: the highest pocket pairs and the strongest suited Broadway cards. Pocket aces, are the highest-ranked starting hand in Texas Hold'em, followed by pocket kings, pocket queens, pocket jacks and ace king suited.

The worst starting hand is 72 offsuit. It is the lowest-value starting hand in Texas Hold'em because the two cards cannot combine to make a straight, aren't suited so making a flush is less likely, and are of low rank so won’t form high pairs. Similar weak offsuit, unconnected low hands are also undesirable.

Starting hands that are often folded pre-flop include weak, unconnected, offsuit holdings, such as 7♠ 2♦, J♠ 4♦ and 9♣ 5♦. These hands have little straight or flush potential and make weak pairs. Hand strength is not the only factor to consider when deciding whether to play pre-flop, each decision is situational and depends on other factors including position and table dynamic.

Position matters for starting hand selection because the point at which a player acts affects the information available to them and the number of players still to act. Hands commonly played from early position tend to be stronger because more players are still to act. A player in early position is also among the first to act post-flop. In late position, players have more information about the action before them, so more speculative holdings come into play. The starting hand chart shows this shift across early, middle and late position.