Top 10 Poker Hands

  1. Top 10 Poker Hand Rankings
  2. Best Texas Hold Em Hands
  3. Top 10 Starting Poker Hands
  4. Top 10 Best Poker Hands
  5. Top 10 Winning Poker Hands

Poker Hand Rankings - Texas Holdem Starting Hands Chart. At the bottom of this page is a comprehensive listing of Texas Hold'em starting hands based on their EV (expected value). Expected value is the average number of big blinds this hand will make or lose. Don't Play Every Hand/Do Fold More. Probably the number one mistake beginning poker players. Top 10 Poker Hands Preflop - kayellow. Texas Hold'em Poker Starting Hands Guide to Texas Hold'em Starting Hands Starting Hands. Playing Suited Connectors in Six-Max Suited Aces Example:A♠ 4♠, A♥ 9♥ Similar to suited connectors, these hands are played only to take down very large pots for a very small investment.The chances of getting a. Bonus Top 10 Best Starting Poker Hands valid for 14 days. 30 Spins on preselected games will be credited instantly + then 30 per day for 9 days. Free Spins valid for 72 hours from credit. Max Free Spins winnings £100. Skrill + Neteller excluded.

The Strongest Poker Hands – Before and After the Flop

These are standard hand rankings for most poker games and apply to all high-hand poker variations including Texas Hold'em, Omaha and Stud. You'll find a printable poker hand rankings chart below the hand rankings as well as answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about poker hands and poker hand ranking.

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. While all sorts of starting hands can hit the flop, there are certain categories which are more likely to turn into hidden monsters.

This page covers the top 10 poker hands, before the flop – and then all the way to the river. This includes:

  • Starting Hands: Top 10 hands that every play would love to be dealt before the flop
  • Flop Betting: How the first 3 community cards have a huge effect on the ‘relative’ strength of the bet pre-flop hands.
  • Turn and River: Draws can complete, or high cards can hit as the community card board is completed.
  • Top Hands and Position: Why being dealt a top 10 poker hand alone is not enough to win big.
  • How to Tell: If you can spot those times an opponent has a monster hand, you’ll be in a great position top get away from 2nd best holdings.

Starting Hands: The Top 10 Hands Before the Flop

Pocket Aces rule the rankings before the flop. If you are dealt this hand, you’ll win 80% of the time against any single hand your opponent could hold by the river.

Here are the top 10 hands pre-flop in Texas Hold’em:

  1. Pocket Aces: There is no better feeling in Hold’em than looking down at a pair of aces. Especially if there has been a raise ahead of you.
  2. Pocket Kings: With aces so rare, it is usual to assume that your pocket kings are the best hand pre-flop. You can always reassess if you face multiple re-raises. With no aces on the flop, you can hope to win a big pot with this hand.
  3. Pocket Queens: There is a risk that opponents have aces, kings or ace-king when you are dealt Queens. With no ‘card removal’ for those hands as when you are dealt A-A or K-K. Pocket Queens is still a very strong hand and should be played for a raise.
  4. Ace-King: This hand is even stronger when suited, though plenty strong enough with just the high card value. If you make a pair on the flop, you will have the top kicker to go with your top-pair.
  5. Pocket Jacks: As you get down the rankings, even strong starting hands start to become vulnerable to over-cards on the flop. Jacks are often good enough to win unimproved, though you need to be cautious when an ace hits the board.
  6. Ace-Queen: Again, a suited version is much stronger than an unsuited one – as you’ll be able to make the nut flush on occasion. This hand becomes stronger if your opponents are prone to overplaying aces with weaker kickers.
  7. Pocket 10’s: This is the last pocket pair which is more likely than not to be an over-pair on the flop. It has hidden value, blocking straights and allowing you to hit a set (as with all smaller pairs) on boards which look ‘safe’ for the higher pairs.
  8. King Queen Suited: This hand has a lot of potential multi-way. Heads up against one of the premium hands, it does not do as well. If you find yourself with king-queen suited in position in a multi-way pot, you can often make a hidden monster and win a big pot.
  9. Ace-Jack / Ace-Ten: These hands are vulnerable, though suited versions can make the nut flush, if you don’t make 2 pairs, there is always a chance of a Broadway straight.
  10. Mid-Pairs: Finally, mid-pairs can make sets – giving them a lot of deceptive strength. When someone has aces, and bets strongly, you can often win their whole stack with a hidden pair or 7’s (for example).

Relative Strength of Poker Hands on Different Flops

Key to success in poker is not to get married to the top 10 starting hands after the flop. There are several factors to consider. While you can often assume that your premium starting hand is still best (and bet it accordingly), a clear assessment of the risks is always useful.

When you see a flop, think about the following:

Poker
  • How many opponents saw this flop (what is the risk that some random hand connected!)?
  • Does this flop have the potential to hit many drawing hands (straights and flushes)?
  • Is this the type of flop that will not connect with hands my (tight) opponents are likely to play (low, unconnected flops fit this category)?
  • Are there cards on the board which are higher than my pocket pair?

These questions highlight an error that many new players make with premium hands. If you limp or call, instead of raising with those aces – you can end up in a tricky spot. You could see a wet flop (lots of potential draws available) with multiple opponents who might have random holdings. If you have to act first in the betting, the situation looks even trickier. Here your hand is too strong to give up on, though if you get a lot of action on subsequent betting rounds, you could be in trouble!

Playing good hands strongly, and raising a few outside the top 5 for balance, is a great way to avoid too many tough spots on the flop.

Turn and River Cards: How Likely my Opponent Hit?

When the turn or river card completes a flush (for example) and your opponent comes out firing with a big bet, you need to ask yourself how often you are beaten.

The wrong question to ask here is ‘how often do players make flushes by the river?’. You have some additional information. If your opponent called a bet on the flop, or even raised, then they are likely to have some kind of hand. If they continued all the way, only to re-raise you at the end when their card hit – you might just be in trouble.

Getting ‘married’ to over-pairs can be expensive in these situations. What is demonstrates is that even the top 10 starting hands can be losers in certain run-outs. You’ll need to use your judgement to decide whether your opponent might be bluffing in the scenario above. This can be based on the player, their bet sizing in the hand and your history with that opponent. In my experience, players at the smallest stakes are not bluffing frequently enough in this type of spot to make this a profitable call.

Playing the Top 10 Poker Starting Hands in Position

With the dynamics or poker hand strength changing as the community cards come out, playing in position is a great way to optimise your profits. This simply refers to acting last in the betting on the flop, turn and river betting rounds. The player with the ‘Dealer’ button position acts last – though keep in mind that acting last relative to the raiser pre-flop is a different factor.

When you are last to act, you can get away from hands when there is a raise and a re-raise ahead of you. It is always an option to bet out and steal a pot you might otherwise have given up on when everyone checks to you as well.

What is the ranking of poker hands

Position strategy goes a lot deeper than this. When you are starting out, keep in mind that acting last + having a top 10 poker hand is the best spot to be in!

How to Tell If Your Top Hand is Beaten?

As you gain experience playing on different board-textures, and against different types of opponents – spotting those times when your pocket aces are second best becomes a lot easier.

While some opponents keep betting at any pot where they have a piece of the board (or a draw in some cases), other opponents are more cautious. If someone who usually limps and calls suddenly wakes up with big bets, this is a great sign that you could be beaten. I have seen opponents play passively for hours, and suddenly check-raise when they made the top flush. If you pay those types off, it is down to you not paying attention – rather than bad luck.

There are several hands that you can be dealt out when playing poker. Below we have listed the strongest to lowest poker hands you can be dealt when playing poker variants such as Texas Hold’em Poker.

Those hands listed at the top of this guide to the top 10 poker hands are the strongest and highest valued hands, and it is worth mentioning due to them being much rarer hands you may go quite a while before you actually see one being dealt out to you or even your fellow players!

The highest valued poker hand and one that you are going to want to be dealt out to you when your fellow players all have high valued hands is the Royal Flush hand.

The hand is simply made up of a set of five cards which are the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten cards, and to be a Royal Flush they must all be in the same suit. Get this hand when playing poker and you should be laughing all the way to the bank!

A Straight Flush is another very strong hand and one you will be hoping t get dealt out to you are often as is possible when you are next playing poker online or in a land based environment.

This hand is five cards which are all consecutive and in addition to them being consecutive they must all share the same suit.

If the cards that share the same suit are not all consecutive this hand is then deemed to be a much lower valued Flush hand as described lower down this page.

You may have already guess what a poker hand known as a Four or a Kind hand contains as the name goes give this hand away!

Top 10 Poker Hand Rankings

If you haven’t worked it out then this type of hand is one in which you have four matching cards such as 4 x 5’s along with any fifth card.

This is a fairly strong hand and one that can be expected to take a lot of pots, unless the player holding this hand comes across a player who is holding one of the above two hands that is!

You should get the occasional Full House hand dealt out to you from time to time when playing poker, and this hand is one that is made up for a three of a kind hand and one pair (see below).

This hand could therefore be a hand with 3 x Kings in it and 2 x 3’s.

This is another of those hands that as soon as you form it then you are in a good and strong position and should, if all goes to plan, pick up the pot at the poker table you are playing at!

Any hand which contains five cards all of the same suit is classed as a Flush hand, those five cards must not be consecutive they must be non consecutive to be classed as a Flush hand, should the five cards all sharing the same suit be consecutive then this is a hand deemed to be a Straight Flush and is a very strong hand.

One of the mid ranged poker hands which you are always going to have one dealt out to you when playing poker for any amount of time is a Straight hand. This is a hand in which the five cards are all consecutive.

It should be noted that the cards need to be made up of any suit and as such a hand containing a 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, but not all of one suit is deemed to be a Straight hand.

If the cards are of the same suit this is a Straight Flush hand instead (see above).

Poker hands order chart

You are going to form a Three of a Kind hand quite often when playing poker.

This had is of course fairly self explanatory and it will see you having been dealt out two un-matched cards and three alike cards.

An example of this type of hand is 3 x 4’s and a Queen and a 10 card, this hand is a mid range valued hand and whilst it can take many pots due to its strength as you can see above there are several much stronger hands available so always keep that in mind when you get dealt out this type of poker hand!

As soon as you have two sets of matching cards in your hand along with any third unmatched cards then your hand is classed as a Two Pair hand.

So if for example you have 2 x 8’s and 2 x5’s along with any other card then you have Two Pairs, and that hand may just be worth you taking your chances on.

Best Texas Hold Em Hands

Any hand you get dealt out which had three unalike cards in it but two cards that are the same, such as 2 x 7’s is called as a One Pair hand.

Top 10 Starting Poker Hands

This hand, depending on the value of the two matching cards can be a risky proposition if you intend playing on which it as there are many more quite easy to achieve hands of a much higher value, namely all of those listed above!

Top 10 Best Poker Hands

A High Card hand is one you are not really going to want to play on with as soon as you have been dealt it out.

Top 10 Winning Poker Hands

This is a hand of five cards that do not share all on suit and in that hand each card is non consecutive and none matching and the highest valued hand is deemed to be the value of your High Card hand. So for example a Ten, Eight, Six, Four and Two is a ten valued High Card hand.