Values of poker hands

In poker, no starting hand is unbeatable, and only a few indicators are completely unplayable. Even if this is correct, possible starting hands can be divided into groups. Professionals don’t always agree on which hands to play. The jack-jack hand is rated as very terrible by the eccentric professional Phil Helmuth. Because this hand has so many variables, jack-jack is often known as the highest of the middle hands.

Category 1

Only ace-ace and king-king are available in the first category. These two hands aren’t only the best of the bunch. According to statistics, these hands can only be found once every 110 hands played, which makes them even more popular. When playing against numerous opponents, you should exercise caution when deploying the two aces—raising this opening hand before the flop is the most effective way to eliminate as many opponents as possible from the tournament. Even an authority on the failure might cause problems, so it’s wise to be extra cautious with kings. Even though these hands have a high statistical probability of breaking, that doesn’t mean they are unbreakable.

Category 2

There are three hands in this picture. On the one hand, queen-queen, jack-jack, and ace-king are queen-queen, jack-jack, and ace-king (suited). Higher hands, such as aces, frequently dominate the queens and jacks, but if you play the hands aggressively, you can also profit from them. Although it is simply a so-called draw hand, the hand ace-king is renowned as a particularly deadly one across the poker world. In many circumstances, this hand has the advantage over other hands as ace-queen, ace-jack, or ace-ten.

Category 3

We divide five possible hands into this category: Ace-King (Offsuit), Ace-Queen (Suited), Ace-Jack (Suited), King-Queen (Suited), and 10-10. All of these hands can be profitable, but they should all be played before the flop. Nonetheless, it would be best if you use extreme caution, particularly with the king-queen hand. If you raise before the loss, you may find yourself facing a re-raise and losing a lot of money.

The same suit of cards

Many players, particularly those who are inexperienced, favor hands with the same colors, such as 9-10. When people are asked why these hands are so good, they usually respond with one word: suited. On the other hand, the flush is a statistically rare hand, occurring once in 118 hands. This means that playing two cards of the same color will not provide you with an advantage.

Kicker

In theory, any hand containing an ace can be played, but which method is always debatable. Assume you have an ace-5 (offsuit) hand, and the flip is queen-5-4. How do you keep playing here if you’ve only met the middle pair and a lady would outdo you? Are you trying to check the turn or river, or are you playing aggressively and betting high? Because every hand is dependent on your position at the table and stack, each player must answer these questions for himself.