Poker Starting Hand

Deciding which starting hands to play, and which ones to skip playing, is one of the most significant Texas Hold’em poker decisions you'll have to make. Deciding which starting hands to play with begins when accounting several different factors for example;

• Starting Hand "groups" (refer to the classic "Theory of Poker" book by David Sklansky)
• Your table position
• Number of players at the table
• Chip position

Sklansky originally came up with the Texas Hold’em poker starting hand groups, which turned out to be very useful as general guidelines. Below you'll find a modified version of the Sklansky starting hands table. We have tailored the original Sklansky tables, which in my view were to restricting, into a more user friendly approach that can be associated more with the Sidekick poker odds calculator.

Groups 1 to 8: These are essentially the same scale as Sklansky originally proposed, however some hands have been shifted around to improve playability. (There is no group 9)

Group 30: These are "debatable" hands, hands that should be seldom played, but can be played sporadically in order to mix things up and keep your opponents on their toes if they are trying to work out your playing technique. Loose players will play this way more frequently, tight players will rarely play them, and experienced players will open with them on occasion at random to throw some of the competition at the table.

The table below is the precise set of starting hands that Poker Sidekick uses when it calculates starting poker hands. If you use Poker Sidekick, it will tell you which group each starting hand is in (if you can't remember them), along with estimating the "relative strength" of each starting hand. You can memorise or just print off this page to give you that extra helping hand when playing Texas hold’em poker.

Group 1: AA, KK, AKs
Group 2: QQ, JJ, AK, AQs, AJs, KQs
Group 3: TT, AQ, ATs, KJs, QJs, JTs
Group 4: 99, 88, AJ, AT, KQ, KTs, QTs, J9s, T9s, 98s
Group 5: 77, 66, A9s, A5s-A2s, K9s, KJ, KT, QJ, QT, Q9s, JT, QJ, T8s, 97s, 87s, 76s, 65s
Group 6: 55, 44, 33, 22, K9, J9, 86s
Group 7: T9, 98, 85s
Group 8: Q9, J8, T8, 87, 76, 65
Group 30: A9s-A6s, A8-A2, K8-K2, K8-K2s, J8s, J7s, T7, 96s, 75s, 74s, 64s, 54s, 53s, 43s, 42s, 32s, 32

All other hands not shown are virtually unplayable!

So, those are the enhanced Sklansky Texas Hold’em poker starting hand tables, with this kind of knowledge under your belt you are sure to increase your poker playing skills 10 fold!