How Many Possible Starting Hands In Texas Holdem
- The 1,326 starting hands can be reduced for purposes of determining the probability of starting hands for Hold 'em—since suits have no relative value in poker, many of these hands are identical in value before the flop.
- These days, even the most casual of poker fans who might happen upon a WSOP broadcast during the summer knows that the best Texas Hold’em starting hand is pocket aces. With an additional 1,300+ potential starting hand combinations, however, the overwhelming majority of the hands you’ll be dealt will consist of inferior holdings.
Poker can be a fun card game for the family, or a serious competitive game in which the steaks can be so enormous, even selling your house wouldn’t cover the costs.
It's probably because 1,326 is the number of possible starting hands in Holdem poker. What we were acually determining in the above calculation was how many combinations of 2 cards we can pick from a 52-card deck.
There are many variations of poker, with Texas Hold ‘Em being the most popular worldwide.
Below are a whole bunch of poker facts and statistics which help you understand the chances of wining and the odds of getting the cards you want.
Did You Know?
A pocket pair is cards of the same rank, which means if your two cards have the same number, from 2-2 all the way up to A-A, this is called a pocket pair.
- The odds of receiving any pocket pair is 5.9% which is 16 to 1. These are also the same odds of receiving a pocket pair of 2’s.
- The odds of receiving a specific pocket pair: 0.45% or 220 to 1 These are the same odds for receiving a pocket pair of A’s.
- The odds of receiving a pocket pair of A’s twice in a row is 0.002047% or 48,840 to 1.
- The odds of receiving a pocket pair of K’s is 0.9% which is 220 to 1.
- The odds of receiving a pocket pair of Q’s is 1.4% which is 73 to 1.
- The odds of receiving a pocket pair of J’s is 1.8% which is 54 to 1.
- The odds of receiving a pocket pair of 10’s is 2.3% which is 43 to 1.
- The odds of receiving a pocket pair of 9’s is 2.7% which is 36 to 1.
- The odds of receiving a pocket pair of 8’s is 3.2 which is 31 to 1.
- The odds of receiving a pocket pair of 7’s is 3.6% which is 27 to 1.
- The odds of receiving a pocket pair of 6’s is 4.1% which is 24 to 1.
- The odds of receiving a pocket pair of 5’s is 4.5% which is 21 to 1.
- The odds of receiving a pocket pair of 4’s is 5.0% which is 19 to 1.
- The odds of receiving a pocket pair of 3’s is 5.4% which is 17 to 1.
Poker Fast Facts
The total number of possible royal flush hands in a standard 52 card deck is 4.
And the odds of making a royal flush is 649,739 to 1.
This is correct assuming that every game plays to the river.
In poker terms, the river is the name for the fifth card dealt, face-up on the board.
In total, there are 2,598,960 possible poker hands with 52 cards.
The odds of getting four of a kind in Texas Hold ‘Em is 4164 to 1.
Casinos normally change decks after 15 minutes of steady play, so that the cards can always be fresh and unmarked, as many professional players would be able to remember the certain markings on cards and use that to their advantage.
This is only a basic overview of poker odds, there are many calculators online that can help solve the odds of getting certain hands, depending on what stage of the game you’re at, what cards you currently hold and how many people are playing.
Now you are familiar with these odds, you can use them to your advantage for a better poker strategy when you finally decided to play a tournament.
In Texas Hold-Em Poker the odds of making a royal flush hand is only 649,739 to 1.
There are over one hundred possible starting hands in Texas Holdem. That’s just if you take unique combinations. Start taking into account suit, and the number increases dramatically.
Statistically speaking, you’re just as likely to get any one of these starting hands as any other, though there are certain hands you’d much rather get than others. Also, in terms of game theory, some opening hands are a lot more interesting than others. You know what you’re going to do with a pair of aces. Do you know what you’re going to do with ace-two though?
Unfortunately, it’s impossible in place to go through the strategy of every opening hand in poker, we can highlight a certain number of more interesting hands. I’ve chosen five hands from the list of possible hands to discuss below in greater detail. You are likely to run into them if you play often enough, and their relative strengths present interesting challenges.
1 – Pair of Twos
Congratulations… You have a pair. Aren’t you lucky?
Sure. Go ahead and start grumbling now because of all the pairs you have. This one is undoubtedly, statistically the worse pair you can have. Yes, it will beat any hand that doesn’t have a pair, but how often are you likely to have any opponents that don’t have anything and stay in the game?
The answer is not that many. Don’t worry, though, starting off with a pair of twos isn’t as bad as you think if one of two things are true:
- You have position
- There aren’t many people at the table
According to computer models, you are dead even to win with a pair of twos in straight-up play and you will win about a third of the time in a three-player game. Your odds of winning drop off pretty dramatically from there, however. The only thing that could save you, though, is position.
In a lot of ways, a pair of twos is like a stealth attack. As your opponents survey the board and try to figure out what you have, they’re probably not thinking you have pocket twos. So, if you draw into a set or even manage to get three, four, five, six on the board, there’s a chance you can sneak up on the others and win some money.
Still, to win with this hand more often than not, you need to know what the other players are going to do. That’s why you need position. If you find that everyone else is betting aggressive, there’s a good chance your twos are no good, so get out of the hand. If, however, everyone is lukewarm, you might have some money to make.
The Strategy for This Hand Is as Follows:If you’re in a game with any more than three people and you don’t have position, fold and fight another day. If you do have position, call any modest bets or make a medium bet of your own. If someone comes at you hard and raises or re-raises, unless you are working their tells, fold and get them in the next hand.
After the flop and each subsequent card, take the pulse of the table. If someone starts to bid more aggressively and you didn’t get a third two, you shouldn’t be out too much money.
After the last card is dealt and no one feels good about their cards, you have to decide how aggressive you want to be. My advice is to always keep things on the low to moderate side of bidding (think fractions of a pot). Even if someone missed their draw, you might be able to get money from them if you bet lower amounts than getting too aggressive in the end.
2 – Pair of 10s
In some ways, a pair of 10s is going to be like a pair of twos. There are a lot more hands that pocket 10s will beat than pocket twos, but there are a bunch of hands that you’d probably rather have.
Then again, this is poker, and you have to play the hand you were dealt and, surprisingly, pocket 10s are a lot better than you might think. In head-to-head play, pocket 10s win about three-fourths of the time and rarely wins less than 20% of the time, no matter the number of opponents.
On the other hand, pocket 10s don’t beat a lot of hands that people are likely to keep. Also, 10s can appear at the end, middle, or beginning of a straight, so you need to be careful that if you get a set of 10s, that someone else didn’t just complete a straight and are now set to take you down.
Therefore, you really have two options with pocket 10s and how you play them is up to you and your playstyle. If you like to play tight or are light on chips and you have more than two opponents, toss the 10s. You’d do better not taking the risk.
If you’re in the mood to get risky or you have a fewer number of opponents, play 10s like they were much better cards. Be aggressive, make the table think you’re sitting on a gold mine, at least until the flop. If you get your set and there’s no obvious straight draw, keep playing aggressively.
If you don’t get that set, you can still play tough because you do have good cards, and you should be able to scare off the table with them if you bet from a position of strength.
3 – King-Queen Suited
How Many Starting Hands Are There In Texas Holdem
King-queen suited is going to win the hand a little over 60% in head-to-head games, but quickly loses its power in larger games. You have the start off a pretty powerful straight and the chance to make two decent pairs.
If you are dealt king-queen suited to start off, you have to at least make a bet preflop and call just about anything unless someone goes all-in or is just being crazy.
The thing you have to remember is that your opening hand is worthless without some help. You need to be dealt another king or a queen while avoiding an ace to have a winning hand. That’s what you need to call preflop so that you can see what help the board gives you.
Ideally, you want a queen on the flop with no ace. This gives you the best pair with the second best kicker. Either way, feel free to bet aggressively throughout the hand until an ace shows up. Then, you have to assume that someone has a literal ace in the hole unless their betting shows you otherwise.
One last thing, keep an eye out for a flush. That’s one thing this starting hand gives that you can use to your advantage and is another reason to see that flop.
4 – Ace-Two Offsuit
The strategy for ace-two is a lot like the strategy for pocket twos. It’s good at small tables or when you have position.
If neither of those two things are true, you might want to consider folding. Yes, it can feel painful to fold an ace, since it’s an ace after all. However, there are others at the table who probably also have aces in the hole and chances are, they have better kickers than you.
5 – Queen-Jack Offsuit
How Many Starting Hands In Texas Holdem
Percentage-wise, queen-jack suited wins almost the same amount as king-queen suited. It also has a sharp drop off in its efficiency as the number of players climb.
Still, in a lot of ways, this hand should be played about the same way as king-queen suited except that you don’t have the chance to earn a flush draw. You also can’t be quite as aggressive with queen-jack as you can with king-queen because jacks are easier to beat than kings.
Still, preflop, bet with confidence. Feel free to call any reasonable opening bet and don’t be afraid to call a bet outside your comfort zone so that you can see the flop. Also, don’t be afraid to make your own bet preflop, though I wouldn’t bet a significant amount because there are several ways to beat you.
How Many Possible Starting Hands In Texas Hold'em
Once you see the flop, you have decisions to make. If you didn’t flop a pair or aren’t set up for a straight, it might be a good time to get out of the hand since your chances of success aren’t as high as king-queen. Then again, if no one is betting aggressively, there’s no harm in riding the hand out and testing your luck.
Conclusion
Hopefully, seeing how these five hands can be played will give you confidence next time you see them. As always, poker is a dynamic game and circumstances can change. The best poker strategy will change from hand to hand, but I think the following strategy will help make you some money if you follow it.
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