subject: Billings Poker Rooms - Texas Holdem Starting Hands [print this page] Author: Hannah Ogden Author: Hannah Ogden
The Texas Holdem starting hands consists of two hole cards otherwise referred to as the cards facing down. These belong solely to the player and remain hidden from other players. Then 5 community cards are dealt into play. Betting begins before any of the community cards are exposed, and continues throughout the hand. The player's "playing hand", which will be compared against that of each competing player, is the best 5-card poker hand available from his two hole cards and the five community cards.
There are 1,326 distinct possible combinations of two hole cards from a standard 52-card deck. Many of these hands have the same value before the flop, since suits does not have a relative value in poker. Stronger starting hands are identified by a lower number. Hands without a number are the weakest starting hands. As a general rule, books on Texas Holdem present hand strengths on the assumption of a nine or ten person table.
It is common for hole cards to be given nicknames in poker communities. While most combinations have a nickname, stronger handed nicknames are generally more recognized and the most notable is probably the "Big Slick", where the Ace and King of the same suit. Hands can be named according to the strength of the hand. Pocket rockets are the name used representing the strength of paired aces.
Probably by now you already know that the best hands could be a pair of aces. The next in line is the pair of kings called cowboys. The pair of queens is known as the ladies, rounds out the top three best starting hands.
Never play hands like J2 or K4 - hands that do not go together at all. Playing cards like this are playing on pure luck and it is a waste of chips and money. Playing smart and taking into consideration different plays at different times will help your skill level enormously.
