Top Poker Hands Pre Flop
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The Strongest Poker Hands – Before and After the Flop
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
- 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.
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.
Betting Rounds: Before The Flop : Flop : Flop Hands : Turn : River
Before the flop is where it all starts; you are dealt your cards and you are able to make your first decision in the hand.
Preflop play is not as complex as other betting rounds due to the fact that the hand is in its very early stages. The majority of your strategy simply involves choosing your hands carefully and betting the right amount of chips.
Starting hand selection.
Good preflop strategy involves choosing the right cards to fight with and having a good starting hand strategy. Just as you wouldn't send your weakest friend into battle, you don't want to rest your hopes on hands that have very little strength and are likely to get a good hiding from your opponents.
If you have the best hand or one of the best hands every time you enter a pot, you are dramatically increasing your chances of winning money from each and every hand.
The best starting hands are the big pairs and big cards. You should try and stick with big cards like Aces, Kings, Queens and Jacks as much as possible, and avoid hands that do not have any of these cards in them. Do not fall into the trap of playing any two cards because you had a 'feeling' that they would do well. If you want to win money, you should fold the cards that are likely to get you into trouble and cost you money.
Betting before the flop.
If you have a strong hand and you want to enter the pot, you should almost always make a raise. If you simply call the big blind, you are giving weaker players the opportunity to see a cheap flop and outdraw you, when it will be better to reduce the number of players who see a flop by making a decent-sized raise. So the next time you want to play with your strong hand, aim to weed out the weaker players and make a good raise.
Bet sizing guidelines.
As far as bet sizing goes, your standard preflop raise should be around 4x the big blind. If you just double the big blind and make that minimum raise, you are not betting enough money to scare other players out of the pot.
With a minimum raise, you will find that a large number of weaker players will still come along for the ride and your raise will not be respected, leaving you open to being outdrawn when the cards come down. Make sure that your preflop raises are strong and are able to sort the men from the boys.
The ideal situation is to be going to the flop heads up with a strong hand. If you are in position too, all the better.
If there has been a raise before you and you have a strong hand, your main plan of action should be to just call if your hand is strong (but not amazing, e.g. AQ, AJ, KQ, JJ), or reraise if you have a very strong hand like AA, KK, QQ or possibly AK. Preflop bet sizing is all part of a good poker betting strategy.
Preflop position.
Your position at the table is going to play an incredibly important role in every hand that you play. As you should know, being able to act after your opponents will prove to be very valuable, and can easily make the difference between winning and losing a hand.
The best position in every hand is going to be the player that is on the button, as this person is going to be acting last on every round in the hand. Seats to the right of the button are also quite favorable, as they will also be one of the last players to be acting on each betting round in the hand.
You can loosen your starting hand requirements a little in late position, as your position is going to give you a big advantage over the other players at the table.
The least favorable positions are going to be the small and big blind, and the first few seats to the left of the big blind. These players will be one of the first to act on each round, which can make playing a hand very difficult. Therefore you should stick to playing only the strongest starting hands from these seats, as your position is going to be a severe handicap that can make marginally-strong hands quite unprofitable.
Before the flop strategy tips.
Top 10 Poker Hands Pre Flop
- Limping is rarely a good play. Always look to either 'pump it' or 'dump it'.
- Raise more if there are limpers before you. Add 1BB to your 4BB raise for each limper.
- If you consistently have lots of players calling your raise preflop, try raising more.
- You can loosen your starting hand requirements at short-handed tables.
- Just because you raise preflop, it doesn't mean that you are committed to the hand.
How to play before the flop overview.
Flop Poker Online
If you always start out with a strong hand, you have a much greater chance of winning money from poker. There is no doubt that it is going to be more fun to play every hand under the sun in the hope of catching a big hand and cashing in, but this is just going to lose you money in the long run. Don't fool yourself into thinking that limping saves you money, because it is just a weak play that will consistently drain your bankroll through every session, so don't do it.
The key to good preflop play is to be selectively aggressive, with there being very little in the middle - you should either always be raising or folding. This makes things a lot easier if you are a new player because you have limited yourself to 2 simple (and profitable) options rather than getting confused with whether it is worth limping-in.
Playing a hand.
Go back to the sublime Texas Hold'em guide.
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