Getting Started with a Good Hand

     There are good hands, and there are bad hands. There are hands that play well
with others, and hands that want to play alone. In almost all the Limit Hold’em books,
the “experts” say to only start with the top hands. That being AA, KK, QQ, AKs, TT,
AQs, AJs. If you only play these top hands, and play them correctly, you will take down
more pots, and win more often.

Unfortunately, in an SNG game, or tournament hold ‘em, the blinds go up every
15 minutes, or every 10 hands in SNG games. If you are waiting and waiting for those
BEST hands, eventually, the blinds will dig into you. What you need to recognize, as a
good player, is what a good hand looks like. Or, more importantly, how much it is worth.
There has been a ton of research done on starting hands. Sklansky and Malmuth
put out hand rankings and how to play them in the 1980’s. Since the advent of advanced
computing, a college kid for his thesis redid the rankings and offers EXCELLENT
explanations as to why and what to play.
Here are the rankings of the hands
that he came up with:

Group 1: Hands 1-5: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs
Group 2: Hands 6-10: TT, AQ s, AJ s, AK, KQ s
Group 3: Hands 11-16: AT s, KJ s, AQ, 99, QJ s, KT s
Group 4: Hands 17-24: 88, QT s, A9s, AJ, JT s, KQ, A8s, AT
Group 5: Hands 25-42: K9s, A7s, KJ, A5s, Q9s, T9s, 77, J9s, A6s, QJ,
A4s, KT, QT, A3s, K8s, JT, A2s, Q8s
Group 6: Hands 43-51: T8s, K7s, 98s, 66, J8s, A9, K6s, K5s, A8
Group 7: Hands 52-68: 87s, 97s, K4s, Q7s, T7s, K9, J7s, T9, 55, Q6s,
Q9, K3s, J9, A7, Q5s, A5, K2s
Group 8: Hands 69-84: Q4s, A6, T6s, J6s, A4, J5s, K8, Q3, 44, T8, A3,
J8, Q8, K7, A2, K6

As you can see, you have probably been playing the wrong hands. It’s okay. You
didn’t know better.

Generally speaking, our first experience with poker is usually 5-card where
everyone antes and has to play their cards. If they fold, they are out their ante.
This mentality you just can’t take to Hold’em. The only folks forced to pay are
sitting in the blinds. That means, if you have a hand that isn’t on that chart, don’t even
bother playing it. Fold it down. The higher up you go in the groupings, the better the
hand.

The chart shows the frequency of these top 84 hands showing up as your two
down cards. According to the groupings, 22, 33 and the low and middle suited
connectors aren’t even playable. And herein lies the problem with these groupings as
they relate to No-Limit Hold’em.

Most all information on Hold’em, as said before, has been published with Limit
Hold’em in mind. These rankings hold true, of course, but in No-Limit, I don’t think I’d
exactly throw out 22, and 33.
I will be referring back to the groupings and the chart for the rest of this book.
Print out the chart and keep it in front of you if you can’t remember how strong, or how
weak, your hand actually is.