For those of us who enjoy working with numbers or creating lists with which to organize our lives, there’s something appealing about the idea of ranking all of those hands from 1 to 169, even if we know such a list probably might have only limited value when it comes to actual game play. In hold’em there are 169 different combinations of hands you can be dealt.

Even those with many years of experience who have little need to consult such charts still find them interesting as debate-starters. I recommend keeping these charts open to provide guidance as you play.For a certain segment of new hold’em players, starting hand charts can be fascinating. With a little practice, you should be able to find the appropriate poker strategy very quickly. Fold against a lone player from early or middle position. * In the big blind, you can call with KJ against two opponents or a lone late player. You should fold if the raiser is in early or middle position or against two or more opponents. If the pot has been raised, you should reraise a late position player.

* In the small blind, always call A9s against limpers. * In the small blind, you can raise or reraise one or two opponents with AQ, otherwise, call against three or more opponents. If the pot has been raised, you should either re-raise or fold when against a single player, or call if there are three players in the hand. * Raise 99 when you are first in from late position otherwise, call if the pot has not been raised. You have the option of rerasing a lone raiser otherwise, always call a raise. * In late position, you should raise with JJ against one caller or first in, and call against two callers or more. * In middle position, only call only play 98s if there are already three or more callers. Fold if you are first in or if the pot has been raised. * In early position, only call with A8s or 77 if there is already at least one caller in the pot. Let’s look at some examples of how to use these poker odds charts… Early Position

Top starting hands in texas holdem