No Limit Hold’Em Pocket Card Hand Rankings

Tool Tips!

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s u i t e d
A	K	Q	J	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2

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The Update button within this form merely shows the rankings for the 169 possible types of starting pocket hands. Pocket pairs are shown diagonally from top left to bottom right. Suited cards are in the upper right areas and unsuited cards are in the lower left areas.

Note that there are 6 combinations of each pair (78 total). There are 4 combinations each of the 78 suited holdings (312 total). And there are 12 combinations each of the 78 unsuited holdings (936 total). This accounts for the 1326 total possible unique two card combinations in a pocket hand.

The default is to show the advantage percent of the selected pocket cards against all other random hands at a table with the number of seats currently selected. This is not simply the win percent frequently referred to as the hand equity. I find this to be a good way to rank the strength of starting hands. It is calculated from the win % of our hero holding two specific pocket cards minus the win % the other players at the table drawing random hands. These are calculated from hundreds of thousands of Monet Carlo simulations with tools such as my HoldEm Game simulator and the PokerCruncher™ Tablet App. A Monte Carlo simulation simply means that all hands stay to the river showdown with no folds based on position, betting, or other psychological factors.

With the radio buttons you can select different ways to rank the pocket holdings. The Win% is simply how often this pocket holding will win against the maximum players at the table. The AvgWin% simply calculates the average assuming min seats to max seats. Naturally, the win % goes up as the number of seats decreases but it never goes negative. Note that as the number of players increases the value of suited and connected cards increases while the value of pairs and high rank decreases. When the Win% or AvgWin% is selected, the Odds Against check may be used to show the results as odd against winning instead of percent in favor of winning.

The Adv% is the win% for these cards minus the average win% for all the other random pocket holdings. Again, the AvgAdv% uses the respective averages for the range of seats selected. This can and will go negative if the other players (villains) would win more often than our hero. These numbers also go up as the number of seats decrease. Even the negative numbers (disadvantage) will increase (in absolute terms). This demonstrates the fact that hand values can become very polarized in heads up battles.

The Colorize Equity checkbox will select colors grossly representing the strength and position recommended for an open raise. Sky Blue would be early seats, Light Blue would be middle seats, Light Green would be the hijack seats, Peach Puff would be the cutoff seats, and Yellow would be the button. Naturally a hand worthy of an open raise in early position would be very strong in the button seat, but a hand that might be considered from the button in a unopened pot could easily be trash in an early seat or against prior action. One objective of this option is to show how one’s opening range should be expanded as the number of seats at the table shrinks. At eight or ten seats the range includes early, middle, hijack, cutoff, and the button. By the time you get to heads up, there are only two seats (early/BB and button/D). At all other table sizes the big blind and small blind are not included. The decision to defend the blinds should include many other factors than just the strength of the pocket cards. Most important is your read on the players already in the pot. Remember more players in the pot gives you better pot odds, but worse odds of scoring a win.

The Pocket Rank button shows the pocket holdings ranked from 1 to 169. The Rank% checkbox shows them ranked from 0% to 100%. The Invert Rank checkbox inverts them from 100% to 0%. The Colorize Rank option also shows the cells colored by grouping in each 10% range. These colors will remain until a new Update is selected. This is one way to demonstrate how the rankings change with the number of players seated.

Collectively these tools can demonstrate how pocket holdings affect equity, rankings, and competitive advantage and how these can change with more or fewer players at the table or in the hand. You can use them to build your own pre flop ranges for open raise, call, three bet, and fold decisions. Just remember that your range should be able to adjust to the number of players at the table, the type of players at the table, tournament or cash game, and both your own stack size and your opponents. Some hands like suited connectors and small pairs can play best in smaller multi way pots and others like big pairs and broadway cards generally play better with fewer players in the pot.

These charts address the pre flop decisions only. Once the flop hits the board a completely different set of skills comes into play. As your post flop skills improve you may decide to widen your pre flop range. Have fun!