Poker Strategy Hand Range Selection
This table comes from the book Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players by David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth. This is a strategy book for limit Hold'em, but the starting hand groups do have some practical use in no limit Hold'em. What is the Sklansky and Malmuth starting hands table? The table is a general ranking of hands in Texas Hold'em. Hand and range selection preflop To select our hand we'll have to click the green circled button (see image 1.1). Then before we select our opponents cards, we need to give him a range first: He probably calls hands like pocket pairs (22-TT), some suited connectors and some broadways.
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Basic Starting Hands - Texas Hold'em
- Starting Hand Ranges and Factors Affecting These Ranges The ways a lot of people justify the hands they choose to play can be summed up in two words – hilariously awesome. We’ve heard people mention that they play hands because they’re their favorite hands, because the hands have some really cool and fun names, or that they saw someone.
- BKope: Hi there - Noticed that I was struggling to read the hand range chart. There was an old post with the same issue but that was for windows 8. I have windows 10. The card matrix chart does not extend to the down to the PFR sliding scale - it is condensed and stops a good inch above it. Any help is appreciated I am really straining my eyes at the moment. I tried to include a screen shot.
“What hands you play in Hold'em is as much about your position at the table as it is the hands yourself.
Here's a useful downloadable chart explaining hand rankings and what starting hands you should play. Click to download.
9-9, for example, is a good raising hand in late position if no-one has raised the pot beforehand, but in early position (the small or big blind) you can find yourself in trouble if you're first to act after the flop.
The first thing to do is group starting hands together: Premium, Semi-Premium and Marginal.
Premium hands are things like A-A and K-K. With these hands you'll be raising and re-raising, in every position at the table.
Poker Strategy Hand Range Selection Examples
Next, Semi-Premium hands are ones like A-K, Q-Q, J-J, 10-10 and K-Qs. With these you should raise in every position, and re-raise with them in late position only. A-K is OK to just call a raise with in early position, as if you're first to act you can comfortably check-call on a low flop, or bet out if you've hit top-pair. Remember, A-K is only 'ace-high', i.e. it has great value only if you make a pair with it.
Poker Strategy Hand Range Selection Chart
Next, Marginal hands are a bigger group of cards. In this group you can put 9-9, J-10s, 10-9s, A-10s, A-Js, K-Js. Raise in late position only in an unraised pot and call in early position if you have value.