When Hellmuth refers to his Top 10, he is talking about pocket card, starting hand requirements. One should note that this isn't a list of the only hands Hellmuth plays, but he does suggest that the poker player can make lots of money in low limit poker, by waiting on. One of the keys to being a strong Texas Hold 'em poker player is to know which hands are playable and which are not.This list of the top 10 best starting hands for Texas Hold 'em is a good place to start learning. Do keep in mind, however, that there is some disagreement over which hands are the best, and it does depend in part on your skill level and style of play.
There are several hands that you can be dealt out when playing poker. Below we have listed the strongest to lowest poker hands you can be dealt when playing poker variants such as Texas Hold’em Poker.
Those hands listed at the top of this guide to the top 10 poker hands are the strongest and highest valued hands, and it is worth mentioning due to them being much rarer hands you may go quite a while before you actually see one being dealt out to you or even your fellow players!
The highest valued poker hand and one that you are going to want to be dealt out to you when your fellow players all have high valued hands is the Royal Flush hand.
The hand is simply made up of a set of five cards which are the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten cards, and to be a Royal Flush they must all be in the same suit. Get this hand when playing poker and you should be laughing all the way to the bank!
A Straight Flush is another very strong hand and one you will be hoping t get dealt out to you are often as is possible when you are next playing poker online or in a land based environment.
This hand is five cards which are all consecutive and in addition to them being consecutive they must all share the same suit.
If the cards that share the same suit are not all consecutive this hand is then deemed to be a much lower valued Flush hand as described lower down this page.
You may have already guess what a poker hand known as a Four or a Kind hand contains as the name goes give this hand away!
If you haven’t worked it out then this type of hand is one in which you have four matching cards such as 4 x 5’s along with any fifth card.
This is a fairly strong hand and one that can be expected to take a lot of pots, unless the player holding this hand comes across a player who is holding one of the above two hands that is!
You should get the occasional Full House hand dealt out to you from time to time when playing poker, and this hand is one that is made up for a three of a kind hand and one pair (see below).
This hand could therefore be a hand with 3 x Kings in it and 2 x 3’s.
Top Hand In Poker
This is another of those hands that as soon as you form it then you are in a good and strong position and should, if all goes to plan, pick up the pot at the poker table you are playing at!
Any hand which contains five cards all of the same suit is classed as a Flush hand, those five cards must not be consecutive they must be non consecutive to be classed as a Flush hand, should the five cards all sharing the same suit be consecutive then this is a hand deemed to be a Straight Flush and is a very strong hand.
One of the mid ranged poker hands which you are always going to have one dealt out to you when playing poker for any amount of time is a Straight hand. This is a hand in which the five cards are all consecutive.
It should be noted that the cards need to be made up of any suit and as such a hand containing a 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, but not all of one suit is deemed to be a Straight hand.
If the cards are of the same suit this is a Straight Flush hand instead (see above).
You are going to form a Three of a Kind hand quite often when playing poker.
This had is of course fairly self explanatory and it will see you having been dealt out two un-matched cards and three alike cards.
An example of this type of hand is 3 x 4’s and a Queen and a 10 card, this hand is a mid range valued hand and whilst it can take many pots due to its strength as you can see above there are several much stronger hands available so always keep that in mind when you get dealt out this type of poker hand!
As soon as you have two sets of matching cards in your hand along with any third unmatched cards then your hand is classed as a Two Pair hand.
So if for example you have 2 x 8’s and 2 x5’s along with any other card then you have Two Pairs, and that hand may just be worth you taking your chances on.
Any hand you get dealt out which had three unalike cards in it but two cards that are the same, such as 2 x 7’s is called as a One Pair hand.
This hand, depending on the value of the two matching cards can be a risky proposition if you intend playing on which it as there are many more quite easy to achieve hands of a much higher value, namely all of those listed above!
10 Hand Poker
A High Card hand is one you are not really going to want to play on with as soon as you have been dealt it out.
This is a hand of five cards that do not share all on suit and in that hand each card is non consecutive and none matching and the highest valued hand is deemed to be the value of your High Card hand. So for example a Ten, Eight, Six, Four and Two is a ten valued High Card hand.
As many of you know, Phil Hellmuth is one of the most successful Texas Hold 'em players of all time. I recently read his book, Play Poker Like the Pros, and was very impressed with his Hold 'em Strategy. It is not my intent to plagiarize his book, but no poker strategy site would be complete without mentioning the playing ability and strategy of Phil Hellmuth.
Therefore, I have chosen to reveal and comment on what Hellmuth calls his “Top 10.” When Hellmuth refers to his Top 10, he is talking about pocket card, starting hand requirements. One should note that this isn't a list of the only hands Hellmuth plays, but he does suggest that the poker player can make lots of money in low limit poker, by waiting on these cards and playing them aggressively.
Without further ado, Hellmuth's Top 10:
1. A-A
2. K-K
3. Q-Q
4. A-K suited
5. J-J
6. 10-10
Top 10 Worst Poker Starting Hands
7. 9-9
8. 8-8
9. A-Q suited
10. 7-7
Hellmuth submits that these 10 hands should be the only pocket cards played by the beginner in low limit Texas Hold 'em. This makes the game much simpler before the flop, however, as you can probably guess, the tricks of how to play these 10 hands after the flop can get complicated.
As a general rule though, bet these top 10 hands aggressively. The higher in the ranking, the more aggressively they should be played. Your strategy after the flop will be determined by what hits the board and the actions of your opponents.
Play these top 10 right in low limit Hold 'em games and you will make money. As you build your bankroll and your confidence, you can increase your starting hand requirements.
Top Ten Starting Poker Hands Odds Calculator
Meanwhile, I would suggest making a $16 investment in Hellmuth's book, Play Poker Like the Pros. It's not the perfect poker strategy book, and Phil even cautions that he is a no limit player, not a limit player! However, a look inside the mind of a man who has won multiple World Series of Poker bracelets is well worth the $16!
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