1. Value Of Ace In Texas Holdem
  2. Best Free Texas Holdem Game
  3. Value Of Ace In Texas Holdem Game

Poker rookies often underestimate the value of the high card. Texas Hold'em, for instance, is frequently referred to as a game of high cards because a player with higher cards always has an advantage. If player 1 holds K-Q and player 2 holds J-10, there are three possible outcomes: The flop makes player 1's hand, and player 1 wins. This is the best starting hand in hold’em poker and can be played from any position-early. Learn the Poker Rank of Hands. Poker Hand Rankings allows you to know when you have won and which is the strongest hand.


It takes a long time for some Texas holdem players to understand the link between their profitability, or lack of profitability, and their starting hand. The fact is you can’t be a long term profitable Texas holdem player if you don’t make the correct choices with your starting hands.

One of the things that causes a problem for most players is there are only a small set of good starting hands. You can go 10 hands or more without seeing a decent starting hand. This can get boring quickly, because most people that play the game of poker are action junkies.

If you’ve folded the last several hands you often start looking for a way to get into a hand. Weak starting hands start looking better, and if you’re not careful you’re jumping into hands with small suited connectors and king three suited. This is clearly not the way to be a profitable Texas holdem player.

Some players are stuck playing weak hands and never realize that the only way to improve is to fold weak hands and only play their best starting hands.

Other players eventually learn that weak hands are not profitable in the long run and start playing only their better hands.

As you learn to fold your weaker hands, you have to face a new challenge. You have to learn how to properly value the hands that you do play. It’s just as costly to overvalue decent hands as it is to play weak hands.

Here’s a list of five Texas holdem starting hands that you might be overvaluing. These five hands are all good enough to play in most situations, but if you value them too highly, they can cost you money.

1 – Ace King

Ace king is the most dangerous hand in Texas holdem. It looks like a great starting hand, and it’s good enough to play in almost any situation. But at the end of the day it’s still a drawing hand. Rarely will ace king win without improving.

The values in hands like ace ace and king king is not only are they high pairs to start with, but they also often win without improving. Ace king almost always has to improve to win with it at the show down.

You can play ace king two different ways, and the best way to play it depends on the specific situation. You can limp with it, just like you might limp with a medium pocket pair or ace jack suited in some situations, or you can enter with a raise.

When you limp with ace king, if you don’t improve on the flop you need to check and fold to a bet. Never call a bet on the flop with ace king unless you improve your hand. This is a terrible play and will consistently stray you away from your attempt at proper casino bankroll management.

If you raise with ace king it usually thins the field before the flop. The best situation with ace king when you raise is to see the flop with one opponent. With a pre flop raise, when you don’t improve on the flop you can either make a continuation bet or check and hope to see the turn for free.

When you miss the flop and make a continuation bet, if you get called and don’t improve on the turn, your best play is almost always check and fold to a bet.

Most of the time when I have ace king I enter the pot with a raise. This sets up the possibility of winning the hand with a continuation bet on the flop if my hand doesn’t improve.

The only two ways to win a Texas holdem hand are to have the best hand at the show down or force all of your opponents to fold.

You should play ace king most of the time; you just need to make sure you’re not overvaluing it. It’s also not strong enough to get all in with before the flop. I know that you often see players get all in with ace king in tournaments, but the only time you should do this is when you’re short stacked. And you should always be the first one to move all in; not making an all in call.

2 – Queen Queen

Queen queen is a powerful starting hand, but the mistake many players make is acting like it’s as good as pocket aces or pocket kings. With pocket aces, you always have top pair. It doesn’t matter what lands on the flop, someone has to draw a hand that beats top pair.

When you have pocket kings, the only card that can land on the flop that scares you is an ace. And often you still win the hand with pocket kings when an ace lands on the flop if you entered with a raise pre flop.

A pre flop raise discourages players with aces paired with smaller cards from calling, which minimizes the chance that an opponent hits the ace when it lands on the flop.

With pocket queens you have to worry about an ace or king landing on the flop. It might not seem like a big difference to move from one scare card to two, but in this case it does make a big difference.

When you raise with pocket queens before the flop, try to imagine the types of hands that might call. If you’re facing pocket aces or pocket kings, you’re most likely going to get in a battle before the flop. But hands like ace king, ace queen, sometimes ace jack, king queen suited, and king jack suited are likely to call. Other possibilities include pocket pairs, hoping to hit a set and stack you.

Value Of Ace In Texas Holdem

You need to enter the pot with a raise with pocket queens to thin the field. But don’t overvalue them at any point on the hand. If you face a move all in before the flop with pocket queens, you might already be dominated. You need to use everything you know about your opponent when this happens to try to determine if you need to fold.

When an ace or king hits on the flop, I usually make a continuation bet, but when an opponent stays with me I slow down and try not to get committed to the pot.

3 – Jack Jack

I mentioned in the first section that ace king is the most dangerous hand in Texas holdem. Pocket jacks are the second most dangerous hand. They look like a strong hand, but there are simply too many ways you can lose with them on the flop.

As I was learning how to be a winning Texas holdem player, I lost too much money and definitely gave more to the casino house edge with pocket jacks. Eventually I figured out a way to play them profitably.

This way works for me, so it might work for you too. But just because it works for me doesn’t mean it’s automatically the best way for you to play.

I play pocket jacks the same way I play pocket eights or nines. I try to get in the pot as cheap as I can, and play them for set value. When I hit a set I push hard the rest of the hand, and when I don’t hit a set I usually check and fold.

If the flop has all undercards, I take a stab at it on the flop, but I’m very careful if anyone stays to see the turn.

4 – Ace 10 Suited

Ace 10 suited is rarely any better than ace two suited. The real value of the hand is when you complete a flush, and when you do complete a flush it’s hard to extract more value from the hand because your opponent can see the possibility of the flush.

Top pair with a 10 kicker is a marginal hand, so you can’t play the hand aggressively when you flop an ace.

You need to play ace 10 suited as a drawing hand, and you need to be careful when you hit any hand that’s not a flush. It can create a straight, but this doesn’t happen often.

Value Of Ace In Texas Holdem

5 – King Queen Suited

When you haven’t played a hand for a half hour or more, a hand like king queen suited looks like a monster. King queen isn’t a terrible starting hand, but it’s not strong enough to even see the flop in some situations. I don’t play it from early position, and rarely play it from middle position.

Every time you consider entering the pot, try to envision what you want to see on the flop. With king queen, what do you hope to see on the flop?

Best Free Texas Holdem Game

If the flop has a king or a queen, you have a high pair, but there’s no guarantee that you have the best hand. Any flush possibility without the ace on the board is dangerous. If the flop has a king and a queen, you have two pair, but you also might face a straight draw from any opponent who entered with ace jack, ace 10, or jack 10.

King queen suited isn’t a terrible hand, but you should only play it from late position and the blinds, and you can’t afford to play it too aggressively.

Conclusion

To be the best Texas holdem player you can be, you need to not only make smart decisions about your starting hands, but you also need to learn how to properly value the hands you do see the flop with. When you overvalue the strength of your starting hands it ends up costing you money. Make sure you don’t overvalue the strength of the five starting hands on this page.

Rank of Hands

In Texas Hold'em poker, players compare five card hands against each other to determine who wins. A player with a Royal Flush has a better hand than a player with a Full House, for example. Below is a list of standard combinations ranked from best to worst.


Value Of Ace In Texas Holdem Game

Five card sequence, from 10 to the Ace in the same suit. A royal flush is a combination of a flush and a straight ending in the Ace high card. So all the cards are of the same suit, consecutive and have the Ace high card.
Straight Flush
Any five card sequence in the same suit. A straight flush is a combination of a flush and a straight. So all the cards are of the same suit, and all are consecutive. Ranking between straights is determined by the value of the high end of the straight. A royal flush is a straight flush that has a high card value of an Ace.
All four cards of the same index. Four cards of the same value such as four jacks or four 7's represent the second strongest poker hand. This hand beats everything except a Straight Flush.
Full House
Three of a kind combined with a pair. A full house is a combination of three of a kind and a pair. Meaning all five of your cards are a part of a set of either two or three of the same card value (eg. three 7's and two Kings). Ties on a full house are broken by the three of a kind, as you cannot have two equal sets of three of a kind in any single deck.
Any five cards of the same suit, but not in sequence. A flush is a hand where all of the cards are the same suit, if each card you have is all one suit, such as 3 of Clubs, 5 of Clubs, 6 of Clubs, 8 of Clubs and King of Clubs, then you have a Flush. Don't be tricked into thinking that all five cards are the same color. The high card determines the winner if two people have a flush.
Straight
Five cards in sequence, but not in the same suit. A straight is a hand where all of the cards are consecutive. There is no continuative quality to this poker hand a straight cannot wrap around meaning it is not a straight if you have a Queen, King, Ace, Two or Three. Standard poker rules state that in the case of more than one straight, the higher straight wins, In case of straights that tie, the pot is split.
Three cards of the same value. Any three cards with the same value (eg. a 6 of Clubs, a 6 of Spades or a 6 of Diamonds) is considered to be three of a kind. The highest set of three cards wins.
Two-pair
Two separate pairs.Two sets of two cards of equal value constitute a hand that has two pairs. As usual the pair with the higher value is used to determine the winner of a tie.
One pair of two equal value cards constitutes a pair.
High-card
When the hand you are left with has no pairs, is not a straight or a flush then it's relative value is determined by the highest value card. When two players have no pairs, straight, or flush the winner of the tie is determined by the highest value card in the hand. If the highest cards are a tie then the tie is broken by the second highest card. Suits are not used to break ties.