Starting Hand
A starting hand is the first cards you are dealt before any voluntary betting. In Hold'em, it is two hole cards, in Omaha four, in five-card draw five, and in seven-card stud two down and one up.
The simple explanation
Your starting hand is the basis of your first decision: fold, call or raise. Strong starting hands include pairs of aces and kings, and ace-king. Weak ones include low unsuited cards, such as seven-two.
A closer look
Starting hand charts help players choose which hands to play from each position. The strength of a starting hand depends on position, stack size and the actions before you. Hands that can make strong draws or strong pairs are worth more in multiway pots. There are 169 different starting hands in Hold'em when suits are counted only as suited or offsuit.
A practical example
In Hold'em, a player is dealt A♠ K♦. That is his starting hand, ace-king offsuit.
Full explanation
A starting hand is the first cards you are dealt before any voluntary betting. In Hold’em, it is two hole cards, in Omaha four, in five-card draw five, and in seven-card stud two down and one up.
A starting hand is the cards you are dealt at the beginning of a hand.
In Hold’em, it is two cards.
Its strength depends on position and action.
There are 169 different starting hands in Hold’em.
Cards dealt before the flop
No-limit Hold’em · Blinds 1/2 chips · No rake
A is dealt A♣K♦ and B is dealt Q♥Q♦. These are their starting hands. The board is still empty: these two private cards are each player’s starting hand.
Read the example transcript
Player A has the button (BTN) and posts the 1-chip small blind (SB). Player B posts the 2-chip big blind (BB).
- Preflop · Pot: 3 chips
A is dealt A♣K♦ and B is dealt Q♥Q♦. These are their starting hands. The board is still empty: these two private cards are each player’s starting hand.
- Player A BTN / SB AAce of clubs (Ac)KKing of diamonds (Kd) · Stack 199 · In this round 1
- Player B BB QQueen of hearts (Qh)QQueen of diamonds (Qd) · Stack 198 · In this round 2
Cards are shown for learning; totals are displayed before pot collection.