"Top 20" list of starting hands in a Ten Handed Texas Hold’em Game
by PSO Staff

The "Top 20" list of starting hands in a Ten handed (ten players) Texas Hold’em game are as follows.

For the sake of making the list short, Mr. Hill (a contributer to Poker Digest) has indicated suits as spades, pairs as a diamond and club, and unpaired/unsuited hands as a spade and a heart. Be advised they can be any suits. For example, ASpadesJSpades is equal to AclubsJclubs, AdiamondsJdiamonds, and AheartsJhearts. Looking at number 1, the suits are diamonds and clubs, when in fact it can be any two aces.

The rating percentage numbers indicate how often the starting hand, in combination with five up cards, ends up best at the table.1

1 AdiamondsAclubs 31.1%
2 KdiamondsKclubs 26.1%
3 QdiamondsQclubs 22.2%
4 ASpadesKSpades 20.7%
5 JdiamondsJclubs 19.3%
6 ASpadesQSpades 19.2%
7 KSpadesQSpades 18.7%
8 ASpadesJSpades 18.1%
9 KSpadesJSpades 17.7%
10 ASpadesTSpades 17.4%
11 QSpadesJSpades 17.2%
12 AspadesKhearts 17.2%
13 TdiamondsTclubs 17.2%
14 KSpadesTSpades 16.9%
15 QSpadesTSpades 16.6%
16 JSpadesTSpades 16.5%
17 9diamonds9clubs 15.6%
18 ASpadesQhearts 15.5%
19 ASpades9Spades 15.4%
20 kSpadesQhearts 15.2%

1. Reprinted with permission, "Ace-Queen Offsuit; A Closer Look" by W.Lawrence Hill, Poker Digest, Vol. 4/No.23, November 2-15, 2001.

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