What are the top 10 starting hands in holdem?

[heyyo2]

There are a lot of disagreeeonment on the top 10 starting hands you can have in holdem once it gets past the 4th one. For instance most sites say AA, KK, QQ, AK as the best 4 starting hands. Then some people who write articles say JJ is the 5th whereas another site has AQ as the 5th best starting hand. Then i read some ridiculous article that has KQ as the 6th and then AJ as 7th and AK offsuit as the 8th.

Personally I think Phil Hellmuths top ten starting hands
AA, KK, QQ, AKs, JJ, 1010, 99, 88, AQs and 77 is the best .

What are the top 10 starting hands? I know some people disagree with one another but having KQ and AJ both suited doesn't seem to be a top 10 hand to me. Also, what are your top 10 starting hands in Cash game versus MTT/sngs?

[Jeff_B]

There is a definite answer to this...
X% of 169 hands = 10

X is the top 5.9% of hands (about)

assiging a range in poker stove of the top 5.9% hands yields

hmm that doesnt work...

heh it should though but it only gives me 13 hands.

Id imagine the 10 highest numbers from
http://www.justraise.com/tips_pages/ev.htm

would give you a good answer.

Or if i manually just bunch in numbers in poker stoves range function I can use the top 4.5% and get
AA, AKs, AQs, AJs, AK, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99

edit: seems odd though since AcKc < 2c2d ?

[HitMe1Time]

I mean all in all there is no definate answer IMO.

If you think about it 22 is a better hand PERCENTAGE wise then AK.

So it depends what your looking for here.

[Lansingg]

yeah you;re right

[heyyo2]

i am talking about the top 10 cash game starting hands? Would AJs and KQs be in it? I am specifically talking about full ring NL cash game.

[Small Fry]

Against one opponent with a random hand the top 10 hands based on equity are:
AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88, AKs, 77, AQs

Against 2 opponents with random hands the top 10 hands based on equity are:
AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, AKs, 88, AQs, 77

Against 5 opponents with random hands the top 10 hands based on equity are:
AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs, TT, AQs, AK, KQs, AJs,

Against 9 players with random hands the top 10 based on equity are:
AA, KK, QQ, AKs, AQs, KQs, JJ, AJs, AK, ATs (I hope I got this one correct)

These numbers are based on a simulation run of about 3-5 million hands via monte carlo simulation

Hope that helps.

[purus]

Yeah, you probably want to go off of equity, but remember your hand equities could be different from the average based on your style of play so you probably want to keep track of the hands you play for a while to see which ones pay off the best for you. But the average is definitely a good place to start.

[Nichlemn]

All calculated rankings are by their nature inexact: the equity of your hand in a 9 or 10 way all-in or all-in versus a random hand are more or less irrelevant to typical poker situations.

88 has a higher equity than AKs (69% versus 67%) against a random hand, but much of that occurs from enormous equity against trash hands with one or two undercards that realistically aren't going to be in your opponent's range except in particularly shortstacked situations.

Similarly, the high weighting of suited cards in 9 way situations emerges from the higher hand strength required to win such a pot, but the high likelihood of folds reduces this advantage.

The best starting hands are the ones that have the greatest equity against the range your opponents will play, combined with the degree of implied odds that exist with that hand (which I think of as how all-in equity compares to expected postflop winnings). Also position may change the ranking of some hands: a hand that is highly position sensitive may be better on the button than another hand, but that hand is better than the former in the small blind (maybe KJs compared to a low pocket pair).

[heyyo2]

would you prefer AQs over AKo?

[Nichlemn]

AKo is better against fairly tight ranges in heads up pots, whereas AQs is better in looser, multiway pots.