Worst Starting Hands In Texas Holdem
A 2-7 offsuit hand is the worst hand to start with in Texas Hold 'Em poker because there are so few good options available to you: you have no straight draw, no flush draw, and even if you wind up with a pair of 7s or a pair of 2s, you're unlikely to have the best hand. Of course, you'll see some crazy flops every now and then, but just because. Below, we look at the worst starting hands for both Texas Hold’em and Omaha. Texas Hold’em: 2-7 offsuit (this is well-known as the worst starting hand in poker, due to the fact that it’s often used as side-bets in games.) 7-2 offsuit is followed by 8-2 offsuit, 8-3 offsuit, 7-3 offsuit, 6-2 offsuit, 9-2, 9-3, and 9-4 offsuit.
- The strategy of what to hold, and why, takes a bit to master, so studying the worst starting hands in Texas Hold'em, even more, can help you improve your game. Beginner's Advice Play only the cards in the 10-best list and always fold those in the worst hands list.
- A very common mistake among beginners is playing hands that look good on the surface, but in reality hold little value or are easily dominated by other hands. In hold’em, examples include suited cards or face cards with bad kickers (K3, Q5, etc.). Additionally, this includes high hand combinations like QT, KJ or A9.
There are a lot of really good opening hands in Texas Holdem that can win you a bunch of money. There are a lot of other hands in Texas Holdem that are you so bad, you know you should muck them and you do.
Then there are a bunch of hands that are in-between. Sometimes they can be good and you win a lot of money. Sometimes, they instill you with a false sense of confidence and whisper in your ear that it’s okay for you to push huge stacks of chips only to see those chips evaporate away…
I know statistically that 2-7 is the worse hand in Texas Holdem by percentages, but I’m going to do something today I never do: toss out the numbers. Instead, I am going to dig into my own brand of horrible baggage and bad luck. From there, I’ve identified five hands that I just knew I could do something with only watch all my chips melt away.
And that’s my definition of the worst hands: the ones I thought would let me win and instead, make me a loser. Because that’s fair, right? A hand is bad because it made me lose.
Pocket Kings
I hate pocket kings.
That may sound like a strange thing to say, but I do. Nothing else in this world has broken my heart as often and thoroughly as pocket kings.
Sure, you are probably sitting there in utter bewilderment that I am referring to this as a terrible hand, but like the title says you didn’t know it was awful. Only me and my bad luck and overinflated sense of confidence realize that pocket kings are a trap.
Why do I think pocket kings are awful? Because they seem really powerful. They’re the second highest pair in the entire game and it would seem that if you were to be dealt this hand, you are sitting pretty. Of course, I wouldn’t argue that preflop, pocket kings is a powerful start.
The problem is that if you play enough poker or watch enough of it on TV, you start to notice that if anyone was dealt an ace, they tend to keep that hand at least through the flop. That means that there’s a pretty good chance that unless the betting gets very aggressive, someone at the table has a literal ace in the hole.
Therefore, my caution with this hand is to not bet like you have the world beat. You can bet as though you have a strong hand, but do keep in mind that your opponents can knock you out at any moment.
It’s actually for this reason that I would prefer pocket queens. There’s something about queens being several cards in power away from aces that always reminds me to bet a little less seriously.
This also means that should anyone flop an ace, your pocket kings are a losing hand. Of course, you could flop a king and make a set, but if you start to bid aggressively with pocket kings, you could find yourself out to multiple other players very quickly.
You’ve been warned.
King/Queen Off-Suit
Hopefully, amongst the list of terrible poker hands that you didn’t know were awful, this hand makes more sense why it’s not great right off the bat. Just like in pocket kings, neither the king or the queen are an ace.
If we go with the theory that pretty much everyone at the table is going to keep a pocket ace, king/queen offsuit smells way worse than two kings. In fact, you can’t even hope to make a flush draw with this hand.
Ideally, you would be dealt this hand, stay in (after some light to moderate bidding) and flop the makings of a straight. Ideally, you’d flop the ace everyone else is looking for and a jack or a ten. Then you would be set up for something good.
The problem with this hand is that while setting yourself up to draw into a straight is a valid poker strategy, it’s never as foolproof as actually having the goods yourself. Also, the probabilities of you drawing a straight aren’t fantastic, so realistically you’re looking at building a pair.
The strength of that pair will be determined by what gets flopped and that’s why I don’t like this hand. I can go from feeling pretty good that I have decent cards at the start of the hand to being quickly out if an ace gets added to the board.
Even worse, as has happened to me, the dealer can deal out an ace on the last card when I have been betting aggressively throughout thinking I was sitting pretty on a pair of queens.
All I’m saying in this situation is be careful with how you bet. Pay careful attention to board state and how aggressive others are betting. It is possible that your king or queen could be paired up and you win the hand. It’s also possible those shiny face cards lull you into a false sense of security and you lose.
Jack/Ten Off-Suit
If you think king/queen off-suit is bad, imagine how much worse this texas holdem starting hand is. Still, it’s one I’ve kept and lost with enough I am liable to muck it when these cards come my way.
If you do end up keeping the cards, you actually have a better chance of drawing a straight because jack/ten can be at the beginning, ending or middle of a straight. That is one nice thing about it.
However, if you keep this hand, you are going to have to be very aware of the other cards at the table because it’s almost impossible that if you get dealt another jack you will end up with top pair. Someone else is likely to have an ace, king, or queen where you can’t see it and if any of those cards form a pair, your jack/ten is out.
When I get jack/ten off-suited, if the betting is light I’ll stay to see a flop. If there’s not a chance I can get a straight draw or if the board is suddenly lousy with face cards, I am out.
Pocket Jacks
Pocket jacks was a big trap for me when I first started playing. There is a theory that I used to subscribe to heavily that said any pocket pair was good and that I should bet accordingly. For me, this was as true of pocket jacks as it was pocket twos or pocket aces.
Worst Starting Hand Texas Holdem Poker
Recent history has taught me that this is a load of bunk and I’ve definitely been able to disabuse myself of this notion as it applies to anything less than pocket tens. However, being dealt a pair of jacks and tens piques my interest and keeps me playing in more hands than it should.
However, as I have started to learn recently, I need to be very careful to how other players are betting. It’s not bad to have a pair in the hole, but it’s easy enough for someone else to have a better hole card that ends up being a pair later.
Ace/Queen Suited
This is another hand that can cause bad luck if you’re not careful with it. Despite the somewhat tongue-in-cheek title of this article, I am not advising that you throw your cards away if you get ace/queen suited.
In fact, I argue above that someone probably keeps this hand and ends up making a pair on the flop.
However, like the other hands listed above, there’s a better than average chance that someone who gets this set of cards is thinking it’s really great because:
- There’s an ace (and those are always good)
- There’s a queen backing up the ace
- They’re suited, so I could make a flush
- They’re close to each other, so I could make a straight
And all of these things are true, but keep in mind one important factor: you need more cards to make this hand worth anything. It doesn’t even have the intrinsic value of pocket jacks and will need cards to make a flush, a straight or even a pair.
Just bid carefully if you have it. Yes, you have the building blocks of a great hand here, but you don’t yet have a great hand. Make sure your betting patterns account for that.
Conclusion
Like I said, the title of this article was not meant to be taken too seriously. You can win a game of Texas Holdem with any of these hands, however, they do present challenges if you’re not careful. Like many things, these hands aren’t as good as they appear to be. They’re probably not as bad as I make them out to be, though.
Still, if you bet right, you can win with them. Just pay attention to the board and, as always, no matter how good your start, if you don’t have the goods, don’t be like me. Just fold.