Welcome to the fifth in my Texas Holdem Poker Strategy series, which focuses on No Limit Texas Holdem Poker Tournaments and associated strategies. In this article, we will examine starting hand decisions.

It may seem obvious, but deciding which starting hands to play and which to stop playing is one of the most important Texas Holdem poker decisions you’ll ever make. Deciding which starting hands to play starts with several factors in mind:

* “Sets” of starting hands (Sklansky made some good suggestions in his classic book “Poker Theory” by David Sklansky)

* Your position at the table

* Number of players at the table

* Tab position

Sklansky originally proposed some groups of Texas Holdem poker starting hands, which turned out to be very useful as general guidelines. Below is a “modified” (improved) version of Sklansky’s starting hands chart. I adapted Sklansky’s original tables, which were “too narrow” and stiff for my liking, into a more playable approach that is used in the Poker Sidekick poker odds calculator. Here is the key to these starting hands:

Groups 1 to 8: These are essentially the same scale as Sklansky originally proposed, although some hands have been changed to improve playability and there is no group 9.

Group 30: These are now “questionable” hands, hands that should be played rarely, but can reasonably be played from time to time to mix things up and keep your opponents off balance. Loose players will play them a bit more often, tight players will rarely play them, experienced players will open them only occasionally and randomly.

The following table is the exact set of starting hands that Poker Sidekick uses when calculating poker starting hands. If you use Poker Sidekick, it will tell you which group each starting hand is in (if you can’t remember them), as well as estimating the “relative strength” of each starting hand. You can print this article and use it as your initial manual reference.

Group 1: AA, KK, AK

Group 2: QQ, JJ, AK, AQ, AJ, KQ

Group 3: TT, AQ, AT, KJ, QJ, JT

Group 4: 99, 88, AJ, AT, KQ, KTs, QTs, J9s, T9s, 98s

Group 5: 77, 66, A9s, A5s-A2s, K9s, KJ, KT, QJ, QT, Q9s, JT, QJ, T8s, 97s, 87s, 76s, 65s

Group 6: 55, 44, 33, 22, K9, J9, 86s

Group 7: T9, 98, 85s

Group 8: Q9, J8, T8, 87, 76, 65

Group 30: A9s-A6s, A8-A2, K8-K2, K8-K2s, J8s, J7s, T7, 96s, 75s, 74s, 64s, 54s, 53s, 43s, 42s, 32s, 32

All other hands are not shown (virtually unplayable).

Those are the enhanced Sklasky Texas Holdem poker starting hand tables.

The later your position at the table (dealer is last position, small blind is earliest), the more starting hands you must play. If you’re on the dealer button, with a full table, play groups 1-6. If you’re somewhere in between, narrow the game down to groups 1-3 (tight) and 4 (loose). In early positions, narrow the game down to groups 1 (tight) or 1 to 2 (loose). Of course, in the big blind, you get what you get.

As the number of players falls into the 5-7 range, I recommend generally sticking up and playing much fewer premium hands from the top positions (groups 1-2). This is a good time to forget about chasing flush and straight draws, which puts you at risk and wastes chips.

As the player count dwindles to 4, it’s time to open up and play a lot more hands (groups 1-5), but carefully. At this stage, you are close to winning money in a Texas Holdem poker tournament, so be very careful. I often just protect my blinds, steal occasionally, and try to let smaller stacks get blinded or removed (putting myself in the money). If I’m one of the short stacks, well, I’m forced to pick the best hand I can get and go all-in and hope to fold.

When the game comes down to 3, it’s time to avoid facing big stacks and wait to see if we can finish second, heads-up. I tend to be a bit stricter here, playing much the same as when there are only 3 players (avoiding showdown unless you have a pair, ace or king, if possible).

Once you’re heads up, well, that’s a topic for a whole other article, but all in all, it’s time to get extraordinarily aggressive, go big, and get “aggressive”.

In tournaments, it’s always important to keep track of your stack size in relation to the blinds and stacks of others. If you’re short stacked, then play a lot fewer (tighter) hands, and when you get a good hand, rip as many chips as you can with it. If you’re the big stack, well, you should avoid unnecessary confrontations, but use your big stack position to push everyone around and occasionally steal blinds too, without risking too many chips in the process (the other players will try to use you to double up, so beware).

Well, that’s a quick overview of an improved set of starting hands and some rules of thumb for adjusting starting hand play based on play conditions throughout the tournament.

Until next time, good luck at the Texas Holdem poker tables!

Haystack