Top 15 Starting Hands in Texas Hold'em

Out of 169 possible starting hands in Texas Hold'em, these 15 are the strongest. If you are dealt any of them preflop, you are holding a premium or near-premium hand. Win percentages are for going all-in preflop against one random hand and seeing all five community cards. Every hand's win percentage drops as more opponents enter the pot.

1. AA (Pocket Aces): 85% win vs one random hand
2. KK (Pocket Kings): 82% win vs one random hand
3. QQ (Pocket Queens): 80% win vs one random hand
4. JJ (Pocket Jacks): 78% win vs one random hand
5. TT (Pocket Tens): 75% win vs one random hand
6. 99 (Pocket Nines): 72% win vs one random hand
7. 88 (Pocket Eights): 69% win vs one random hand
8. AKs (Ace-King Suited): 67% win vs one random hand
9. 77 (Pocket Sevens): 66% win vs one random hand
10. AQs (Ace-Queen Suited): 66% win vs one random hand
11. AJs (Ace-Jack Suited): 65% win vs one random hand
12. AKo (Ace-King Offsuit): 65% win vs one random hand
13. ATs (Ace-Ten Suited): 65% win vs one random hand
14. AQo (Ace-Queen Offsuit): 64% win vs one random hand
15. AJo (Ace-Jack Offsuit): 64% win vs one random hand

Pocket pairs dominate the top of the list because a made pair preflop is a big head start. Big suited aces like AKs and AQs follow closely thanks to their flush and straight potential plus top-pair power. Remember that win percentages fall for every hand as more opponents enter the pot, which is why raising preflop to thin the field protects even the strongest holdings.

Keep studying with the poker hand rankings, learn how win percentage is calculated, or explore thinking in ranges. Ready to put it into practice? Play a free practice hand or start the beginner course.