Texas Holdem has been sweeping the poker world ever since 2003. Every day, new players sit down either at live poker tables or on online virtual tables to try their hand at the game that has been made famous on various poker shows on Television. However, many players are not aware of the best hands to be on the lookout for while they are at the table. Let’s take a look at some of the best poker hands for Texas Holdem.

Big pairs are your best poker hands to start with in Texas Holdem. The best of the best is of course pocket aces, also known as pocket rockets or bullets. When you hold aces, you have the best starting hand that there is and you want to come out raising. After aces, your next best hands are pocket kings and pocket queens. These are the other big pairs that will put you in great shape to start with should you have the fortune to pick them up.

Middle pairs are also poker hands that you want to be looking for. Middle pairs include pocket nines, tens, and jacks. You want to be the first player making a raise with these hands. You can call a raise with these, but if you are facing a lot of action, you may be facing an even better hand.

Ace-king suited is among the poker hands that have a lot of potential. It is primarily a drawing hand, but its strength outside of being a nut drawing hand is the fact that if you flop a pair of kings or aces, you have the best kicker. There will be many pots that you will win due to the fact that your kicker is superior. Ace-king suited is a raising hand if you are first to enter but is a hand you need to be careful in calling too many raises. With this hand you want to flop well.

Small pars are poker hands that can be speculative depending on what position that you are playing. If you have a small pair in late position in an unraised pot, you can try and take a pot down with a raise. Middle pairs are hands that get paid off well when a player is capable of flopping a set, also known as three of a kind. However, you will only flop a set about 1 time in 12, so don’t go crazy with calling raises pre-flop with these hands. Small pairs are every pair from pocket twos to pocket eights.

Ace-king offsuit, Ace-Queen suited, and Ace-Jack suited are decent poker hands, but need to be played with caution. Ace-king offsuit can make the nut straight and can make top pair with best kicker, but is not as strong due to losing the flush capabilities. A-Q and A-J suited are nut flush drawing hands, but need help for making a straight. If you flop a pair of aces with either hand, you will win a majority of the hands, but you do risk being outkicked. The hands play better from later position than early position.

A-Q or A-J offsuit are hands that you really want to play from late position or from the blinds. You must hit the flop strong for these hands to really pay off since they cannot make a flush easily. Do not get into a habit of calling big raises pre-flop with these poker hands.

Some poker hands that you want to really only play sparingly, at least while you are learning are A-10 suited or unsuited, K-Q suited or unsuited, K-J suited or unsuited, or Q-J suited. You really want to only play these hands either from the blinds without a raise or at a particularly passive table. Suited versions of these hands are better than non-suited.

It should be pointed out that other sources may rank some of these poker hands different than in this article. For example, some sources consider pocket jacks a big pair and pocket sevens and eights as middle pair. You can use your discretion if you want to move certain hands to other spots on the list. Also, your table conditions may also dictate which of these hands that you want to play in certain positions. For example, if you are at a table with a player that is overly aggressive and likes to control the betting, you may want to speculate more with small pairs in the hopes to hit a set. If you have a table is particularly passive, you may want to be more aggressive with weaker hands due to the fact that they won’t fight back.

The above poker hands should get you started as you begin your journey on learning how to play Texas Holdem. As you begin to improve your game, you can expand your hand selection and include new aspects, such as bluffing. Until you get to that point, focus on playing solid poker. At the lower limits, solid play should make your a winner.