Worst Possible Hand In Texas Holdem
The Situation:
- Hands Of Texas Holdem
- Worst Possible Hand In Texas Holdem Rules
- Texas Holdem Hand Rankings
- Texas Holdem Starting Hands Chart
Worst Hand in Poker is NOT 7-2 Offsuit If you answered 7-2 off you're not even close. But yeah, 7-2o is awful. Any pair is likely beat, you can't make a straight or a flush without giving away one of your cards and when you do it's often beaten by a bigger flush or higher straight. Worst Possible Hand In Texas Holdem 4 deposits of £10, £20, £50, £100 matched with a bonus cash offer of same value (14 day expiry). 35x real Worst Possible Hand In Texas Holdem money cash wagering (within 30 days) on eligible games before bonus cash is credited.
- The strength of your starting hand in Texas Hold'em can help you determine your chances of winning, even before the remaining cards are dealt. From a pair of aces — the strongest starting hand — to a 2 and a 7, knowing the strength of your starting hand is an important part of your success at the table.
- Also, pocket aces are the strongest possible starting hand in Texas Holdem because you already have at least the best One Pair hand no matter what comes on the flop. What Is High Card In Poker? High Card is the absolutely worst possible combination according to poker hand rankings.
- The first step to determine the winning Texas Holdem hand is to memorize the official poker hand rankings: Poker Hand Rankings; Once you know that a flush beats a straight and three of a kind beats two pair, you're off to a good start. After memorizing the proper order of poker hands, you'll need to practice reading the board.
You’re playing heads-up $5/$10 No-Limit Texas Hold’em cash with full 100bb stacks. Your opponent is a player who will call a shove with any two cards.
The Question:
What’s the worst possible hand you could jam with in this situation?
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(a) 7-2 offsuit
(b) Q-2 offsuit
(c) 3-2 offsuit
(d) Other
Please leave your answer in the comments below before scrolling down and reading the analysis and answer.
Done that? Great. Now read on for the analysis and answer…
Hands Of Texas Holdem
The Analysis:
Conventional wisdom in poker is that an offsuit 7-2 is the worst possible hand you can open with before the flop. In fact, many popular side bets in poker center around winning with the so-called 7-2 “beer hand.” Against a top 20% hand, for instance, 7-2 is in fact the W.H.I.P., or Worst Hand In Poker….
…ah, but in the specific situation of this quiz, in which your opponent will call a shove with any two cards, regardless of their strength, offsuit 3-2 is actually a slightly worse hand.
To see this, we can run an equity calculator (such as the awesome Poker Cruncher app) and compare the three quiz answer hands against a range comprised of ATC, or Any Two Cards.
7-2o Against ATC:
The Answer:
Worst Possible Hand In Texas Holdem Rules
(c) 3-2 offsuit is the WHIP—in this specific scenario.
The Discussion:
There are a few things worth adding to the discussion:
Close Equities. The respective equities of 7-2 and 3-2 against ATC are not very different; they’re both in the low 30% range. And these values actually aren’t terrible. If you were facing an all-in situation with your last $32 and there was $100 in the pot, you’d be justified in making the call with an offsuit trey-deuce.
Calling Ranges Matter. Against a top 20% hand range, 7-2 offsuit slips below 3-2 offsuit in strength, with just 27.7% equity against 29.2%, respectively.
The (Not So) Mighty Q-2. The Q-2 offsuit hand is nearly a coin-flip against an ATC calling range. But against a top 20% hand range, the equity drops significantly to just 31.3%. I.e., against someone who calls with ATC, Q-2 is a fairly strong hand, but against someone more discerning with their calling range, Q-2 ain’t great.
Equity Calculator. If you don’t already have one, I highly recommend getting an equity calculator and learning to use it. For Mac users (like me) and iOS and Android users, I highly recommend Poker Cruncher. And if you’re on a Windows machine, the industry standard is Flopzilla. Both programs are powerful and easy use.
Other WHIPs. Finally, what was amusing to me when I first posted this question was the number of non-standard responses I received from readers, including AQ, AK, KK, and JJ. The question these folks were actually answering was not “What is the worst preflop starting hand heads-up against ATC,” but rather “What hands do they lose the most money with and/or have the most trouble with?” These are very different kettles of fish altogether…
Texas Holdem Hand Rankings
The Bottom Line:
Always carefully read a hand situation closely before jumping in with the answer/decision to make. Like everything in poker, the answer usually depends. Against a heads-up opponent who will call with any two cards, 3-2 offsuit is the WHIP. But against a stronger calling range, 7-2 offsuit is the WHIP. And if you move beyond the flop… well, all bets are off. Pocket Kings just may in fact be your own personal worst hand in poker!
Texas Holdem Starting Hands Chart
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