Hand Rankings

To simplify the presentation of some of the strategies that
follow, the starting hands have been placed in appropriate
groupings. The reason for this is that most of the hands in each
grouping can be played roughly the same before the flop in many,
but not all, situations. However, there are many exceptions, which
will be discussed in the text. In fact, the starting hands actually
move up and down the hand rankings depending on the
circumstance. Because of this, it can be a mistake to rigidly
adhere to the hand rankings. Again, make sure that you
understand all the discussion concerning how the individual hands
play.
These hand rankings (with some modifications) first appeared
in David Sklansky's book Essays on ~ 0 k e r .Tl hey are slightly
different from the rankings that appear in the original version (pre
1997) of Sklansky's book Hold 'em Poker. The alterations reflect
the structure change from one small blind to two blinds which
causes more multiway pots and higher pot odds - especially on
the flop. Also reflected is the fact that the players have become
tougher and generally more aggressive as the years have gone by.
This has raised the value of suited hands, especially suited
connectors. Medium pairs also have gone up in value because you 1 no longer should automatically give up when an overcard flops,
especially if the pot is being contested short-handed.
The rankings are as follows, with an "s" indicating suited and
an "x" indicating a small card. Note that a 10 is represented as
"T." Also, if no "s" appears, then the hand is not suited. (These
notations will be used throughout this book.)

Group 1: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs
Group 2: TT, AQs, AJs, KQs, AK
Group 3: 99, JTs, QJs, KJs, ATs, AQ
Group 4: T9s, KQ, 88, QTs, 98s, J9s, AJ, KTs
Group 5: 77, 87s, Q9s, T8s, KJ, QJ, JT, 76s, 97s, Axs, 65s
Group 6: 66, AT, 55,86s, KT, QT, 54s, K9s, J8s, 75s
Group 7: 44, J9, 64s, T9, 53s, 33, 98,43s, 22, Kxs, T7s, Q8s 1
Group 8: 87, A9, Q9, 76,42s, 32s, 96s, 85s, 58, J7s, 65, 54, 74s,
K9, T8
These rankings reflect not only which group each starting
hand belongs to, but its approximate order in that group as well.
In reality, it's usually only necessary to know in which group a
starting hand belongs. Consequently, Tables I and I1 provide an
easier scheme for memorizing the group for each starting hand.
Any hand not listed in the tables is ranked below Group 8.





If you are new to hold'em we feel that it is very important to
memorize these groupings. There is no way around this, and the
tables make the task much easier. Once the tables are memorized,
this system will facilitate applying many of the concepts that
follow. (For those of you who are interested in the rationale behind
these rankings, see Hold 'em Poker by David Sklansky.)
However, we want to state that by the time you reach expert
status you shouldn't be thinking in terms of hand groups. At this
point in your playing career your starting hand decisions should be
based on the intrinsic v.alue of each hand in each particular
situation. But if you are just getting started playing, we know of no
better approach.