$o$o's NL Hold Em Hand Rankings

Group 1: AA, KK
Group 2: AK, QQ, JJ
Group 3: TT, AQ, AJ
Group 4: AT, 99, 88, 77
Group 5: Axs, KQ, QJ, TJ
Group 6: T9, 98, 66, 87, 55, 76, 44, 65, 33, 54, 22
Group 7: KJ, KT, QT


First and foremost, this is a work in progress. I'm not that sure on how much I'm ready to settle in on these exact classifications. This is open to discussion, and I'm willing to move some of this around a little.

All the hands within a group are of relatively equal value in my opionion, but within a group, hands are also sorted in order of what I consider their relative strengths.

It should be noted that Axs refers to A9 through A2, as AT+ is already listed.

One of the first things you may notice about my list compared to others (Sklansky, Hellmuth) is that group 1 is a fairly exclusive club. I did this because I think that Aces and Kings need to be treated seperately. You will almost NEVER fold either preflop. Almost no matter the situation, you can pretty much always raise, reraise, or call all-in with these cards. The same can't quite be said for group 2.

Another thing you may notice is that, with the exception of Axs, I don't specify that any of the hands necessarily need to be suited. You should definitely note that suited hands are more valuable than unsuited hands, but I'd kind of like to at least minorly try disspelling the notion that suited cards are automatically flop-worthy.

I don't think that your cards are suited should significantly effect your decision to see the flop or raise preflop or anything like this. Whether or not your hole cards are suited shouldn't matter if you're holding AJ and facing a raise from under the gun and reraise from the very next player. This is generally a fold, suited or not.

The exception to this is of course is weak suited aces. But you're going to be playing these a bit like connectors and low pocket pairs. You're seeing cheap flops hoping to hit. The ace ensures the nut flush. Unsuited weak aces (A9-A2) generally shouldn't be played too much.

Granted, A8 is all right when it is folded to you sitting in the cut off position, but then again, so is K8, Q9, and maybe some other hands I didn't necessarily list. But this is what I'd consider a semi-steal spot. The list of hand rankings is making the assumption of fairly normal table with a good mix of LAG and TAG opponents. Table dynamics should of course ALWAYS influence the relative value of various hands, no matter whose list you are using.

All that said, I think this is a pretty accurate estimation of how I classify my preflop hand strength when sitting at live cash tables. Table dynamics effect how many of those groups I'm raising with, reraising with, all-in with, folding, etc., so that gives me a bit of camoflauge mixing it up, but besides that, generally speaking, playing with this set of hand rankings should give you a table image on the slightly tighter side of the TAG/LAG spectrum. Tight enough that you can sometimes get away with bluffs and steals at some tables, yet loose enough that you can get paid of big on your real big hands at other tables.

It's up to you to determine what kind of table you're at and understand how to adjust these hand rankings based on the dynamics at that table in order to properly use this ranking system, but this is a good place to start at.

Questions? Comments?