No-Limit Texas Holdem can be a frustrating game for beginners.
They tend to make the same error over and over again, sometimes without even knowing what’s wrong.
One of the major mistakes of new players is playing too many hands. This can happen for various reasons: Becoming impatient, not wanting to look weak in front of their friends or just a vague feeling of being left out of the action. It could also be that they just don’t know any better.
Today you will learn a very simple point system that was developed by Edward Hutchison, to help you make a better starting hand selection.
In a few simple steps, we will look at your two starting hands and assign a point value to each card. Additional points will be added for qualifiers such pairs, connected cards or cards of the same suite.
Once we calculated the points of our starting hands, we determine if we can play this hands based on our position.
Let’s get started:
Step 1: Base Points
Every Ace counts as 16 points, every King as 14 points, a Queen is worth 13 points, Jack counts as 12 points and a Ten as 11 points. Every hand between Nine and Two counts as their face value (Nine = 9 points, Two = 2 points).
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
    |
+16 |
    |
+14 |
    |
+13 |
    |
+12 |
    |
+11 |
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
    |
+9 |
    |
+8 |
    |
+7 |
    |
+6 |
    |
+5 |
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
    |
+4 |
    |
+3 |
    |
+2 |
Base Point Chart:
In this chart, we display all hand combinations and their added base points.
Examples:
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
|
Ace of Heart + 16 pointsAce of Spade + 16 points
= 32 points |
|
King of Heart + 14 pointsQueen of Club + 13 points
= 27 points |
|
Jack of Heart + 12 pointsNine of Heart + 9 points
= 21 points |
Step 2: Qualification
In the next step, we add additional points if our hand meet the criteria of a qualification.
We add 10 points if we have a pair, 4 points if both cards are of the same suit, 3 points if both cards are connected with no gap in between, 2 points for a gap of one card and 1 point for a gap of two cards.
| Card | Qualification | Points |
|---|---|---|
|
Pair | + 10 points |
|
Same Suit | + 4 points |
|
Connected with 0 hands gap | + 3 points |
|
Connected with 1 hands gap | + 2 points |
|
Connected with 2 hands gap | + 1 points |
Examples:
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
|
Ace of Heart + 16 ppintsAce of Spade + 16 points
Pair + 10 points = 42 points |
|
King of Hear + 14 pointsQueen of Club + 13 points
Connected with 0 hands gap + 3 points = 30 points |
|
Jack of Heart + 12 pointsNine of Heart + 9 points
Same Suit + 4 points Connected with 1 hands gap + 2 points = 27 points |
Step 3: Analysis
Once we added up all points, we look can determine if our hand is playable from our current position.
Playable Hands
| Position | Points |
|---|---|
| Late Position | 25 points |
| Middle Position | 27 points |
| Early Position | 30 points |
Raising Hands
| Position | Points |
|---|---|
| Late Position | 29 points |
| Middle Position | 31 points |
| Early Position | 34 points |
Step 4: Practice
How can you practice your new poker skill?
For additional practice, we recommend you to take a look at our advanced poker training software.
You can create a free account by clicking on the Start Training button below:
Once you created your new account, navigate to the member page and click on 9-Max icon.
You can practice against 100 life-like opponents and play up to 500 hands an hour, with no waiting for slow opponents.
Print out your starting hand selection cheat sheet and place it next to your computer. Try to calculate the points in your head, then check with your cheat sheet if you have been correct. Over time, you’ll notice, that you have to check your print less and less.
Start your poker training now by clicking the Start Training button:
Watch a video of our amazing features right here:
This is a question I think I used to know the answer to, but trying to learn other things may have forgot.
Are the playable starting hand recommendations only if you are opening the betting?
I wouldn’t want to call a potential early position 34 point hand with my late position 25 point hand?
I think I may have slowly slipped into playing to many hands and several of those out of position.