Top Ten Limit Hold’em Pre-Flop Starting Hands
Playing only the top ten pre-flop hands in poker is a smart and profitable way to learn how to play hold’em profitabily pre-flop as a beginner.
When first learning to play hold’em, our basic proper strategy pre-flop is to play only the top ten poker starting hands 77 through AA. Fold all other starting hands, regardless of position or pot odds. Playing this strategy in limit hold’em will not make you a big winner right away, but will enable you to play quality poker and gain a lot of experience along the way without winning or losing a big bankroll early on.
The theory on playing only these top ten hands is simple, by only getting involved in a pot with a powerful hand you will win more often than you will lose. Thus, since you are likely to have the best hand pre-flop, I reccomend you play these hands very aggressively by raising and re-raising if necassary. If a player puts in four bets with you pre-flop you may want to reconsider the value of a hand like 7-7 or 8-8, proceed cautiously with these hands.
When you are consistently playing only the top ten hands pre-flop, good opponents will learn to respect your raises and bets – and bad opponents will continue to pay you off for your big hands. Building a super tight poker image, you will find great success later on when you try more intricate intermediate and advanced strategies.
The top ten hands in hold’em are as follows:
- A-A (Pair of Aces)
- K-K (Pair of Kings)
- Q-Q (Pair of Queens)
- A-K (Ace King)
- J-J (Pair of Jacks)
- 10-10 (Pair of Tens)
- 9-9 (Pair of Nines)
- 8-8 (Pair of Eights).
- A-Q (Ace Queen)
- 7-7 (Pair of Sevens)
In limit hold-em playing only these hands and playing them aggressively to drive out other opponents who know your reputation for only playing solid hands will result in a profit for you over a large hand sample, but to beat the pro’s you will have to learn more advanced strategy and also develop the ability to “read” your opponents, or to be able to accurately guess what hand your opponent has.
Top Limit Hold’em Poker Sites
| Site | US | Rating | Bonus% | Bonus | Review | Visit | ||
| 1. |
|
Titan Poker |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
100% | $500 | Review | ![]() |
|
| 2. |
|
Poker Stars |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
100% | $600 | Review | ![]() |
| 3. |
|
Ultimate Bet |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
100% | $1100 | Review | ![]() |
| 4. |
|
Absolute Poker |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
150% | $500 | Review | ![]() |
| 5. |
|
Poker770 |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
110% | $600 | Review | ![]() |
|
| 6. |
|
PlayersOnly Poker |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
100% | $1000 | Review | ![]() |
| 7. |
|
Carbon Poker |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
100% | $600 | Review | ![]() |
| 8. |
|
Full Tilt Poker |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
100% | $600 | Review | ![]() |
| 9. |
|
Doyles Room |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
110% | $550 | Review | ![]() |
| 10. |
|
bet365 |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
100% | $500 | Review | ![]() |
|













































