Internet Poker Hand Rankings

Internet poker players need to be able to rank their hands correctly if they expect to be profitable at poker sites. The idea behind ranking poker hands properly is to have an understanding of the hand's value when approached with various situations in online poker. A hand's ranking does not guarantee its profitability. Each situation to include the playing styles at the table, the player's position, betting that occurs and player reactions is what ultimately determines the immediate profitability of the hand. Online poker hands are ranked and they have an expected value (EV). However, the EV changes significantly based on the player's position.

Hand Rankings

Hand rankings are not guaranteed wins, this must be said a couple of times to ensure that players understand. QQ is the third highest ranked starting hand. However, QQ is not that great post-flop with a K or A on the board. The most common mistake for inexperienced online poker players is overrating hands. AK is a classic example where this happens. AK pre-flop has an expected value (EV) of 0.51 if the hand is off-suited. This means that on average AK off-suited wins 0.51 times the big blind. Remember, the EV changes based on the player's position.

KK is the second highest ranked hand in Online poker pre-flop. However, KK goes from and EV of 2.10 to an EV of 1.58 when the player is in seat 5 instead of the dealer seat. This is an example of how the expected value changes based on position. Players should only be playing hands that have a positive expected value. This is not true for all scenarios but this can be taken as a general rule of thumb for trying to become a successful online poker player. Some extenuating circumstances where the player is extremely short-stacked or is sitting in the big blind and has the option to check would be two examples of situations where hands can possibly be played that are not positively expected valued hands.

Positive EV Starting Hands (lowest to highest):

A2 S (EV = 0.00) < K7 S < T8 S < 98 S < KT < K8 S < A3 S < 55 < A6 S < QJ < J9 S < Q9 S < A4 S < T9 S < 66 < KJ < A7 S < A5 S < AT < K9 S < A8 S < JT S < 77 < KQ < QT S < AJ < A9 S < KT S < QJ S < 88 < KJ S < AQ < AT S < 99 < KQ S < AJ S < AK < TT < AQ S < AK S < JJ < QQ < KK < AA (EV = 2.32)