Online Poker Hand Rankings

Online poker hand rankings are crucial for players looking to be profitable at online poker sites. The concept of hand rankings is to provide players with data that shows which hands are profitable in the long run. That being said, these hands are not guaranteed to be profitable each and every time. Hand rankings should still take into account the situation. Each situation should include details such as the observed tendencies of the other players at the table to include notes that may have been taken on these players. The situation should also be highly considerate of the position in which the player is sitting. The expected value (EV) of each hand changes dramatically based on the player's position.

Basic Hand Rankings

Hand rankings are not concrete as mentioned previously. For example, KK is the second highest ranked hand in online poker behind AA. The expected value for KK is 1.67. This means that on average, KK will profit roughly 1.67 times the big blind. In other words, a $2/$4 game would on average have a profit of $6.68 ($4 x 1.67) for a player holding KK. However, if the flop comes and there is an Ace on the board, obviously the profit may not be so great on this hand. Especially, taking into consideration that the player most likely raised pre-flop and was called, meaning there is a high chance the other player is holding an Ace.

Another example using the KK hand would be related to position. The EV for KK sitting in seat 5 is 1.58, the lowest of all the positions. However, the EV for KK sitting in the dealer seat is 2.10. This example shows the difference in the expected value based on position. Granted, KK is one of the easier hands to play for online poker players. A more questionable hand would be AT off-suited. This hand has an EV of .06 from the dealer seat but sitting in the small blind, the EV goes down to -.08. This hand is being used as an example because over card hands with an Ace seem to be some of the most commonly misplayed hands in online poker. Players need to realize how the value of the hand changes based on their position.

Hand Ranking Chart

The hands listed below are hands that rank as a starting hand with an EV of 0.00 and up. Any hands below this are in the negative in terms of EV and are not profitable hands in the long run. However, some other hands may be played according to the player's position, how many players are in the hand and the type of game being played. Certain circumstances require that a player open up their hand selection a bit. Some of these circumstances may include when a player is short-stacked or when they are in the late stages of a multi-table tournament and the blinds are super high with very few players left. These situations may call for different measures due to the absolute necessity of taking down pots to avoid elimination.

A2 Suited (EV = 0.00)
K7 Suited
T8 Suited
98 Suited
KT
K8 Suited
A3 Suited
55
A6 Suited
QJ
J9 Suited
Q9 Suited
A4 Suited
T9 Suited
66
KJ
A7 Suited
A5 Suited
AT
K9 Suited
A8 Suited
JT Suited
77
KQ
QT Suited
AJ
A9 Suited
KT Suited
QJ Suited
88
KJ Suited
AQ
AT Suited
99
KQ Suited
AJ Suited