relative rankings of 2-card combos in Texas hold ‘em poker
Here’s something I’ve been playing around with. I thought it would be interesting to create a simple cheat-sheet type of chart to help beginner poker players determine at a glance how powerful their hold cards are out of all possible 2-card combinations.
(click to enlarge)
The chart is based on the work of David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth, two of the foremost writers on poker theory. They came up with what are usually referred to as Sklansky Hold’em Hand Groupings, where different 2-card combinations are grouped into classes. It is widely thought be accurate. (Technically, this data comes from a modified version of the Sklansky Groupings that was done by some college students who were able to make some minor improvements on the work of Sklansky and Malmuth. The data set might be more accurately be called Modified Sklansky Hand Groupings).
To read my chart, you first need to determine if you are holding suited or unsuited cards. The top right half of the chart is dedicated to unsuited cards, and the bottom left is dedicated to suited cards. Suited cards are also denoted with a “S” next to the combo.
You’ll notice that the backgroud colors of groupings of the same class are the same color. So, for example, Jack-7 suited is about as good as 5-4 unsuited. They are in the same class based on the Sklansky Groupings. Note that no distinguishing is done between hands, only classes.
Class rankings are displayed using larger fonts. The bigger the type, the better the class. So, for example, Ace-Queen suited is better than Queen-7 suited (duh).
What I find most interesting about this chart is the weird pecularities that appear when you visually chart out combinations. For example, there’s the Diagonal of Pairs, which remains strong, even down to a pair of 2’s.
There’s also the Jack-7 suited surprise. At first blush, a novice poker player might think that Queen-7 suited is a better hand that Jack-7 suited. But according to the Sklansky hand groupings, that is not true. An easy way to reconcile this is to consider the possibility of a straight , which Jack-7 allows for (J-10-9-8-7). The Queen and the 7 are too far apart to be used in a straight together, and so their power diminishes just enough where the likelihood of a Jack-7 straight overcomes the power of a Queen high card.
Next to some cards there are numbers in parenthesis. I numbered the top 16 hands, so that in addition to knowing which class you are holding, you can also tell if you have one of the best 2-card combos available.
Of course, at the end of it all, everything depends of the flop, the turn, and the river, and having a pair of Aces isn’t going to guarantee that you will win. So this chart is only a guide, built on statistical models.
I hope people find this interesting. Please leave feedback, suggestions, etc.
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