
I have a group of Poker Twitter friends and they were tweeting about their favorite hands. That got me to thinking about what hands I like to see when I look down at my hole cards. Those cards differ of course depending on the game I am playing, but in Texas Holdem give me pocket Aces every time. The actual odds of being dealt pocket Aces is about 220 to 1 or once in every 220 hands that are dealt to you. I have not played enough hands yet to say I have a favorite hand other than the Aces.
Using PokerTracker3, I have an overall history of more than 3,500 hands so far of games played. What follows are my best winning hands.
Hand Dealt %won $won avg. per hand
| AA | 17 | 95.83 | $59.00 | $3.47 |
| A4s | 8 | 50 | $51.50 | $6.44 |
| QJs | 3 | 66.67 | $35.50 | $11.83 |
| KJo | 13 | 61.54 | $35.15 | $2.70 |
| KTs | 9 | 87.5 | $33.30 | $3.00 |
| AKo | 33 | 60 | $33.00 | $1.00 |
| K9s | 4 | 75 | $32.15 | $8.04 |
| QTo | 26 | 50.6 | $30.65 | $1.17 |
| ATo | 24 | 41.67 | $30.06 | $1.25 |
| KQs | 5 | 80 | $25.40 | $5.08 |
The following hands have cost me the most money so far, hands that I have lost with.
Hand Dealt %loss $loss avg. per hand
| ATs | 4 | 100 | ($55.00) | $13.75 |
| A4o | 13 | 100 | ($29.60) | $2.28 |
| 99 | 10 | 50 | ($28.05) | $2.80 |
| 95s | 6 | 100 | ($22.06) | $3.68 |
| AJo | 20 | 20 | ($21.68) | $1.08 |
| 10 | 40 | ($20.82) | $2.08 | |
| 55 | 7 | 14.29 | ($20.50) | $2.93 |
| A9s | 4 | 25 | ($20.50) | $5.12 |
| KJs | 3 | 33.33 | ($20.25) | $6.75 |
Based on the above results so far, my favorite hand in Texas Holdem is AA and my worse hand is ATs. Of course there is a lot more to the results than just the hands. How the flow, the turn, and the river was played after getting these hands helped determine the amount lost or won. I think that this is the fun part of poker. Analyzing results and then trying to apply that knowledge to your game. In all actuality, it is not really the hand you are dealt that makes a difference, it is how you play them and how you play your opponents. You can win pots with a 7 2 hand if you know how.
What are your favorite hands? How do you play them? What is your overall success rate?