What are the top money making starting hands?

Question

We all know the routine: the best hands are AA, KK, QQ, AKs...

These are the hands that win the most often, but what if the metric we are interested in is not "how often you win", but the overall cash performance of the hands? Are these top hands the most productive, money-wise?

Let's take AA. Great hand to take small pots. You raise hard/all-in early. People fold and you pick up a few blinds. Once every 221 hands, you get to take 2-4 BB.

Not bad, but every once in a while, you get called by a couple opponents and the flop looks nasty. Opponents 3-bet. You re-raise. The board brings 4 spades and you don't have any. You stick to your guns and you lose your stack, or you wise up and you fold, losing a lot of chips in the process.

Win small, lose big, as the saying goes.

Of course, it would vary from player to player, but overall, I figure that some hands just play so well that they would beat the ROI of QQ+ by a wide margin for most players... except I don't which ones they are.

What are the starting hands that routinely take down the biggest pots and cause the least losses?

Answer 1

In comment on another question you wanted to know what worked for you. I suggest you elevate your play rather than just look at what worked.

If you are not getting paid off with AA KK then you are playing them wrong. They should have the highest return.

Don't open big and telegraph you have a big hand. Come in for a standard raise based on position. Like 2.5 BB in early to mid and 3 BB in late position. If you get raised then 3 bet. With AA you want all the money in pre flop. I will take all in with KK.

If you only open 5 BB with AA KK you are an open book and will only pick up blinds.

If you got 3 bet with AA on a wet flop you did not hit then don't re-raise. This is a time to call or fold. You are loosing big pots because you let it happen. AA is a great hand you want it all in pre flop but don't get married to the hand.

In another question you wanted to find your range by position based on hand history. You should know your range. Have a strategy. I get the impression you are playing poker by feel. Not a winning strategy.

In mid to late also open with a standard raise with like 56s and 68s. It opens up your range. If you do hit you have some money in the pot. If you don't hit then get away most of the time. Those hands will not have the payout of AA but you need to play them to get paid out with AA. Don't limp with speculative hands as you have announced your hand.

A strategy is to limp some monsters to mix up your play. That is for players at a very high level with really deep stacks.

Answer 2

What hands on average makes the most money? It is of course just AA, KK, QQ. They just make the most money, since they have the highest equity. True, sometimes you smash the flop with a suited connector and take down a huge pot, but most of the time you miss. On average you will be a lot better off with aces. The reason you sometimes lose a huge pot with a big overpair, is that with a big overpair you want to play big pots, and in poker sometimes you lose. Note that when playing deepstacked the relative value of some of the suited connectors go up, but are still nowhere near the value of aces. If aces didn't make the most amount of money, what hand would you rather see? KK? 87s? Surely not.

Edit: it is true that overpairs could have some reverse implied odds and suited connectors or lower pocket pair some replied odds. However this does not by far bridge the gap.