Phil Gordon Poker Starting Hands

Source: The suggested “Starting Hands” are taken from Phil Gordon’s “Little Green Book.” Foundation: As you read in Poker Tip #1, Larry Phillips states that you need a solid foundation for the game. These starting hands are very close to what most professional poker players recommend. If you stick to them, it will be the cornerstone of that foundation and you will. Source: The suggested “Starting Hands” are taken from Phil Gordon’s “Little Green Book.” Foundation: As you read in Poker Tip #1, Larry Phillips states that you need a solid foundation for the game. These starting hands are very close to what most professional poker players recommend. If you stick to them, it will be the cornerstone. Oct 04, 2009  Also the type of poker phil is talking abought in that book has very little to do with SSS if you want to play SSS use PS's charts until you know your ready to open up your range a bit.+1 sss/bss are mathematically calculated to provide you with the optimal starting hands, bet amounts, stack sizes etc.

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Phil Gordon has been able to parlay his success in the 2001 World Series of Poker into quite a professional career. He has won two World Poker Tour championships and has been able to make 'Celebrity Poker Showdown' on Bravo a big hit for that cable network. In dealing with the celebrities making their, in many cases, first run at a poker table, Phil often offers up a before the tournament tutorial to help them with their game. With 'Poker: The Real Deal,' Phil has been able to take these tutorials, expand on them, and make the book a worthwhile investment for most any player.

Hands

'I love teaching the game,' Phil said to me in an interview. 'I truly believe that almost everyone can be a champion poker player given enough time, motivation, energy, patience, and courage.' For the beginning player, 'The Real Deal' is an excellent book, taking into account all phases of a player's development. It literally starts with picking up the cards and looking at them, then begins climbing the ladder into small home games, micro-limit Holdem online, and gradually moves up through the levels of play to the ultimate for any poker player, the Main Event of the World Series of Poker.

For the intermediate to high level player, there is still a great deal of value to the book. It analyzes potential leaks that a player may have and offers some form of treatment that may be used to rectify the illness. It puts and emphasis on the power of strong play and the bluff as a tool to use. It also can be used as a salve to those who have been on the receiving end of the 'bad beat' train, through the re-emphasis of aggressive play of starting hands and their occasional losing outcomes.

Two things make me recommend 'Poker: The Real Deal' as a quality book that every poker player should have. One, Phil often refers to many other great poker books that a student can refer to, to either reference the information that he is offering or, in some cases and through the permission of its authors, illustrate it outright. There are many useful quizzes throughout the book, as well. Through the study of these a player can get some insight to making stronger plays in their own game and, if they have trouble laying down big hands, get a feel for when their big hands are beaten.

The book is quite well written and in a seemingly conversational style. It is a quality book as well, hardbacked and with a full 280 pages of information. There is a great 'history of poker' section that starts off the book that, while not critical to play, is nice information to have at your next dinner party.

While it only looks at Limit and No-Limit Texas Holdem, Phil Gordon has come up with an excellent tome, something that any player of any ability should have. It does whet the appetite for his promised 'advanced' book that he has said will be a definitive guide to Texas Holdem. Until that time, 'Poker: The Real Deal' has to be recommended as a quality entry to have for a poker player's library. If you don't have a library yet, this would be an excellent place to start.

Discovered and coined by Phil Gordon, the Gordon Pair Principle is a shortcut that can be used when you're holding a pocket pair to find out the probability that another player at the table holds a bigger pocket pair than you.

What is the Gordon Pair Principle?

The Gordon Pair Principle is a quick and easy method for working out the percentage chance that an opponent acting after you has a higher pocket pair than you.

So for example, if you have 6-6 on the button, what are the chances that the SB or the BB have a higher pocket pair? The Gordon Pair Principle will help you to quickly work it out.

The results aren't exact, but they're close enough to make it a useful shortcut.

The Gordon Pair Principle.

To work out the percentage chance of an opponent acting after you holding a higher pair than you, simply multiply the number of players left to act by the number of higher pocket pairs, then divide by 2.

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The equation: C = (N x R) / 2

  • C = Percentage chance that an opponent left to act has a higher pocket pair.
  • N = Number of players left to act after you.
  • R = Number of higher pocket pairs than yours.

Note: The GPP works out the percentage probability given that the cards have just been dealt and that no actions have taken place.

Gordon Pair Principle examples.

GPP example 1.

Let's say that you are dealt pocket kings UTG in the first hand of a big MTT. There are 9 players at the table in total, which means that there are 8 players left to act after you.

What are the chances that any one of these players is holding a bigger pocket pair than you (i.e. pocket aces)? Texas holdem poker jar 240x320.

  • C = (N x R) / 2
  • C = (8 x 1) / 2
  • C = 4%

GPP example 2.

You are dealt J-J on the button in a 6max cash game and the action folds around to you. What are the chances of either player in the blinds holding Q-Q, K-K or A-A?

  • C = (N x R) / 2
  • C = (2 x 3) / 2
  • C = 3%

GPP example 3.

Your are dealt 6-6 on the button in FR cash game. UTG raises and a player in MP moves all in. What are the chances that either of the 2 players left behind you holds a higher pocket pair?

You can't reliably use the Gordon Pair Principle in this situation.

To be able to use the Gordon Pair Principle, you should ideally be the first to “act”. If there are a number of players raising and calling before you, it skews the distribution of hands that the players at the table could hold.

If all the players acting before you fold however, the results of the GPP will remain fairly reliable.

Phil Gordon Poker Starting Hands

Gordon Pair Principle results table.

PairNumber of players left to act.
123456789
2261218243036424854
335.51116.52227.53338.54449.5
4451015202530354045
554.5913.51822.52731.53640.5
664812162024283236
773.5710.51417.52124.52831.5
88369121518212427
992.557.51012.51517.52022.5
TT24681012141618
JJ1.534.567.5910.51213.5
QQ123456789
KK0.511.522.533.544.5

Phil Gordon Poker Charts

How can you use the Gordon Pair Principle?

As handy as the Gordon Pair Principle might seem, the results are more interesting than practical.

There are not a great deal of situations that will benefit from use of the Gordon Pair Principle. It's not like the rule of 4 and 2 where you can use the results to help you make more profitable decisions on the fly.

For example, if you are dealt J-J on the button in the middle of an MTT with only 4 big blinds left in your stack, knowing that the probability of either of the two remaining players holds a pocket pair is 3% isn't going to influence your decision on whether or not to shove (shoving is obviously the best play). It's cool to know, but it's not a deal-breaker.

Nonetheless, you may find it useful to be able to work out odds like this to prove a point or in conjunction with some other calculations when doing post-session analysis.

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Best Starting Poker Hands

Who is Phil Gordon?

Phil Gordon is a very tall professional poker player. He won a WPT title in 2004 and has commentated on a number of poker TV shows.

Phil Gordon Poker

He wrote the popular Little Green Book, which is an excellent collection of strategy tips for beginner/intermediate Texas Hold'em poker players. He also coined the handy rule of 4 and 2 (mentioned just moments ago) for working out pot odds on the fly.

As ever, for more information on Mr. Gordon, check out the Phil Gordon wiki.

Go back to the poker odds charts.

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Starting Hands Poker

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