Poker Strategy for Starting Hands

When you enter a game of Texas Hold’em it is important to have a starting hand that has the potential to improve. Such hands have a better chance of winning the pot than hands that are weak. With hands from the latter category, you also stand the risk of losing money when you enter a pot and place bets that cannot win. To prevent these issues, you should know which the good and bad hands are. You should also be willing to fold the bad hands.

Strong starting hands

Hands which have big connectors and pairs are called strong starting hands. These are among the top two percent of the starting hands that you can opt to play every time they are dealt. There is a good possibility that you will win if you play the strong starting hands. A few of the strong hands are pocket queens, kings and aces. Ace-king suited is also a good hand to start with as it increases the chances of landing a flush.

However, it is not possible to play only these hands, as you will have to fold all other hands. This will indicate that you are only playing the best hands and your opponents will be able to use this against you. Also, there is a low likelihood of getting the best hands consistently in a game.

Good starting hands

The hands second best to the strong ones are ace-king (unsuited), ace-queen (suited), ace-joker (suited), king-queen (suited) and pocket tens. A pair of jokers is also a good option for starting hands. With these additional hands, you have more options for entering the pot. Besides these six, there are others like king-ten, king-joker, ace-ten, queen-joker and queen-ten (suited) that can be played.

Player position at the table

In addition to considering the hand with which you enter the pot, you should also look at the position from which you are playing. You should use these starting hands on the basis of your experience level. For instance, experienced players can use these hands from almost all positions but new players should use them only from late position. This is because the pocket cards play an important role in determining the strength of the hand by the time it reaches the river.

In case you are making the first move in a hand, you will most likely be at a disadvantage when compared to the players after you. This is because the players may have better hands than yours. You will be able to get an idea of this only after they make their decisions to enter the pot or fold. If most of them stay in the game, there is a good possibility that your hand is not strong. Eventually, their hands will trump yours and you will lose money just by entering the pot.

In case you want to stay in the game, it is best to do so only with strong hands. This way you increase your chances of winning in the game. So, evaluate your hands with care and use only those in which both cards are of high value. Hands with one of high and another of low value will most likely bring in a loss. Click here for more information about real money poker online.