Online Poker Guide - Texas HOldem Strategies
Texas Holdem Strategies: Starting Hands
The very basics of a good Texas Hold’em strategy depends upon your ability to select starting hands. Your choice of starting hands should differ as your position in relation to the betting changes. Before we associate position with starting hands let’s take a look at the poker hands which are generally considered to be strong:
AA, KK, QQ, AK-suited and JJ
Those are premium holdings. AA and KK, especially, are strong enough to play in every position. Experienced players with a good knowledge of their opponents may be able to fold QQ, AK-s or JJ if the action heats up before the flop (when faced with raises or re-raises).
The next section of starting hands could be considered as medium-premium strength holdings. They are:
AQ-suited, AQ, AJ-suited, KQ-suited, KJ-suited and JT-suited
Here you should tread a little more carefully. Those holdings, known as “paint” due to their colourful images, can be dangerous starting hands if played from an early position in the betting. If you’re faced with a re-raise after raising with a hand such as AJ-s then you can assume you are in trouble or, at best, racing against a small pocket pair of TT or less.
If you are in a late position in the betting then those hands become far stronger as there are less players to act after you. A hand such as AQ-s, in an un-raised pot, becomes a very strong holding from the button position and should be raised to put pressure on your opponents.
Next there is a large selection of starting hands which are considered to be medium strength holdings. They are:
AJ, KQ, KJ, KTs, QTs, J9s, TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22
The above holdings may look pretty but play them with caution. Raise aggressively from a late position in an un-raised pot or, if you’re in an early-mid position, don’t be afraid to flat call. Small pocket pairs that make a set (three of a kind) on the flop are very hard to detect and can often result in big pay offs.
The remaining holdings can be considered low strength hands but we shouldn’t dismiss them entirely. There are times, such as “on the bubble” (one place before the money places) in a poker tournament when you have a strong chip lead, that you can raise any two cards to bully your opponents and steal the blinds.
Position is generally key to what cards to play and if you raise or simply call. Stay observant and try not to get carried away with medium strength holdings when you are out of position.
Back to Texas Holdem Strategies.
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Online Poker Guide: Table Positions
Know the table positions in Texas Holdem to improve your game by knowing the key terms:
Button: The dealer and the last to act in a betting round.Small Blind: The first and smallest of the mandatory pre-game bets.Immediately left of the button. Blind Blind: The second and largest of the mandatory pre-game bets. Sits immediately to the left of the small blind and two places from from the Button. Cut Off: The penultimate player to act and immediately to the right of the Button.
