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Starting Hands in Texas Holdem
If you’ve read any instruction on Texas hold’em, you probably know that starting hand selection is extremely important. But what hands should you play? Knowing to play aces or kings is easy, but there are a lot more poker hands out there than these. Here are some starting hand guidelines.
AA, KK, QQ, AK, AK suited, AQ suited
These are the premium hands. You should raise with them and if re-raised, consider going all-in. You can play these hands from any position and if you hit the flop, they will often be the best hand.
JJ, TT, AQ, KQ, AJ, KT
These hands, both suited or unsuited, are still strong hands that you can raise with pre-flop. However, if the hand is raised in front of you, you may want to consider releasing many of these hands.
The reason is that someone who raises is likely to have a strong hand and your hand is easily dominated by such a hand. If someone raises with AK and you call with KQ, you can very easily go broke if a K flops.
Medium to Small Pairs, Suited Connectors
Other pairs and suited connectors (hands with both straight and flush possibilities like 8d 9d) are good to play if you can see a flop cheaply. You are trying to flop a set or a flush or straight draw.
If you do not, you should generally try to get out at the earliest opportunity. You are not looking to catch bottom pair and hold on. You are looking to flop a disguised monster and stack someone.
All Other Hands
You should routinely fold most other hands. Playing hands solely because they are suited is usually a big mistake, since you will usually either miss your flush, hit it and get no action or hit it and get broken by a higher flush.
You can occasionally play unusual hands with the idea that you will bluff if you miss and extract a lot of chips on the rare occasions you should happen to hit. If you do this, it is often a good idea to show at the end so opponents know you are capable of playing these hands.
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