What hands to play in poker

Poker Hands

Do not play every hand it will be expensive

If you are just starting out to learn the game of Texas Hold’em Poker, you might not realise quite how much there is to learn! That being said, it is quite an easy game to dive straight into, and if you have got a good handle on what the order of rank in terms of poker hands is, then your best bet is to start out playing to build your knowledge. When you have read this article and you want to try online poker, then you should read our article starting off at an online poker site first.

The statement comes with a disclaimer though: If you are new to the game, ease yourself in! By this I dont mean hold back on playing, far from it. You should play as much as you can, but just because you are participating in a game of HoldEm, doesnt mean you have to bet on every hand! Learn to be selective with the hands you put money on. This is what all of the best players do and it will benefit a beginner to the power of ten, because it further enables you to observe and learn.

Firstly, if you ignore specific suits, there are 169 different possible opening hands. Out of all these, only five are considered premium hands:

1. AA
2. KK
3. QQ
4. AK (Suited)
5. JJ

These hands should always be played, whatever position you hold at the table so long as no one ahead of you is raising. If someone does raise, particularly if there are people calling and re raising, you should still proceed with caution.

If you think of HoldEm in this respect you can quite quickly see how risky it is to play too many hands. There are always an enormous amount of variables which will affect whether or not you should play or fold, but erring on the side of caution is always advised, particularly if youre just starting out. You should always look to avoid being dominated at the table, and a golden rule for beginners should be to keep tight unless you know you have a great hand. Look at it this way: If someone ahead of you is raising and you have KQ, think carefully. It seems that you have a great hand but actually AA, KK, QQ, AK and AQ are all very dangerous for you. As your poker skills develop over the coming weeks and months you will learn how and when top lay hands like this but for now you really have to be looking out for the moments where you shouldnt be playing these hands.

I lost a lot of money playing poker in my first few months, and if I were starting out again I would restrict myself to playing only the best 15 hands available to me. As time progresses and you keep studying the game you will learn how to out think and outwit opponents as well as learning how to pick up on some of their tells, developing your game to be able to include good bluffing skills.

Until that time, you should stick to playing only these fifteen hands:

1. AA
2. KK
3. QQ
4. AK (Suited)
5. JJ
6. 10/10
7. AQ (Suited)
8. AJ ( Suited)
9. AK
10. KQ (Suited)
11. A/10 (Suited)
12. KJ (Suited)
13. AQ (Off Suit)
14. 9/9
15. JQ (Suited)

Remember that the stronger your opening hand, the fewer decisions there are to make. Help yourself by keeping the game simple until you have a proper handle on how to develop your skills. Until that point, hold back!

More News

• Lock Poker
• Poker Stars