Texas Holdem Starting Hands
The Texas Holdem starting hands you play are another crucial factor in making money at No Limit Texas Holdem poker. You will lose money playing too many hands and you will also lose money playing too few hands. If you play too many texas holdem starting hands you’ll spend more money seeing flops than you’ll make winning pots. Lower ranked starting hands will also cost you money when you make a good hand only to be beat by a better hand. Playing too few starting hands will cost more in blinds than your winning hands will pay. The following texas holdem starting hand recommendations offer a beginning player a good balance between being too tight and too loose.
Never forget why you are playing each holdem starting hand group
We categorize our texas holdem starting hand recommendations by hand group for easy pre and post flop play. For each hand group in this strategy we recommend when to raise pre flop, when to call a pre flop raise, what size of pre flop raise to call, what position you need to call the blinds, and proper play after the flop. However, the most important thing you need to remember is why you are playing each hand group.
High Pairs
AA, KK
The reason you want to play high pairs is because of their strength against any other single texas holdem starting hand. However, the value of AA and KK goes down when several people stay to see the flop. AA and KK play well heads up but turn into a poor hand in a multi-player pot. For that reason you need to put in a big pre flop raise with AA and KK. Your goal is to drive all but one opponent out of the pot. We recommend a raise or re-raise of at least 10% of your stack. The lower limit poker tables will sometimes require a raise of 25% of your stack; On Full Tilt Poker's $10 tables a raise of all your chips may even be a profitable bet. A raise this size should drive all holdem starting hands except for AA, KK, QQ, or JJ out of the pot. Once in a while you’ll get lucky and get a call from a dominated holdem starting hand such as AQ or AJ.
AA and KK race better in holdem than any other hand. If you have the opportunity to get all your money in the pot before the flop you should take it. Often times your KK will get an all in call by AA, however, the number of times you are called by an inferior holdem starting hand or win a big pre flop pot will make up for the times you lose your entire stack to AA. For example on Full Tilt Poker's $100 tables if you have AA and someone raises $10 pre-flop it would be wise to re-raise all-in.
High pairs can be played from any position, however, what you really want is to hold AA or KK while in the blinds. This gives all the other pre flop players a chance to raise before you have to act. Your big pre flop raise often takes the pot down so you want as much money as possible in the pot before you raise.
See our Texas Holdem Flop, Turn, and River page for instructions on how to play these cards after the flop.
Pocket Pairs
QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22
The strength of pocket pairs is their 7.5 to 1 odds of turning a set (three of a kind) on the flop. Because a set is such a strong hand on the flop you can play any pocket pair from any postion. Pocket pairs are the only texas holdem starting hand group with which you should call a big pre flop raise. But, you should limit your calls to about 8% of your opponents stack. For example, if your opponent has $50 at a $50 maximum buy in table the biggest pre flop raise you should call is $4. If your opponent only has $25 at a $50 maximum buy in poker table don’t call a pre flop raise above $2.
You’ll notice that we do not recommend that a beginning poker player raise with pocket pairs of QQ and below. Many Limit Texas Holdem poker books recommend raising pre flop with pocket pairs in order to build a pot and to drive out drawing starting hands such as suited connectors. No Limit Texas Holdem poker is unique in the fact that you can build a pot or drive out draws on any street. As a result, we recommend you wait until after you’ve made a set to be aggressive. This is one of the starting hand groups that pays more when you wait like a lion in the grass then strike when the time is right. After you've learned the game then the mid and high pocket pairs can be profitably with a raise. See our intermediated poker strategy for details
See our Texas Holdem Flop, Turn, and River page for instructions on how to play these cards after the flop.
Ace and Any Other Suited Card (Ax Suited)
AKs, AQs, AJs, ATs, A9s, A8s, A8s, A7s, A6s, A5s, A4s, A3s, A2s
The main purpose of playing the Axs texas holdem starting hand group is to make a flush or flush draw on the flop. The higher Axs starting hands can be played for a straight or straight draw as well. Because of the way we recommend playing this hand group after the flop you can play it in any position. However, this hand group has the long odds of 118 to 1 of making a monster hand on the flop. For this reason, a beginning poker player should never raise pre flop with this hand group. In addition, beginners should not call a big pre flop raise with this hand group. You should limit your pre flop calls to twice the big blind.
See our Texas Holdem Flop, Turn, and River page for instructions on how to play these cards after the flop.
Face Cards
AK, AQ, AJ, AT, KQs, KQ, KJs, KJ, KTs, KT, QJs, QJ, QTs, QT, JTs, JT
The last texas holdem starting hand group we recommend playing is face cards. Many of these starting hands play well in heads up pots, but play much better in multi-way pots. Their main value comes from flopping top pair with a good kicker or turning a straight or straight draw. Due to the fact that top pair and straight draws are such weak hands at the lower limits of poker you only want to play them in late position. We consider late position, the button and the two seats to the right of the button. By playing this hand group only in late position you’ll be able to play it more effectively after the flop. Because face cards play better in multi-way pots you should limit your calls with these starting hands to times when a few other players are already in the pot. A beginner should never call a raise with this hand group. Continually calling pre flop raises with face cards is a sure way to slowly watch your money leak away. Save you money for times when you’re already ahead.
See our Texas Holdem Flop, Turn, and River page for instructions on how to play these starting hands after the flop.
