PokerXL.com - Texas Holdem Starting Hands (Beginners)

Texas Holdem Starting Hands (Beginners)
Play premium hands, in good position, and don't chase long shot draws

In Texas Holdem you begin the game with two hole cards which belong to you and you alone. It is these two cards, combined with your skill as a poker player, and the board (the five community cards) that will ultimately determine your success in each round of the holdem game. One of the biggest mistakes made by the complete novice is having an optimistic approach to the game. An optimistic player will see a bad flop but continue to play even though he needs to catch two specific cards on the turn and river to make a semi-decent hand. In poker these optimistic beginners are also called loose players. Generally, over time, loose poker players will lose out to the player that plays the odds a little more sensibly. Of course playing "the man not the cards" is important too. Too many beginners lose at poker because they are so caught up thinking about their hand that they don't consider the possibility that they may be beaten.

In Texas Holdem there are some starting hands that are better than others. Clearly to have a pair of Aces is about as good as one can hope for, since this hand is more likely to win than any other hand. Here is a table of starting hands from strong to weak(er). When you are betting before the flop the strength of your hand should be considered, and for beginners sticking to these starting holdem hands would be a good idea.

Texas Holdem Premium Starting Hands
AA	KK	QQ	JJ	AK	TT	AQ
In general terms these hole cards are premium poker hands (ranked in value from strongest to weakest - white means must of the same suit). In limit holdem you should be raising and re-raising with hands like these (although AK and AQ should be played a little more carefully if they are not suited). In no limit you should be considering heavy bets. You have a great starting hand and you want to push people out of the game so you can claim your prize. With a hand like this aggressive play would be the thing to do. There are always exceptions, but if during your poker career you got one of these hands every round you would be a long term winner.

Texas Holdem Good Starting Hands
AJ	KQ	QJ	99	JT	T9	88	77	Ax
These are very good holdem hands which have a very high chance of winning a round. The hands marked in white should be suited to count and Ax refers to an Ace with any other card. The other card significantly affects how you play the hand. If you get one of these good holdem starting hands you should consider calling a couple of raises but do not call very heavy betting. You want to see the flop to see just how good your good starting hand is, but with any of these hands if the betting is hard and heavy you might want to step aside and let the others fight it out. If you hold one of the hands marked in white and it is not suited exercise more caution. If you are not holding any of the Holdem premium or Holdem good hands you should probably try to see the flop very cheaply. Don't waste good money with bad poker hands. Although sometimes you will catch a good hand most of the time you won't and these are the times you'll lose money. Beginners often stay in a poker hand just to see if their hand improves. This is a very costly way to play long term.

It depends which poker book you read as to how you play a holdem game pre-flop. These tables are a guide only for beginners, as position, table image, the relative strength of other players and various other factors will affect how you bet. If you start playing only premium and good hands all the time and in the same way, you risk becoming too predictable and easy to read. Most players can recall a time when they played with an 8 3 or a 7 2 and won, or were beaten by an opponent doing the same. Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker in 2003 with a 5 4 off suit. But these tables will give you a good idea as to what you should be playing with. Remember good poker players rarely 'chase' cards, they use logic, math, and their read on other players to make their decisions, they don't just hope for some lucky cards.

ZCT