Texas Holdem Starting Hands
When playing Texas Hold'em you can play a lot for free. Only when it's you're turn to make a blind bet do you have to play cards you don't like. All other times, you only have to pay to play cards you like.
It's often said that in Hold'em "any two cards can win", so it is important to know the value of your starting hand. Some cards make better starting hands than others, why? Well, the best cards are those that are likely to grow into hands that will be the best at the table.
The best cards to start with are pairs, the higher the value the better, a pair of Aces being the best starting hand possible. While not guaranteeing a winning hand starting out with a pair usually puts you well ahead of the rest of the table.
An Ace with a suited face card is another set of starting cards that have a lot of potential. The better the face card the better the cards, with the Ace-King in the same suite being particularly powerful. With these cards you have four possible ways of getting a winning hand. If an Ace comes up on the flop you will have top pair with the best "kicker" possible, if a King is the high card on the flop you will have the second highest pair with the best "kicker" possible, you also have the start of the best flush possible (you have the Ace), and finally there is a chance that your hand will grow into the best possible straight (Ace high).
Drawing suited face cards gives you another set of premium hole cards. With these two cards you have a chance to make both a flush and a straight. The high ranking of the cards means that your straights and flushes will be better than most others that can be made on the hand. Also in the event that you only make a pair, your pair and your kicker will be of high value.
Other cards considered good in a starting hand include Aces or Kings with an unsuited high card. While not as powerful as if suited they still hold the advantages of being high ranking cards. Any pairs made will be of high value as will be the kicker. Also being close in rank there is a chance they will grow into straights.
While winning in poker is not guaranteed to the player having the best hand (poker doesn't work that way), it is a good place to start from if you are interested in playing winning poker.
"Why is playing quality starting hands important?"
The short answer: you lose less hands that way, and chips as well.
Having just finished a poker session at Party Poker one thing that kept occurring to me was that by when I had premium starting hands, I was avoiding the need to make a lot of tough decisions and losing some less chips in the process.
One example of what can go wrong when you hold Ace-anything is that you can get your Ace. And then find yourself in trouble.
With a premium hand I played an A-K off-suit. Then when an Ace was turned I had top pair with a high kicker.
Another player raised, meaning I probably didn't have the only Ace in the hole. But, with my high kicker I was confident in calling his raise.
We continued to bet until the river card, and at the showdown I turned over my A-Q. It topped my opponent's A-8 and the hand was mine.
By not having a premium hand, my opponent had left himself open to being "out-kicked" by anyone else holding an Ace in the hole. And that's what happened.
When holding hands like A-8, you not only have to make your Ace, but you have to consider that your kicker might not be strong enough to beat out another challenge to your Ace pair.
By consistently playing starting hands that have weaknesses in them, you leave yourself open to players who can and will exploit that weakness. The result will be lost hands and it will cost you chips.
In another case sticking to a premium hand won a pot when my opponent and I both made flushes. My opponent played two suited, but low ranking cards, and left himself open to the possibility of being beaten by a higher rankings flush.
By playing a Q-J suited hand I outranked my opponent and took the pot.
Hands that look strong, (A or K)-anything or two suited cards, can be tempting to play as you think that hitting your cards will lead to a good hand. A flush is a good hand. However a low-ranking flush is only a good hand when it's the only flush at the table.
When playing with less than premium starting hands you have to ask yourself "Is my flush the only flush and if not, is it strong enough to take the pot?". You may find after playing the hand and paying a price that it isn't.
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