Posts Tagged ‘starting-hands’
Key starting hands – devising your own strategy
It is important that you devise your own strategy according to which you want to play. Refer to the Cheat sheet under the “Starting Hands” category. What follows is a basic strategy and guide to starting hands. As you gain experience you will modify these actions to take into account your opponents and what you learnt about them. You will get to know your own appetite for risk and build your strategy accordingly.
Take the following hole cards into consideration:
PAIRS – you could very well decide to play all 13 pairs in the deck. AA is the strongest starting hand that you can pick up, since with only 2 cards available, no-one else could win you at this point. This hand, the Pocket Rockets, Bullets or American Airlines, is usually what every player hopes to see when they turn over their cards. AA, KK, QQ are the premium pairs and the Big Slick, AK is also a premium hand. It is usually good practice to come into the action with these hole cards by raising in any position - and even re-raising. Mid-size and lower pairs can be dangerous, since if higher cards appear on the flop, you may be outdrawn. There are 2 key ways of playing low pairs – some good players like to put in a big raise to win the pot there and then; others believe it is better to just call the Big Blind or a small raise and hope that you hit a matching card on the flop to give you Trips (3 of a kind) – which is a strong hand. Generally, it is probably better to just call. As you become more experienced in the game, you will also start taking into consideration your position at the table, how others bet etc.
SUITED CARDS - when both your hole cards are from the same suit. In this instance, AQ and AJ are just Ace-high cards, but both offer the chance of top Pair draws, top Straight draws and top Flush draws. If an Ace appears on the flop, you will have Top Pair with a convincing kicker, if the flop is Q high or J high (the highest card showing is Q or J) then you have a top Pair with the top kicker For that strength and the potential to make really strong hands, these cards are worth playing in Pot Limit or No-Limit Hold’em games. A10, KQ, KJ, QJ and J10 suited are the 5 weakest starting hands BUT they have the potential to become strong hands if the top card pairs or if a Straight or Flush draw develops and completes. However, these hands are quite flop-sensitive. If the 3 cards on the flop don’t fit well, you will probably have to abandon your hand the moment there is a bet.
Premium starting hands: AA, KK, QQ, AK – always RAISE in any position; always RE-RAISE in any position.
Good starting hands: JJ, 1010, AQ suited – CALL in early positions; RAISE in late position; CALL small raises; consider RE-RAISING a button raise or a late-position raise.
Other starting hands: 99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22 AQ, AJ suited – CALL in most positions; consider a RAISE in late position and on the button. CALL (and consider RE-RAISING) small raises and button raises.
Weakest starting hands: KJ suited, QJ suited, J10 suited and KQ suited – CALL in all positions but FOLD if raised by a player in early position. FOLD if the flop does not hit properly (2 Pair, Straight or Flush draw) and there is a raise.
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