Win Poker Strategy

Small pocket pairs poker, and by this we mean pairs of 99 or less, have often been the cause of many bankrolls going across the table. Players will often overvalue their hand and end up losing a ton of money as they simply cannot let go of two matching cards in the hole. We are going to rectify this situation for you and show you how to play these cards to maximize profits and minimize your losses.

IN EARLY POSITION

This is probably one of the most difficult positions to play a small pocket pair. However, if done properly, you can make a lot of money by getting in on the action in this position with a small pocket pair. The move in early position is to simply limp in and see what happens. You do this for two reasons. You may have a chance to camouflage your hand with the right board and only a few players and you can also crush a huge hand if you happen to hit your set.

Assume you are under the gun and looking down at 77. You limp in and the player behind you makes a raise to 4x the blind. You are going to need odds to call here, which means that you want as many callers in on this hand as you can possibly get. There are two very good things happening when you get callers here. The first is that you are getting the 5:1 or better odds that you need to throw your money in. The second is that the more players that are in, the more likely the larger cards have already been dealt out. If you do not get 3 or more callers or if someone else comes over the top again here, you have to let the hand go, simple as that.

Now ideally, you get the callers in there and you have a shot at a monster pot. You are now is a no-brainer situation as to whether or not you proceed with the hand. If you have never heard the phrase “No Set No Bet,” you need to live and breathe but it if you have a small pair in early position. The only time you will bet out in this scenario if you are looking at a board that is all undercards to your 77.

For instance, you see a board of 2-4-6. In this case, you can make a bet that is at least the size of the pot and it will hopefully take down pot. You will immediately know where you stand of someone comes back over top of you. They may have been sitting on a larger pp or they may just be making a play. This is where your instincts and memory recall as to their earlier play will have to take over. It will also depend on how much money you have sitting in front of you. At this point, you may just be pot committed and the odds for your remaining cash will be so great that calling in the only thing that you can do.

Now if you get lucky and happen to hit your set, you are in a very strong position to make a lot of money. You can be pretty sure that with that many players, the raiser is going to make a continuation bet. This is a great opportunity to set up a check raise and make some serious cash. The one exception to setting up this play is when the board has a possible flush or straight out on the board. If that is the case, you are going to need to calculate the odds and take those hands out of play with a huge bet on the flop. You do not want anyone drawing to your set.

Now if you have a board that is not too dangerous, you are ready to make a check raise. Check your bet to the initial raiser and let him lead out. If you are lucky, one of the other players will have gotten something worth chasing. Depending upon how much money you have left in front of you, you may make a sizeable raise or push all in. You will hopefully be able to get isolation at this point and take down a huge pot. A time when you would bet out with nothing on board is when you have hit your set is if your remaining stack is less than half the pot. In this case, you can push right off the bat.

It is never recommended that you play the same way all the time. You are going to have to change up how you play this hand from time to time or you will risk the other players picking up exactly what you have. As a variation, you may make a small value bet on the flop hoping that the initial raiser will come back over top of you. Use the same betting strategy that you use when you have a medium hand and attempt to show some weakness. If they fall for the trap, you will have them guessing on every hand and can use your flop a set strategy to steal some pots down the road.

According to the Top 10 best starting hands for Texas Holdem Poker there are of course the worst starting hands.

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If you count every possible combination, you will find out that there are 169 possible starting hands.

If you have one the following starting hands, you should fold instantly, as long as you aren’t the big blind and nobody raised the pot pre-flop:

169th best starting hand (or Number 1 worst starting hand) 2 – 7 (offsuit)

The worst combination in Texas Hold’em Poker. What good options do you have? There is no way to get a flush or straight draw. And even with a pair of 7s and/or a pair of 2s you will surley not have the best hand to win the pot.

168th best starting hand (or Number 2 worst starting hand) 2 – 8 (offsuit)

This is only at a better position because 8 is slightly better than a 7.
You should consider going home if you get such hands.

167th best starting hand (or Number 3 worst starting hand) 3 – 8 (offsuit)

You shouldn’t expect to win with this hand.
You should consider playing another card game if you get such hands.

166th best starting hand (or Number 4 worst starting hand) 2 – 9 (offsuit)

Not even worth a bluff.
Don’t you even think about it.
Better consider ordering something to drink.

165th best starting hand (or Number 5 worst starting hand) 2 – 6 (offsuit)

Fold cards, wait for a better hand. Or leave the table.
Don’t even think about betting.

Whatever you would like to do: Don’t bet on these hands – be responsible

So you are standing here (or sitting). Dealer already dealt the cards and you are given your hand.

As a good Texas Hold’em Poker Player you should learn to know, which hands you should play and which hands you should fold. With bluffing etc. you can win any hand, but some hands win more frequently and if you stick to these hands, you should get better results in the long run.

So here are the Top 10 Best Starting Hands in Texas Hold’em Poker

1. Ace-Ace

A pair of aces (also known as pocket rockets) is the best starting hand you can ever get for Texas Hold’em Poker.

2. King-King

“King Kong” (or the two cowboys) is the second best starting hand for Texas Hold’em poker.

3. Queen-Queen

The “ladies” are the third best starting hand for Texas Hold’em Poker. So now you know the top three starting hands for Texas Hold’em poker.

4. Ace-King (suited)

The fourth best pick is a suited ace-king hand (often called “big slick”). Some people wouldn’t pick it for fourth place but a lot of players agree that this is fourth best starting hand for Texas Hold’em Poker.

5. Ace-Queen (suited)

The “big chick” (or “little slick”) is a combination of ace and queen in the same suit. It is the fifth best starting hand for Texas Hold’em poker.
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6. Jack-Jack

The “fishhooks”, a pair of jacks, is the sixth best starting hand for Texas Hold’em Poker.

7. King-Queen (suited)

The king and the queen in the same suit is known as seventh best starting hand for Texas Hold’em Poker by poker players from around the world.

8. Ace-Jack (suited)

In Black Jack you would shout hooray and this would be the best starting hand for Black Jack. For Texas Hold’em poker it is the eigth best starting hand.

9. Ace-King (offsuit)

You surely wonder about an offsuit hand in the top 10 best starting hands for Texas Holdem poker. Well, this is the only hand that could hardly made it onto position 9 of the best starting hands for Texas Holdem poker.

10. Ten-Ten

What would be Number ten without Tens? A pair of tens is always a good hand you should get along with. Texas Holdem players often call them “dimes” and they are number 10 in the top 10 best starting hands for Texas Holdem poker.

What if your hand is not listed above?

Well, as a beginner in Texas Holdem Poker, you should always stick to this top 10 list with best starting hands for Texas Holdem Poker. Use these poker strategy to gain all the times. But as you continue to gain some experience you can expand and experiment with other starting hands. May be bluffing comes into game.

But whatever you do, you should never forget that you could lose money when entering pots with weak hands. Please don’t forget to play responsible!

You might have read carefully our category about learning poker. And you might have read that you need to be able to read your opponents to become a great Texas Hold’em Poker Player.

But along with this, there come some more basic strategies and rules for your game:

Basics

You may skip through the words as you will find them silly, but it is surprisingly often that players forget the basics:

The two cards you hold are the only cards that set you apart from the other players. Those are the ones that give you the chance to win! All of the face-up cards are community cards. They are shared by you and your opponents. It’s good to think what these cards mean to you, but don’t forget to keep your eyes open for your opponents’ straight and flush possibilities.

Pre-Flop – Evaluating your cards

As a true follower of this website, you know when to count your starting hand a Top Starting Hand for Texas Holdem Poker or a Worse Starting Hand. And you might have one thing in mind: Try to be emotionless, maybe play around with your chips to show that you might want to make bet.

If your hand is not a top starting hand – fold. If you are an aggressive player, you might want to stay in with 7 and 8 of the same suit (because there is a change to a straight and/or flush).

If the big blind is low enough, it may be worth to pay in to just see the flop – even if you don’t have a strong hand. But this also could lead you into trouble.

You might have to suffer through a series of very poor hands.

But the good hands will come and you would be in a better postion to take advantage of it, if you don’t waste your chips trying to get something out of nothing.

The Flop

After seeing the flop, you shouldn’t be afraid to cut losses. Lots of beginners and novices decide to play it out because the are already in. Don’t be that foolish – fold if the flop does not contain the cards you need.

When there are seven or more players at a table, two pair or better will have a chance to be the winning hand. If you don’t have the high pair after the flop – for example:

and you are not in a good position for a straight or a flush, fold.

If the number of players go down, there will be a chance to even win with High Card (because the potential of a strong hand goes down as well). And when you are left with two players, you could try to play a little more aggressive.

The Flop and Betting

Maybe you are first to bet after the flop. You shouldn’t be afraid to check. This must not be a disadvantage, it can also be a very good thing: If your hand is weak, you might be able to see one more card without putting more into the pot and on the weak side, you might be able to see one more card without having to put more into the pot. If your hand is strong, you could convince an opponent or two that it’s weaker than it really is (and can raise anyway).

Turn and River

With the fourth and the fifth community card you get the chance to either fold before you lose more money or to increase your winnings.

At this point, there are often only one or two players left in the fight for the pot. Best advice: Be cautions.

After turn don’t stay in the pot hoping for a straight or flush unless you can do so on a check (and do not have to put more chips into the pot). And don’t be angry if you folded and the next card would fullfill your straight or flush – there are numbers of times when you would have lost!

The most important thing here is to not get too far in with a weak hand.

On the other side you might already be in too deep. If so, consider the percentage of chips that are in the pot. If you already invest 40% of your chips to the pot, who cares about 5% more? But you are travelling in a grey area and should be cautious though. Never forget to be responsible….

Poker is unpredictable, no matter how much you think you know what the other player’s are holding in their hands, there is always the chance that you could be wrong, this uncertainty challenges the mind and makes the game into a contest of skill, memory and psychology. Elements that make the game exciting, different and fun to play.

The more you know about the game the better you will become. One of the ways to enhance your game knowledge is with the understanding of the odds. To make this easier for you we have compiled these into a handy chart, for you to learn how they work. Once you know your odds and your chances of winning you will find your game starts to get better.

Pre Flop Deal Odds and Community Cards