Win Poker Strategy

In part one of the series, we talked about the unenviable position of looking down at small pocket pair in early position. You want to play the hand, but there are a lot of ugly scenarios that an inexperienced player will end up doing nothing more than donating their stack. In poker middle position is not as good as late position, but it gives you a few more options to safely save your stack or steal a pot.

Middle Position

Unlike early position, you may find that you can steal a fair amount of pots and some limper money in middle position. The further along you are the better, but there is plenty of money to be made from weak early position players.

You get your cards and you are looking down at 99. This is not a bad situation, nor is it a good one. You face a lot of possible action in front of you and have to be wary of possible traps that are getting set. Remember, a standard move under the gun with AA or KK is to limp in and wait for the raise. When someone does this, they come right back over the top and try to get you to commit your stack. This is something you want to watch out for as you get aggressive with your 99. Stop and realize what is happening before you fall for the usual impulse of shoving and giving them exactly what they want.

First scenario has a couple of players limping in and the betting getting to you. This is a great position to be in as you can make an aggressive play and try and take the pot down right away. Make a 6 or 7x blind raise and see what happens. If someone comes over the top, you are probably dead and may want to let the hand go right there. If they are only doubling your bet, you can call them and see what happens on the flop. Realize you are begging for a 2 outer here and pretty much kissing that money goodbye.

Now if you get callers, watch the board. You are going to be committed to a continuation bet as long as you don’t see 2 or 3 face cards out there. If they bet out, they have probably hit and you may have to let the hand go. If they call you and there is no draw, you are probably dead and will hope they check the turn to you and you can check down and hope to improve on the river. If there is a draw on the table, you are going to have to proceed aggressively and risk losing some serious cash. People on flush draws will donate a ton of cash on that chase so make them pay and hope that they don’t suck out on you.

Your second scenario is a small raise in front of you. This is a perfect time to call and disguise your hand and see what hits the board. If you get a low board, you can come right over top of them after their continuation bet. If it is a high board and they bet out, you can let it go and keep your losses to a minimum.

The final scenario is when the betting folds around to you and you are first man in. Now it is time to represent and make a play at the blinds. You can throw out a 5 or 6x the blinds bet and represent a much larger hand than you actually have. You are not necessarily looking for callers here as the board can lead to trouble. Once again though, you are all but committed to a continuation bet unless a seriously dangerous board hits you.

Always keep in mind that money you are investing in small pocket pairs is money that you need to be prepared to let go of at any moment. Standing your ground in a bad position is what will cause you to go broke. You are looking to scoop blinds and hit sets with small pocket pairs. If you play them properly from middle position, they can be great money makers. Just don’t get married to them and refuse to dump. There are no bad folds, just bad calls!

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….