Starting Hand Selection, the Most Important Fundamental of Poker
One of the most important skills for a poker player is starting hand selection. What we mean is: which hands should you enter a pot with and which ones should you fold. The number of hands that are actually playable in Texas Hold'em is limited. With a good knowledge of the best ones and a little patience, you will be able to improve your game a lot.
For the purposes of this article, we will only cover the best starting hands. These are the suggested hands for beginners in poker. A wider variety of hands can be chosen as your skill level increases.
Special Hands (Monsters)
The special hands (monster hands or premium hands) are the most powerful hands in Texas Holdem. These hands will consistently win and keep you ahead of your opponents. The special hands, listed in order of strength, are:
- Pair of Aces (AA)
- Pair of Kings (KK)
- Pair of Queens (QQ)
- Ace and King (suited or not) (AKs or AKo)
- Pair of Jacks (JJ)
These are the most powerful starting hands, and are generally playable from any position at the table (although be careful when playing a pair of jacks in early position). Although these are strong hands, it is worth watching the action of opponents in better positions.
The hands in this section should be played aggressively. You should try to reduce the number of opponents, as in a pot with many players, the chance of winning decreases. We suggest entering with bets or raises (raises or re-raises) from any position, being more cautious with JJ.
Excellent hands
This group of hands is also powerful, but may not be suitable in every situation as is the case with special hands. The excellent hands, in order of strength, are:
- Pair of Tens (TT)
- Pair of Nines (99)
- Pair of Eights (88)
- Ace and Queen (suited or unsuited) (AQs or AQo)
- Pair of Sevens (77)
These are certainly playable hands in middle and late position, but careful evaluation and knowledge of your opponents are required to play them in early position. The strategy with these hands is also to be aggressive before the flop, with the goal of limiting your opponents. If your hand is a pair of sevens or eights, and you are up against one opponent, you are probably ahead. Against multiple opponents, however, your chances are significantly reduced, and you will probably need to improve to trips if you want to come out on top.
Other Helpful Hands
This group of hands includes those that you should have in your arsenal as you become more experienced in the game. Hands such as KQ suited or unsuited and pairs below seven belong to this group. The most important aspect when playing these hands is to not enter the pot if you are in bad positions (the starting ones), and to know how to fold if you do not make a good play on the flop. Low pairs don't usually succeed without improving.
- King and Queen (KQs or KQo)
- Pair of Twos (22)
- Pair of Threes (33)
- Pair of Fours (44)
- Pair of Fives (55)
- Pair of Sixes (66)
- Ace and lower suited Queen (AXs)
“Trap” hands
Avoid playing with these hands as much as possible. These are common mistakes made by beginners in the game.
Lone Ace (Ax): for example A3, A6… – dangerous hands. If you complete a pair of aces on the board, your “kicker” is very low, with a high chance of being beaten by someone who has a higher one. The same thing for a solitary King (Kx).
Suited hands: A hand with two cards of the same suit is only 3% better than a hand of the same suit but of different suits. Suited hands only complete the flush 6% of the time. So playing with hands like 72s, 94s, just because they are of the same suit, is a big mistake. Furthermore, if you form a flush and your opponent has a higher one, you will lose a lot of chips because of it.
Connectors: These are hands that look good, like “23”, “45”, but in practice they win pots at a low percentage. These are hands to be played by those who are more experienced, only in good positions, and knowing how to fold if they don’t make good plays on the flop.
Conclusions
The most important idea to remember is to play quality starting hands according to your position. If you can become a master at hand selection and maintain your discipline, you will be better off than the vast majority of online Texas Hold'em players.
Have a good sense of the value of your position at the poker table is a key factor in determining whether your hand is good enough. There are hands that can be folded in first position, but can be raised on the button (e.g.: 77, QJ, among others).
Another important factor is the number of opponents. The more people active in the round, the less likely your hand will win.
In conclusion, if you have the feeling that your starting hand is weak and that you shouldn't play the round, you're probably right. Fold it and wait for a playable hand!
Observations
- It is important to say that in this article we are talking about full tables, nine or ten players. At tables with fewer opponents, hand selection starts to become more liberal, and hands like suited low connectors (e.g. 56s) or off-suit medium connectors (e.g. 9To) start to become reasonable options.
- Another situation in which it is worth being liberal is in plays with several opponents already in the hand. Example: you are on the dealer button, and 5 players have already entered the hand with the minimum bet. In this case, more “speculative” hands start to have value, since the odds are very favorable. We will talk more about this reasoning in intermediate and advanced articles.
Article Glossary
Card codes: In the articles we use internationally recognized codes for cards. AKs means Ace and King “suited”, that is, of the same suit. AQo means Ace and Queen “off-suit”, that is, of different suits. Ax means Ace and any other low card. T means “10”.
Good article. It's always good to come out with a monster hand. xD
Dude.. this guy definitely doesn't play at POKERSTARS!!!! he definitely doesn't know POKER STARS!..
He'll find out what a real show is: (or are)
72nd – 84 – 92- 62- T4 things like that… entering with KK or AA there is a total certainty that you will lose and badly!
Bidu
Bidu, I think your thing is playing chess or another sport without variance.
Criticizing the largest and safest online poker site, without any basis…
Poker is a game that demands a lot of emotional control, as anything and everything can happen in the short term.
You are absolutely right, monster hands are the best thing in poker.
Dude, you're talking about another type of poker, the one we're talking about is Texas, which only plays with two hands.
I agree _ they should change the word long term to good Bank roll management, because long term in 1.10 / 2.20 tournaments in ps practically doesn't exist 🙁
That's right David, good hand selection and position is the first step.
A question, Marcelo! I often fold not very favorable hands before the flop when the blinds are already very high or when the bet is high. And usually the cards that come are favorable to me, like trips, etc.
What do you think I should do? I'm moved to think that if I bet no one would call. I thank you in advance! Hugs
You should keep running if the bet is high. It's not worth the risk. Most of the time you'll lose with these hands.
Wow, thank you so much for the article. Wow, the content is really good! The beginner level articles definitely helped me a lot. This last one was amazing!!! I'm going to bookmark it to help me with online poker! Thanks a lot!!!
Congratulations on the article.
Excellent.
IT HELPED MY PLAYING STYLE A LOT.
I would like you to explain why every poker expert, exaggerating, prefers 22 to AJ, which, by the way, I didn't find here.
Thanks!
This is relative. Sometimes it's better to have AJ, other times it's better to have 22. AJ is easily dominated by hands like AK and AQ. But if you're shortstacked, it's a great hand to bet on. 22 is unlikely to win without improving, but if you get three of a kind it can give you a big pot. So that's it, it depends on the situation.
22 is already something when it's 1 against 1 the opponent would have to roll an A or a J and even so if you roll a 2 you win with three of a kind
Regardless of any starting card, it is very important to analyze your position at the table and the profile of your opponents... and be very, very careful even with pairs lower than jacks... JJ...
Marcelo, do you think a K and J hand in the final positions is valid?
This is a weak hand. On a folded board, KJ can be a good hand to try to steal the blinds. The problem with it is that if it pairs on the flop you will likely win a small pot or lose a large one. I would fold KJ if someone had already entered the pot with a raise.
It cost!
I would like to know what is the best strategy when you are Heads Up at low tables, with useful or bad hands? Is it worth paying to see the Flop when you have an A, K, Q or J even with a low side card?
Because whenever a Monster or Hand with many outs doesn't come along, I fold. Should I always fold?
Diego, just speaking about heads-up, it will depend on the opponent, but I usually avoid entering with these hands if the second card is lower than 7.
Remember that the ideal in heads-up is to apply pressure most of the time when entering the hand. Avoid just completing.
I have a question, if I keep selecting the hands I'm going to play in a tournament with 10,000 players like PokerStar, won't it take long for the fixed stakes to increase and the binds to start getting expensive???
I'm a beginner and this is just one of them, thanks!!!!!
Ivo, hand selection is not static. It varies depending on position, stage of the tournament, and your chip count, just to name a few factors.
If your chip count is low, or the blinds are high, it is clear that you need to expand your range of playable hands, or you will be “eaten by the blinds”.
Thanks Marcelo, it helped a lot!!!!
I would like to know what to do to improve my mood after a bad day at online poker (losing a lot, even being surprised by a bigger strengthflush than I had).
Boy, this is really complicated... the thing is to distract yourself with something else. When I start losing a lot in a day, I stop the session, because sometimes we are just having a bad day.
The good thing is knowing that in the long run all of this pays off if we make the right decisions often enough.
I've been playing poker for a while now, but I've lost and won a few hands without understanding what happened!!
Like if I have a pair of queens or any pair and the guy with no sequence but an ace beats me, what could this be? Does the suit have anything to do with it?
Suit is not considered in Poker.
Could you give an example of what happened? It makes it a little easier to help.
What may have happened is that the guy had 2 low pairs and you only had the pair of queens and lost, because you only had 1 pair.
I play at PokerStars and I've already lost a lot in this situation.
We have to think that every Poker hand is made up of 5 cards.
2 from hand + 3 from table
1 from hand + 4 from table
OR
5 from the table
I got the summary of what happened and wanted to know how I lost this hand if:
I HAD: A and 9
MY OPPONENT HAD: 6 and 4
ON THE TABLE: QA 5 4 9
I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING I HAD TWO PAIRS AND GUYS WON JUST LIKE THAT??
HERE IS A SUMMARY OF WHAT HAPPENED:
PokerStars Hand #76465743606: Hold'em No Limit (25/50) – 2012/03/01 12:57:12 BRT [2012/03/01 10:57:12 ET]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
sundayarches: show [6s 4s] (Color, Ace highest card)
$GDAC®78: shows [9s Ah] (two pairs, Aces and Nines)
domingoarcos received 6300 from the pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6300 | commission 0
Table [Qs As 5s 4d 9c]
Place 1: estoril1962 folded on the Flop
Seat 4: $GDAC®78 (Button) showed [9s Ah] and lost with two pair, Aces and Nines
Seat 5: domingoarcos (small blind) showed [6s 4s] and won (6300) with Flush, Ace-high
Seat 6: Krakenus606 (big blind) folded on the Flop
This play that beats your 2 pairs is called FLUSH or COR.
It has 5 cards of the same suit, it is a powerful play, which beats: 1 Pair, 2 Pairs, Three of a Kind and Sequence.
Here is our Hand Ranking: https://pokerdicas.com/regras/ranking-das-maos-de-poker/
Check it out. And remember, every game is made up of 5 cards!
If you have any questions, I am at your disposal.
Hugs
I lost again and I don't know why?
see below:
PokerStars Hand #76513896789: Hold'em No Limit (25/50) – 2012/03/02 10:24:15 BRT [2012/03/02 8:24:15 ET]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
pugyou: show [9h 3h] (Fluor, Ace high)
$GDAC®78: hide the hand
EDSONRM: hide your hand
pugyou received 10750 from the pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 10750 | commission 0
Table [Ah 6h 4s Th 3s]
Seat 1: pugyou (small blind) showed [9h 3h] and won (10750) with Flush, Ace-high
Seat 2: xankiller (big blind) folded on the Flop
Place 3: $GDAC®78 hid the cards [Jh As]
Place 4: EDSONRM hid the letters [9c Ad]
Place 5: vicentina70 folded on the Flop
Place 6: beuska21 folded on the Flop
Place 7: mitko_4649 folded on the Flop
Place 8: fostros1 folded on the Flop
Seat 9: latanka2009 (Button) folded before Flop (did not bet)
Same situation as before.
You would only beat him if you had a higher Flush or higher hand (Full house, Quads, for example)
Thanks for the clarification.
Hug.
awesome show
This post helped me a lot to earn 1 dollar
I'm rich
Note: I have never made any deposits.
I just didn't understand why you put it in that order:
King and Queen (KQs or KQo)
Pair of Twos (22)
Pair of Threes (33)
Pair of Fours (44)
Pair of Fives (55)
Pair of Sixes (66)
Ace and lower suited Queen (AXs)
It was the other way around, wasn't it?
Good morning. I've just started playing poker, and I'd like to know if the hand posted is really a 'good' hand to start a game with.
I play PokerStars, and I would like to know when I should continue betting and calling instead of giving up, when I see the game coming out.
Having seen comments about it not being useful on PokerStars, I would like to clarify the doubt.
Sometimes I bet without knowing if the hand will result in something good…
Thanks
https://pokerdicas.com/artigos-ii/10-dicas-para-os-iniciantes-poker/
Check out this article. Thanks!
Playing poker online, I had a flush hand and lost the main pot to a pair of kings. I didn't understand. Could someone explain it to me? Note: the pair of kings were of different ranks.
You probably lost to a full house.
I'll give you an example of what might have happened:
Your hand: A5 of hearts
Your opponent's hand: KK (one diamond one spade)
Table:
267K (all hearts) 7 (diamonds)
He has the hand KKK77, a full house of kings with sevens.
NOTE: There is no way he can have two kings with the same suit.
Thanks buddy, but it wasn't a full house. I might have even made a mistake when counting my hand. Glasses can be deceiving sometimes. LOL When I said the kings were different suits, I meant different from the flush in my hand. Thanks for the answer. I'm a beginner, but I was sure that a pair doesn't beat a flush. I just wanted absolute certainty from someone more experienced.
Ok, but if you don't remember the letters it's a bit difficult to help.
Thank you, hugs.
OK, but what if you only get bad hands and your chips are dwindling really fast?