How to Select Best Starting Hands in Texas Hold 'Em Poker

When you first play Texas Hold 'Em, it can be hard to learn how to decipher good hands from just two cards. Pocket aces, pocket kings, and a suited ace and king may be easy starting hands to invest in, but what about those other hands? There are techniques to use to determine when it's best to hold 'em or to fold 'em in Texas Hold 'Em.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Playing to Your Position

1. Note your position as each hand begins. If you are one of the three people to the left of the big blind, you are one of the first people to bet and are in the early position. The next three people are in the middle position, and everyone else, including the dealer, small blind, and big blind, are in the late position.

2. Play pocket pairs of aces or kings no matter what your position. A suited ace and king are also must-plays in any position.

3. Call if you are in the early position when your hand consists of a combination of aces, kings, or queens. You should also play with paired queens, jacks and tens.

4. Bet into the hand if you are in the middle position and you have a pair of nines or eights. Other good hands in this position include ace-jack, ace-ten, queen-jack, ace-queen and king-queen. Also call if you have any of the hands mentioned in Step 3.

5. Enter the hand if you are the late position and you have an ace with any kicker. Also call with a king-ten, queen-ten, jack-ten, or any paired cards. Also play with any of the hands mentioned in Steps 3 and 4.

Using a Point System

6. Assign each of your cards a point value based on their numeric values. Give an ace 16 points, a king 14 points, a queen 13 points, a jack 12 points and a ten 11 points. All other cards should be given points that are identical to their numeric value.

7. Add 10 points if your cards are paired. If you have suited cards, add four points. If your cards are next to each other in rank, add three points.

8. Give yourself two points if there are in a one-card gap between the value of your cards, such as a queen and a ten, or a three and a five. If you have a two-card gap between cards, add one point.

9. Check your position in the table. If you are in the middle position, add three points. If you are the dealer, small blind, or big blind, add five points.

10. Total your points together. Call with 30 points or more and raise with 34 points or more. Check or fold any hand that is less than 30 points.

Tips & Warnings

• If you're playing in a smaller game with five or fewer people at the table, you can be a little more lax with your starting hands. But don't let down your guard too much. When in doubt, fold.
• Pay attention to what other players before you have done and be wary of calling raises. Once the pot has been raised, you should only play extremely strong hands.

[alterKrieg]

on 3/18/2008 Advice that is clear and actually useful.
Good strategies to give someone a start.