What Hands Should I Play In Poker?
Easy Guide To Choosing The Right Hands To Play In Poker Games – Our Starting Hands Guide Explains Why Certain Hands Are Profitable.
While it is possible to produce a list of poker hands to play for Texas Holdem poker games online – understanding the basic situational factors which make certain types of hands profitable is even better. With the right knowledge you will have a big advantage over your opponents, an advantage which can be turned directly into profit.
This article looks at the different types of hands that you will be dealt in online poker games and gives an overview of when to play them. After this we give an equally important overview of the key factors which influence the starting hands you should play during a game.
What Hands Should I Play In Poker? 5 Easy Hand Groupings
- Speculative Hands, Pairs 7-7 and Below, Suited Connectors 4-5 to J-Q and Suited Aces from Ace-Two to Ace-Nine
Speculative hands can easily turn into a monster holding after the flop and win you a huge pot, for example a small pair hitting trips or a suited connector making a disguised straight. While you will make an occasional big score with these hands, they will not hit the flop very often. This means you should play them when it is ‘cheap’ to see the flop, especially when there are no raises and you do not have too many opponents yet to act.
- Mid Strength Hands: Ace-Ten through to Ace-Queen, Pairs between 8-8 and Jack-Jack
These hands are often playable, especially when nobody else has shown much strength before the flop. However, you do not want to always push them too hard – since the hands that are likely to call huge bets often beat the mid-strength hands. These hands should be played positively, and raised with often – ideally you want as few opponents as possible on the flop, where a bet can often win the pot if your hand does not improve.
- Strong Hands: Queens, Kings, Aces And Ace-King
We reserve the label ‘strong’ for the biggest hands of all. Positive and aggressive play is ideal with strong hands, as you do not want to encourage too many hands from the ‘speculative’ group to see a cheap flop. By raising with other types of hands you can effectively disguise those times you get aces or kings much better than by checking with them.
- Stealing And Defending Hands: Aces-8 and lower unsuited, and unsuited hands containing 2 picture cards.
High card hands can cost unwary player a lot of money, this is because the hands that people call you with will often have you dominated – for example an Ace-Queen against your King-Queen puts you in very bad shape. However, since strong hands do not come along too often you can often raise with stealing hands to take pots before the flop – particularly when folded to in later position. These hands also make great candidates for playing back at opponents you believe to be stealing without solid values.
- Everything Else Is Junk!
Too many new players get temped to play any 2 suited cards or a small ace before the flop in the hope of getting lucky. While you will make a nice hand and win a pot on some occasions, these will not balanced by the times you miss, or even worse partially hit the flop and end up losing a substantial pot. Good discipline is key to poker, and this should start with the hands you decide to play before the flop.
What Hands Should I Play In Poker? Situational Factors Are Key.
Many new players ignore in-game factors when selecting starting hands – missing the opportunity to profit from opponents. Here we cover position, stack sizes and opponent tendencies as a starting point for newer players.
- Position: How many players are still to act after you is a key factor in deciding what starting hands to play. For example, with a speculative hand with 8 players still to act you have no idea whether you can see a cheap flop or whether there will be a big raise or even re-raise. Contrast this with acting 7th of 9 players, now you have seen 3 players limp, have only the blinds to hear from pre-flop and will have the benefit of acting last after the flop too…many more starting hands are now playable.
- Stack Sizes: Small pair hands will make trips (3-of-a-kind) on the flop approximately once every eight attempts. You will not always double up when you do hit – since your opponents should sometimes fold. To make up for this you need to be sure you can make 12 times your initial investment those times you hit, which is why you need to keep an eye on the stack sizes of your opponents. If your opponent only has 5 times the size of the raise pre-flop left then you do not have the correct odds to make a profit long-term – and so should fold.
- Opponent Tendencies: Spotting which opponents are likely to pay you off, which ones are timid and who are the most aggressive opponents at the table becomes easy with experience. However, this does affect the starting hands you can play. For example if you know the players acting after you are aggressive then you might play fewer speculative hands and trap more often with strong hands. Conversely, if you know your remaining opponents are weak then you can raise more hands when folded to in later position.
