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Texas Hold’em is worth special attention as it’s one of the few types of Poker that has a large following, and international tournaments on this kind of Poker with huge jackpots are held everywhere in the world. Texas Hold’em is hugely popular, and it is not surprising that there are a lot of differrent strategies, however, not all of these are suitable for beginners!
Basis of strategy: selection of a starting hand
One of the main rules in Poker (including Texas Hold’em) is that a professional player risking his own money on betting should play only 20% of all hands to be profitable at the end of the game. To play only the most profitable hands, it’s vital to know how to analyse the starting cards: which hands could become strong and which hands it’s better to drop right at the start.
The best starting (pre-flop) hands are the following combinations:
Pocket aces: a pair of aces that a player gets during dealing as a pair of pocket cards. The best starting hand out of all possible ones, but there is a risk that you would have just this pair on post-flop, with no improvements whatsoever.
Pocket kings: starting hand, which is almost identical to a pair of aces during any pre-flop. There are also significant differences as a pair of kings could be played differently depending on the starting positions.
Pairs of ’pocket’ jacks and queens: these pairs are right in the middle of the senior pairs (ace, king) and marginal pairs, so it’s more difficult to play these. A lot would depend on your opponents for playing these cards, they are only worth playing if the common cards improve your hand or when other players are not rushing in with a raise.
Pair of junior cards, such as a pair of eights or nine. These hands could be played, but, of course, with no raises. Not all marginal pairs are worth playing, for example, professionals will always drop a starting hand with a pair of cards below five.
Pair of different senior cards, for example, an ace with a king, or a king with a queen. These starting hands are quite worthwhile to play, and it is possible to raise with these (if no one has done it before you). The most probable way to win with these and to get a bank is when an opponent also has a similar pair, but with a weaker kicker. It’s very important not to raise with such a hand, because this kills your bank very quickly.
Two connectors of the same suit, such as an eight and a nice of cubs, the starting hand, which could be played depending on position. Two connectors of the same suit could become a strong hand on post-flop, such as a street or a flash, but also have equal chances to become a useless pair of hands. It is best to play this hand by dropping cards in the early position, and carefully play without any raises in the middle or late position.
All other combinations are an assembly of cards of various suits, which are not worth playing to start with. It is best not to play these if you are new to the game or are careful with your game. Regardless of how profitable the hand looks (for example, various jacks and queens, or ten and jack), just remember that all of these hands are going to lose in the end.
STRATEGY OF ’19 HANDS’
It is quite tough to remember all the different starting hands, when you are just starting out in Poker. So it is best to use the simplest strategy of ’Nineteen hands,’ which was developed especially for newbies.
The strategy is actually very simple and is based on a single rule: play only one of the 19 types of a starting hand:
- All 'pocket' pairs (13 different variants)
- Combination of ace + king
- Combination of ace + queen
- Combination of ace + jack
- Combination of king + queen
- Combination of queen + jack
- Combination of king + jack
These hands are played in the following way:
- If you have a combination of senior cards, such as a pair of aces, kings, queens or jacks, or king + ace, raise on pre-flop, up to a size of three-five times the large blind. If someone else has started to raise, re-raise only if you have a pair of kings or aces. If someone else is re-raising after you, keep on playing the hand only if you have a pair of aces, in case you have a pair of kings, it’s up to you to decide whether to call or drop the cards.
- If you have an ace + queen in the starting hand, raise only if no one else did it.
- If any player raised before you, drop the hand, regardless of how unprofitable it looks.
- If you have a combination of senior cards, such as ace + jack, king + queen, queen + jack, call only in case of no one raising. If someone went for a raise, drop the hand.
’Pocket’ pairs are most profitable from the raise point of view: you can raise the stakes on your own, can call on someone’s raise up to four times the size of the big blind. In case of higher bets, it’s better to fold and drop the cards.
All hands, which are not part of the 19 mentioned, should be dropped, even those that look quite profitable, such as a pair of senior cards, or a combination of connectors, for example, an ace + ten or a king + ten.
