Of all the concepts that can help a struggling poker player out in the beginning, learning to play fewer hands is the most important. The reason being is because many poker players fall into the trap of wanting to play every suited hand, ace, or pair of connectors they get. Unfortunately when you do this you’re not only playing outside of the basic starting hand requirements, but you’re also focusing on the cards rather than the players themselves.
What you have to realize is that, in a normal game of Texas Hold’em, there are a total of 169 different hands you can start off with (not including different suits). What this means is that there are about 100 different starting hands that you want to completely steer away from. And in many situations, you don’t even want to play what’s left over.
If you’ve got AA-JJ or AK, this typically warrants trying to jam the pot as much as possible pre-flop. But as your reading abilities grow, you may even discover that playing QQ, JJ, and AK isn’t the best move when raises have been made before you. Other solid hands to play include TT, 99, AQ-A10, KQ-KJ, and QJ; the non paired hands here really pick up value when they’re suited.
When you add up the hands that have been mentioned, there are only15 that can be considered true quality starting hands. With this being the case, beginner players should avoid playing anything that falls outside of this range which means they should fold about 90% of the time.
If you’re a beginner then you’ll want to stick to the aforementioned starting hands until your reading abilities and experience grow. This is a great way to make yourself a tight player which will minimize losses in the beginning. After you’ve picked up more experience then you can increase the number of hands you play, and become a more aggressive player too.
Tags: Tips
the value of suited cards are only 1% greater, players feel more confident with the sooters because of when making a flush odds are your opponent has not.
Playing tight also opens the door up to successful bluffing.
Wise men say; only fools rush in!
Less is more as some say!