Knowing the strength or weakness of your starting hand (your hole cards) in Hold'em is one of the most important parts of playing Poker successfully.
As a new player correctly selecting which hands to play and which to lay down even BEFORE the flop is probably the single most effective way to minimise your loses.
Understanding exactly what possibilities your hand has will also gets you in the correct mindset if your faced with difficult decisions after you've seen the flop or when another player puts you to the test.
Pairs - (pocket pairs)
These are a good start and they will always encourage you to get involved. Chances of getting dealt pocket pair - roughly once in 16 hands. Obviously the higher the pair the better off you are (at least before the flop). Dont write off a couple of ducks (22) - suddenly they look damn fine if the flop comes Q27 - your gona get plenty of action from someone with a Queen especially if they've got an ace or made 2 pair (then you gota hope they dont get lucky - bet and sound them out).
Pairs are great but watch out with low pairs if they dont make trips on the flop you need to be realistic about there value - otherwise endlessly calling big bets with a pair 8's or less is going to hurt.
medium pairs - 99, 10 10, JJ (hooks) are better - they have alot more possibilities than low pairs - if the flop comes down rag low cards you're a little more confident with an over pair (a pair higher than any of the cards on the board). You need to be careful though its always possible someone else has a higher over pair or over cards - and dont forget they might just have made trips off that innocent looking 2 on the end.
The big boys QQ, KK, AA -
you've got a hand - make 'em pay to play - but be careful playing them too slow can let someone catch up fast and you'll have trouble laying them down - remember its always the 2nd best hand that costs you your stack.
too fast and everyone will think you take them for idiots ... and fold
To maxmise your profit on these big starting hands you need to judge your opposition - play them hard but if they're tight players they're not going to bite unless you've been taking down pots on bluffs and they get sick of it.
There isn't a definative answer on how to play AA but make 'em pay to play and if the flop shows a scary draw - dont wait - bet them off - better to take the pot down early than find your greed cost you half your cash.
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