The truth: You're really not that far behind 95% of the poker players in the world. And you don't need 🧾 to be the foremost expert on the game to become a winning poker player. In fact, a relatively small amount 🧾 of basic poker principles can produce massive improvements in your results almost immediately. The first step to becoming a good 🧾 poker player: simply figuring out how to stop sucking at it. One of the ways to do so is to 🧾 start playing fewer hands. Here' what we mean and how to put it into practice.
Play Fewer Hands
Learn how to play 🧾 like Phil Ivey
In Texas Hold'em there are 169 different possible starting hands you can be dealt (this is ignoring specific 🧾 suits). Out of all these possible hands, there are only five hands that are considered "premium."
AA KK QQ AK (Suited) 🧾 JJ
Regardless of your position at the table, a premium hand should always be played if there is no raise ahead 🧾 of you. If there is a raise ahead of you - especially if there are callers or re-raises - sometimes 🧾 it can even be a mistake to play anything below Aces or Kings. When you think about Texas Hold'em starting 🧾 hands this way, you'll realize you should be folding around 80% more hands.
Naturally, the hands you play, and how you 🧾 play them, will change depending on thousands of different variables at the table. But at the very core of the 🧾 game there are very few hands that are considered playable. If there has been no player to open the pot 🧾 (meaning no one has raised, or even limped ahead of you) you can play almost any hand with any sort 🧾 of potential value.
Once someone has raised ahead of you, your hand selection should be narrowed down to only the hands 🧾 that can give you the nuts, and help keep you out of any situation which has you dominated.
For example: you 🧾 should never play KQ into a raise, as AA, KK, QQ, AK, and AQ all have you dominated. Unless you 🧾 have a very good reason to do so, as a beginner poker player you should stick to playing only the 🧾 top 10 to 15 hands, period.
The more you play, and the better you become at the game, the more hands 🧾 you can add to your playlist. Until then, keep it simple, and always head to the flop with the best 🧾 of it.
Top 15 Hold'em Starting Hands
AA KK QQ AK (suited) JJ 1010 AQ (suited) AJ (suited) AK (off suit) KQ 🧾 (suited) A10 (suited) KJ (suited) AQ (off suit) 99 JQ (suited)
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Pick Your Texas Hold'em Hands Wisely
By playing fewer starting 🧾 hands you can give yourself a huge advantage against loose, aggressive players. Exactly the kinds of players mentioned above. You'll 🧾 also make your post-flop decisions much easier and cut way down on the times you're putting money into the pot 🧾 with the worst hand.
When you have more experience you can begin to play more hands and get more creative with 🧾 your post-flop play. But until then, it's a much more profitable enterprise to keep it simple. And only put money 🧾 into the pot when you have a good hand. In this beginner poker strategy video we teach you how to 🧾 tighten up your starting hand range to win more money playing Texas Hold'em poker.
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Check out this quick video and 🧾 continue with the rest of the How Not to Suck beginner poker strategy series below:
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