What You Must Know About Starting Hands

Here's an interesting fact... there are 169 possible starting hands in the game, and more than half are considered totally unplayable!

You can see why many novice players have such a hard time getting started in this game. Knowing when to fold your cards is what separates the experienced players from the "fish".

Most players lose because they play too many hands in the first place. In order to make real money at this game, you need to know exactly which starting hands are playable, and which ones will lose you money.

I've put together a list for you that is organized with the strongest starting hands on top. I encourage you to print it out and study it BEFORE you sit down at the table... I don't need to tell you that knowing which starting hands you should play can either make or loose you a TON of money.

Every one of these starting hands has at least a 10% chance of winning in a game of 10 people.

So let's get started...

Glossary:

A = Ace K = King Q = Queen J = Jack T = Ten 2-9 = Card Value x = Unknown Card s = Same Suit

Playable Starting Hands

AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22

Ax, Kx, Qx, Jx, and Tx Suited - "Suited" means that both cards are of the same suit. When you have one of these starting hands, you have the potential for high pairs, trips (three of a kind), a flush, straights, and straight flush:

AKs, AQs, AJs, ATs, A9s, A8s, A7s, A6s, A5s, A4s, A3s, A2s KQs, KJs, KTs, K9s, K8s, K7s, K6s, K5s, K4s, K3s, K2s QJs, QTs, Q9s, Q8s, Q7s, Q6s, Q5s, Q4s, Q3s, Q2s JTs, J9s, J8s. J7s, J6s, J5s, T9s, T8s, T7s, T6s

Ax, Kx, Qx, Jx, Tx Unsuited - These hands all have the potential for high pairs or straights. Remember, only play unsuited cards with a combined value of 21 or higher (remember: J is 11, Q is 12, K is 13, A is 14):

AK, AQ, AJ, AT, A9 KQ, KJ, KT, K9 QJ, QT, Q9 JT

9x and Lower Suited - These hands are called suited connectors. When you have two suited cards that are consecutive or one-gapped (one card in between them) they have potential for play for their straight and flush possibilities:

98s, 97s, 96s, 87s, 86s, 85s, 76s, 75s, 65s, 64s, 54s, 53s, 43s

If you're playing smart, any starting hand that you don't see on this list should be folded. Expect to fold the majority of the time. If you play with any other hand, you'll be playing against the mathematical odds... and in the long run, you'll lose.

Of course, of the above hands, many of them are stronger than the others, and should be played accordingly.

Another thing that a lot of "fresh fish" don't realize is that you must play hands differently depending on your "position" in the game. The reason is that if you are in the "back", meaning you are the last to go, you get to see what everyone else does before you make your move. If you are in the front, you have to make your move before anyone else does. This can really affect the way a hand is played... and if you don't know exactly what you're doing, in can really affect how much money you go home with.

I often cringe when I see a young guy stepping up to the tables and laying his hard earned money down on the line.

Hey, I used to be one of those guys.

I remember my first few Holdem Tournaments... I had played a few games with my friends and family, and since I always did well against the boys, I thought I was ready for the big leagues...boy was I wrong!

I lost a lot of hands and a lot of money before I figured it out. But the good news is, I finally did. And now that I have it down, it's not that hard to walk away from a day of playing with several thousand dollars in my pocket.

But, like any other skill that's valuable, it's not something that you can learn in 2 minutes. It takes some practice and repetition.

I kept a journal of each and every hand I played, and studied and learned from my mistakes. I knew my hard work would pay off in the end.

And the GREAT news is that instead of taking several YEARS playing, studying, and LOSING like I did, you can get the benefits of my "banging my head against the wall" research... and go straight to the good stuff.

If you're like me, it's difficult to remember all of the starting hands and know exactly now to apply them in every situation. Fortunatley, there's an easy way to learn the starting hands, especially if you plan online Texas Holdem.

There is a software progrma known as POKER SIDEKICK which has the starting hands codedvb programmed into the software, so it monitors your actual starting hands while you play, then teaches you which starting hand is in which "group", as well as the overall strength and playability of that starting hand. POKER SIDEKICK also provides a lot more information once you get beyond the starting hand.

I designed this program to be the best available in history on how to consistently win at Texas Holdem. The starting hands have been further refined and improved upon beyond these basic starting hands and Sklansky's original starting hands, providing a much higher-yield set of starting hands that you can have at your fingertips while playing online.

You can download POKER SIDEKICK and give it a try for free right now at:

Playing and Learning Starting Hands is Easy with the Poker Sidekick Expert System

Another great source of information that will help you as a new player is the Secrets of Winning Sit and Go Tournaments eBook, the ULTIMATE training program for this stuff. Not only did it take him YEARS to learn all of this stuff in the first place, and figure it all out correctly, but it also took literally thousands of dollars to gain these skills. Now you can discover the secrets of Texas Holdem for yourself and save year of time and effort.