by Author Name Withheld 123

Created on: March 04, 2010   Last Updated: March 06, 2010

The best Texas hold’em poker hands

Choosing which hands to play during Texas hold’em poker can mean the difference between making money and wasting money. Poker is mainly a game of math but also a game of strategy in your position and reading your opponent, using all these along with knowing which hands to play at the right time can make you a lot of money.

Usually pocket pairs in your hand give you the advantage before the flop, the larger your pocket pair is the higher the chance is of you wining. Flopping two pairs will make you roughly 75% favourite to win and 3 of a kind (trips) will make you 90% favourite. Two pair and three of a kind will usually be the biggest hurdle in your sessions, hands such as a straight, flush, full house are less frequent and harder to hit. Hitting a straight means having a 5 card run such as 2,3,4,5,6 and the table and in your hand. The hand “flush” means having any 5 suited cards which is a strong hand and a full house means having 3 of a kind and a pair which is pretty rare. The only signs of a flush is seeing 3 suited cards on the draw of cards and the only way to be weary of a full house is when there is a pair on the table.

Pre-flop in any position with any single raise you should mainly play hands such as AA, AK, AQ, AJ, KK, QQ and JJ. Choosing to play weaker hands depends on the table you're playing at, how many people are sat at the table, your position if you are just calling and how much of your stack it will cost you to call. Calling with any suited connectors on the button after a raise is getting good value for your money, especially if there has been a raise and several calls because your opponents most likely have similar hands and your chances of winning are increased.

Knowing the value of your hands and reading the opponent on theirs is the only way to gradually make money and consistently win at the poker table. Even though the draw of the card are completely unpredictable the only way to increase your odds of wining is playing the value of your hands which increases your chances of winning pre-flop, from the flop onwards your reading of your opponent is the best way to know if the value of your hand is still the best.

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