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Knowing which two cards make the best Texas holdem poker hands is fundamental to winning money in this game. To answer this question though, there are several factors that need to be looked at first. Those are position, odds, stack sizes, table image, and table type. Let's look at each of these factors in detail in order to get a better understanding of which cards to play in each circumstance.

1. The first factor to look at is position. Texas holdem poker is generally played with nine to ten players. We will assume there are ten players at a table. The first two players to the left of the dealer are referred to as the "blinds". The next three players are early position (EP), followed by the next three players which are middle position (MP), and finally the last two positions which are late position (LP). The first player after the blinds is also referred to as "under the gun" or "UTG". The next to the last player before the blinds is called the "cut off", and the dealer is known as the "button". These terms are important to know both for this article as well as other articles or books you may read.

The earlier the position, the tighter you should play, meaning the stronger your hand should be before entering a pot. This is because you have no information about the players yet to act. Let's say for example that you are dealt ace ten off suit UTG at a $1/$2 table. You decide to make a raise of four times the big blind, so you bet $8. The next few players fold, the cut off calls, and the blinds fold. Now you are heads up with one player and there is $19 in the pot. (Your $8, the callers $8, and $3 from the blinds). The flop comes up Ace, 8, 4 rainbow (meaning all different suits). You decide to bet about 3/4 of the pot, so you throw out $15 and get called by your opponent. Now we need to decide what hands our opponent can have. It is doubtful he has AA, KK, or AK as he probably would have re-raised with those hands. AQ and AJ are definite possibilities, as are QQ or JJ. The turn card comes with a Jack. Now what do you do? You have a pot of almost $50. You will need to make a decent sized bet of at least $30 to know where you stand. If you check there is a strong chance that your opponent will bet, if you bet and he calls or raises, there is a strong chance you are beat. The point is you don't know exactly where you stand. Your cards aren't strong enough to dominate, yet they are good enough that you do have a chance of winning but it's going to cost you to find

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