Best Starting Hands
Learning the best starting hands is one of the most important things a beginner poker player must learn and stick to. As a beginner it is best to play only the best starting hands, if you play any lesser hands you will have to make alot of harder decisions that will make you vulnerable.
As a novice poker player your starting hand reqirements should consist of the following.
1.Pairs 22-AA.
2.Big suited connectors AKs, AQs & KQs.
3.Big connectors AK, AQ and KQ.
It may be hard in the beginning to stick to only these hands because you will want to be involved in more pots but it is best to stick to these and by not playing so many hands you will have more time to study the game and the players at your table. The table below will show you when to play which of these hand considering your position at the table.
| Minimum required starting hand considering your position at the table |
|
# Players left to act |
Non-pair |
Pairs |
| 9 (under the gun) |
AK |
99 |
| 8 |
AQ |
88 |
| 7 |
AQ |
77 |
| 6 |
Ajs |
66 |
| 5 |
Ats |
55 |
| 9 (under the gun) |
AK |
99 |
| 4 |
A9s, KQs |
44 |
| 3 (cut off) |
Axs, KJs |
33 |
| 2 (button) |
Axs, KTs, QJs, JTs |
22 |
| 1 (SB) |
Axs, K9s, QTs, J9s |
22 |
| 0 (BB) |
Also remember that in the middle and late stages of a tournament you will need to start playing a few more hands as the blinds start to get larger but it is still best to stick to the hands listed in the table. Please see the next article for middle stages freeroll tournament strategy and don't forget to grab your free online poker clock at pokerclock.com for your home game tournaments today.
