Starting Hands
Some people like Mike Farr and to an extent Mike Wright have rules about which starting hands you should play but I think this is mechanical and makes for dull poker. In my opinion, a better way to learn about starting hands is to discover what strengths, weaknesses and other factors you are looking for, since you can then apply this knowledge to all varieties of the game. Of course, making judgements about these factors is partially dependent on your experience, so this may not be the best approach for rank beginners who could do better by avoiding marginal situations and staying out of trouble.
In my mind however, there's no doubt that great players don't rely on charts and rules about what hands can be played and when.
Starting hand selection is the first step to winning at poker. In some games, like limit Omaha Eight or Better, even the most pathetically passive player may be able to win simply by exercising proper discipline when selecting starting hands.
When looking at a starting hand, you evaluate its strengths and weaknesses in comparison to other starting hands in the same game. For example, it would not be correct to say that 8-7 in hold'em has good straight potential, without comparing it to another hand like 7-2, which has very little.
Here are the factors you should evaluate:
High Card Strength
The strength of the cards in poker is an exponential scale. In a high-only game, a three is only slightly stronger than a two, but an ace is significantly stronger than a king.
For example, in Hold'em, a hand like 3-2 has very little high card strength, a hand like A-2 has medium high card strength (since it has only one big card), and a hand like A-K has a huge amount of high card strength.
In some games, high card strength alone may be enough to win the pot. In Hold'em for example, it is not uncommon for ace-high or even king-high to win a showdown? pre flop such as in an all-in situation.
Straight Potential
The closer your cards are in rank, the more likely you are to make a straight with the hand. Pure mathematical fact
Flush Potential
In Hold'em, if your cards are suited they have much better potential to make a flush than if they are not.
Pair Strength
If the hand includes a pair already, that is a significant advantage. A hand including a pair often has good potential to turn into a very strong hand like trips, a full house, or four of a kind.
Is some games it is common for a pair to win unimproved, although the rank of the pair is extremely important. In Hold'em for example, aces are a gigantic favourite over any other hand before the flop is dealt, whereas? a pair of twos? are at best a 50-50 shot.
Big Pot Potential
In other words, how likely are you to make a big? pot when your opponent has a good second-best hand?
Big Loss Potential
How likely are you to make a big hand only to have it beaten by a better one? It is possible to lose more money with K-J than any other hand in Hold'em. This is because K-J has a lot of potential to become a second best hand . Flop a king and you are behind to K-Q, A-K, K-K and A-A, or flop a jack and you are behind to A-J, J-J, Q-Q, K-K, and A-A, all of which your opponents are likely to play.
Opponents' Tendencies
If you take into account what hands you have seen your opponents playing, you can compare your hand with their most likely holdings and make some very intelligent decisions. For example, in Hold'em, if you know that one opponent only raises in early position with A-A, K-K and A-K, and he does raise from under the gun, you can fold a hand like A-Q without a second thought.
Usually your opponents aren't this tight and you are exploiting their weaknesses by playing hands that are, on average, better than theirs.
Position
It is nearly always to your advantage to act last. There are exceptions, such as when you have a very aggressive player to your left and wish to eliminate players, or if you wish to trap someone who always calls between you and another player. However, most of the time, the extra information that you gain by acting after your opponents is invaluable.
Because being in late position is such an advantage, you can sometimes play hands that are weaker than usual since your position will compensate for this. For example, you might play a J-10s in Hold'em, which is a hand you would probably not play in early position in a typical game.
Counterfeiting and Redraw Potential
In Hold'em, a small two pairs frequently loses, because the board pairs and gives the opponent a higher two pair, or the same two pair with a higher kicker. This reduces the value of small pairs and connected hands even further.
Odds
Sometimes it can be correct to play hands that seem bizarre because the odds you are receiving from the pot and from the other players are so high. For example, in Hold'em, you should almost definitely play a 10-8 from the button if every other player in a full game has called preflop. The odds against making the winning hand are smaller than the odds being offered by the pot and the players, so you actually profit playing the 10-8 as long as you play well after the flop. In other words, the better odds you are receiving, the more marginal hands (particularly long shot draws to big hands) you should play.
Odds are the reason why it is sometimes correct to play suited connectors in Hold'em. Hands like this require good odds, and you get those from having multiple opponents. There are other hands that don't need as good odds to be playable (such as A-K), and in these cases it is usually to your advantage to play against fewer players since the chances of losing the pot are then smaller.
The ante structure is one of the factors that most greatly influences the odds you are receiving. If there was no ante or blind bet in poker, it would rarely be correct to make the first bet without the best possible hand. So, if the antes or blinds are large in relation to the bets on the first betting round, you should play more hands, and if the antes and blinds are comparatively small, you should play fewer hands.
Remember that if your stack is small, you might not be getting as good odds as you think!
This shows that selection of starting hands is not as simple as memorising a chart or set of rules. Like almost every part of poker, it is a deeply complicated process requiring a lot of thought and analysis. Next time you look down at your first hole card and see an Ace, don't automatically decide to play.