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Step 4: Learning which starting
hands to play:
Starting hand selection is one of the fundamental skills of Texas Hold’em No
Limit, so take your time with this step. The concept of position is closely tied
to hand selection and thus needs explaining before we can move on. In my
previous post I described the Texas Hold’em No Limit gameplay and the role of
the Big Blind, The Small Blind and the dealer. The dealer in Texas Hold’em has
the best position on the entire table, since he/she is the third last player to
act in the first betting round and the last player to act in all the subsequent
betting rounds. Being the last player to act is a major advantage in Texas
Hold’em. You won’t be betting blindly into a pot without knowing what players
after you will do, and being last to act you gain a great deal of information on
which cards the other players might have from their betting patterns. In
addition you will know exactly what your pot odds (I will explain this concept
in a following post) are for calling and therefore make correct decisions every
time.
Due to the importance of position, the range of starting hands you should
play changes according to your placement on the table relative to the dealer
button. Generally speaking you will have a much tighter hand selection when you
are in early position (Small Blind, Big Blind, UTG (”under the gun”; the player
to the immediate left of the Big Blind), UTG+1) as compared to middle position
(UTG+2, UTG+3, UTG+4, TB-2 (”The Button”; the position of the dealer) and late
position (TB-1, TB). I am a conservative player which is reflected in the
following hand selection suggestions. If you are an agressive player you will
play your opponents more than your cards, but since this is not my style of play
I will not write about it here.
Early Position:
Raise with AA, KK, QQ, JJ, 1010, AK (suited or unsuited), AQ (suited)
MIddle Position:
Raise with AA, KK, QQ, JJ, 1010, AK (suited or unsuited), AQ (suited), 99,
88, AQ (unsuited), AJ (suited or unsuited), KQ (suited or unsuited)
Late Position:
Raise with AA, KK, QQ, JJ, 1010, AK (suited or unsuited), AQ (suited), 99,
88, AQ (unsuited), AJ (suited or unsuited), KQ (suited or unsuited), 77, ace-x,
QJ (suited), J10 (suited)
The hand selection listed above, applies in the situation where all players
before you have folded of if you have very few callers. In my next post I will
give a more detailed explanation of how your hand selection and betting patterns
should change according to the action before you.
This post belong to the following series:
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Blog. Read all about
it here.
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