Preflop Starting Hands - Texas Holdem Strategy

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Can you afford to look at the flop? That's a very important question to ask when you're serious about winning at Texas Hold'em. Hand values are relative, so a hand can be good under some situations and worthless under other conditions. For instance, if there has been a lot of action, like a raise and a re-raise and then someone calling the re-raise, it might be better to fold anything besides AA/KK and even fold a KK if you felt that the players were very tight. Remember, hand values are relative, so always think about what the other guy has and guess if you have the better starting hand than him before going in.

Hands to raise with, non-raised flop: Paired cards, A10+, KQ,KJ, QJ, J10s

Hands to call a raise with: high paired cards, AQ, AK, AJ(maybe), KQ

Hands to re-raise a raise: This depends on the raiser. Re-riase a maniac with any pair or A9+ b/c you'll probably be winning at the flop. Otherwise, re-riase with made hands like JJ, QQ, KK, AA (although you might be tempted to smoothe call with JJ)

Hands to call and hope to build a pot with (early position) high suited connectors (i.e. 910s)

Click here for a more detailed list of Playable Starting Hands.