Texas Hold'em Starting Hands

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One of the most important decisions you will make is whether or not to see the flop with your first two cards. What you are really doing in this stage of the game is deciding whether or not to invest YOUR MONEY in a pot with the hope of winning it back plus a lot more. To help you decide, you should have some idea about which two cards are playable and which are not. Remember, there are only 169 possible two-card starting combinations, so it's not that difficult to learn them.

Below is the generally accepted decisions, but they are not to be followed blindly. Pairs of the same rank have equal value before the flop. Similarly suited cards also are in this category. You will notice from the information below that you will play far fewer hands in early position and that suited cards have a lot more value than unsuited cards of equal rank. Again, you should not blindly follow the information below, but use it as a point of reference.