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Choosing Starting Hands

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By A. Aguilar

For beginner players in Texas Hold'em, it is fundamental to adopt a methodology in terms of hand selection during the preflop (hands dealt either by a dealer or software shift). As you gain experience you may dare to emulate idols such as Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen and make a raise with J8, but initially it is strongly suggested to be very tight when choosing whether to go with a hand in a game or not. The best way to practice is to play in a big table (8-10 players) where aggression is usually lower than in less populated tables (4-6 players) and to only enter with the best hands, only about 10% of them will be worth entering for the pots.

If you are a novice and you play at tables where the stakes are low, your opponents will probably be also too inexperienced, and you must take advantage of your better hands. If you play good hands you will get higher pairs accompanied by better kickers. Example: you have AK and get an Ace, beating your rival who had a A7 and also had a pair.

Getting color would be best; imagine a case where you have an AQ of spades and there are 3 spades on community. You then are able to get all the money a poor wretch has played in when he entered with a K7 of spades, who was later stunned to see himself loose, especially with its color to the king. Punishment is due to come from with a bad hand. This example also works on a straight; you can get good cards later, forming a higher straight.

Again, I insist on the importance of the selection of hands to avoid the temptation to continue paying a hand with a top pair on the flop but a bad company that later sees our opponent winning the hand. Although they seem like just a few dollars, in the long run we will be losing a lot of money, a poor selection of hands on the pre-flop being the culprit.

Some of thefactors involved in the selection of hands on the pre-flop are position (the latest the position we get the better, if it fits the hand with which we enter) and type of table you are playing. Oftentimes low limit tables, where players are passive, are restricted only to pay the big blind. It is common to find 4-5 players in all flops. They gain important hands with high cards and the same suit KQ (king and queen) and generate large pots, having a chance to tie one of the best hands at a reasonable price. Besides, the low experience opponents can make us pay all their money with a pair or two.

If the table is very aggressive, higher couples and high cards earn importance, since it will be very expensive to pay for a project of flush or straight. Conclusion: If we are starting in this world of poker, it is best for you to get used to playing a few but winning hands, by doing this you will avoid unnecessary messes.