You are a beginner. You thought poker would be easy. You start playing. You keep on losing. You try to get better but don’t know how.
Do you suck at poker? Is this game just not for you? Is there anything you can do to get better?
The fact is, you are not that far behind. Those players who keep on taking your money aren’t really as good as you. All you need is a mastery of a few basic principles of the game and you will get better.
One of the most basic poker strategies for beginners is to play with fewer hands. This allows you to cut your losses from playing mediocre hands to the flop, only to fold them when someone raises.
In poker, disregarding specific suits, there are 169 possible starting hands. Out of these hands, only 5 of these are considered as premium. These hands are:
1. Pocket Aces (AA) 2. Pocket Kings (KK) 3. Pocket Queens (QQ) 4. Suited Ace King (AKs) 5. Pocket Jacks (JJ)
These are the 5 hands that a beginner should always play if no one else has raised before him. Other than that, playing a hand less than AA or AK may be considered a mistake.
I’m not saying that these 5 hands are the only hands you should play with. What I’m saying is you should learn to fold more often. The strategy of playing only good hands is known as playing tight and is the most profitable strategy for a beginner.
If you are not facing a raise, then you may play any hand with any kind of value. If you are facing a raise, then you should select the hands you would play with. A good idea is to choose hands that may give you the nuts or hands that help you not get dominated by your opponent’s hand.
As a beginner, the hands you should play with should only be the top 10-15 starting hands in Hold’em. This gives you the best chance to win and maximize your profits. Here are the top 15 starting hands:
1. Pocket Aces (AA) 2. Pocket Kings (KK) 3. Pocket Queens (QQ) 4. Ace King Suited (AKs) 5. Pocket Jacks (JJ) 6. Pocket Tens (TT) 7. Ace Queen Suited (AQs) 8. Ace Jack Suited (AJs) 9. Ace King Off Suit (AKo) 10. King Queen Suited (KQs) 11. Ace Ten Suited (ATs) 12. King Jack Suited (KJs) 13. Ace Queen Suited (AQs) 14. Pocket Nines (99) 15. Jack Queen Suited (JQs)
For the best poker advice, head on to IncreaseYourPokerIq.com and become a great poker player today!
