Beginners Poker Strategy

As a beginner, the hands you choose to play preflop will have a huge effect on your results. A beginner who uses a solid poker strategy will generally play less starting hands that they would expect. This is because a tight poker strategy is usually the most profitable for a beginner, and also will avoid difficult decisions.

What follows are basic guidelines to playing hands preflop as a beginner in Texas Holdem.

Pocket Aces

AA is the best possible hand preflop. Even beginners will have no difficulty making money with this hand. The correct strategy is to try and get as much money into the pot as you can. Either raise yourself, or limp with the intention of re-raising, depending on how aggressive your opponents are.

Post Flop: Even though pocket Aces are the best starting hand preflop, if the board doesn’t improve your hand you only have an overpair. You can still bet on the flop, but if someone hangs around you might want to slow down a bit to avoid getting stacked by sets or even 2 pair. You can also read “How to Play Aces”.

Pocket Kings

Pocket kings are extremely similar to pocket aces pre-flop: If you get dealt this hand, go ahead and push the betting along just like you would if you had AA. Even a beginner will show good results with a hand as powerful as KK. Some people will tell you that folding KK preflop if you are “certain” that your opponent has aces is the right thing to do, and is even the mark of a good player. This is not true however. The chances of an opponent being dealt AA when you have KK is only about 1 in 21, so its best to assume your hand is the best and bet it aggressively.

If someone else is dealt AA when you have KK, go ahead and get it all in. Don’t worry about this, just accept that 1 time in 22 this will happen, and move on.

Post Flop: The same post-flop plays that your would make with AA are also applicable to KK. On top of the “mere overpair” consideration, you also need to be aware that if an Ace flops, and you encounter significant resistance, you are probably very far behind. Beginners can get into trouble with kings if they refuse to let go of the hand when an ace flops. You might want to read Playing Kings in Texas Holdem for further information.

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Pocket Queens and Jacks

Queens and jacks are often difficult hands for a beginner to play. They are strong hands, but not necessarily hands you want to go all the way with preflop. A beginner should still find them to be very profitable hands if played intelligently however.

You can still raise or re-raise with these two hands, but if there is action after that preflop, you are almost certainly beaten, and folding might be the safest decision.

Post Flop: If there was a raise and a re-raise preflop, you only want to continue with these hands if you flop a set, or if your opponents show any signs of weakness, like checking the flop. Don’t be willing to stack off just because your JJ flopped an overpair. If you encounter heavy post-flop action on a 9 high flop, you are in trouble. You can read Playing Jacks in Texas Holdem for more discussion about this hand.

Pocket Pairs Below Jacks

Example: 2♣2♦ or 7♠7♥,

These hands are great to play cheaply, either limping in yourself or calling a single raise. As a beginner, you are “set mining” with these hands. If you don’t hit your set, you can just let the hand go. The only objective with these hands is to flop a set and double up through the pre-flop raiser holding AA or KK hopefully.

Occasionally you will hit a set with your 2♣2♦, and someone else will hit a set with a higher pair. In this situation, you will almost certainly lose your entire stack. Don’t let that hinder you from betting when you do hit a set however. Most of the time when all the money goes in you will be way in front with your set, so go ahead and get the money in.

Top-Pair Hands

Example:A♠K♥, A♣Q♦

Hands such as A-K, A-Q, A-J and even on some tables K-Q can be profitable hands to play. At a particularly loose table, these hands are great for raising when you have position, and nobody has yet raised in front of you.

Your goal when playing these hands is to hit top pair and get paid off by a loose opponent (perhaps another beginner) who has the same top pair, but with a weaker kicker. Keep in mind with hands such as K-Q or A-J that you DON’T want to call a raise with them preflop, otherwise you may find yourself in a situation where YOU are the one being dominated.

Post-Flop: Just as with AA and KK, you need to remember that one pair is a good hand, but not a monster. Many beginners will fall into the trap of sing a top pair hand as almost invincible. If your opponent is a respectable player however, they probably wont be making large bets against you if unless they can beat top pair.

Against a tight player, try to keep the pot small. Against a looser player, you can still bet out if they check, but it is still best to just call if they bet, unless the board has potential draws.

Suited Connectors and Suited One-Gappers

Example:9♠T♠, 5♥7♥

Suited connectors are considered speculative hands, because if you can see the flop cheaply with them, you might flop a monster or at least a strong draw that could win you a big pot. Beginners and intermediates should play these hands using the same strategy: because they will miss the flop much more than they will hit, you usually only want to play them when you have position, and can see the flop for no more that a single raise or better yet, a limp. You should usually fold suited connectors from early position too, because of the uncertainty that you will be able to see the flop cheaply.

Suited Aces

Example: A♥4♥, A♠9♠

Suited Aces are hands that can get beginners into a lot of trouble if they don’t have a proper strategy. Suited Aces are played similarly to suited connectors in that you are trying to flop a big hand or draw, and if you don’t, you can fold. You aren’t playing suited aces to try and hit your ace. You want to either flop 2 pair, trips with your low card, or a flush or flush draw. If you hit an ace in a raised pot, you are almost certainly beat if someone else has an ace with a bigger kicker. You might call a single bet on the flop if you pair your ace, but if you encounter further betting and don’t improve, you are done with the hand.

Other Hands

Example:8♠T♥, 2♠6♣, Q♥10♦

Every other hand not listed above is unplayable for a beginner. Some hands such as an off-suit K-T or J-8 might seem pretty good, with two high cards, and some feeble straight possibilities, but these hands will almost certainly lose you money.

Playing too many hands is the biggest mistake that you can make as a beginner or even as an intermediate poker player. Follow this preflop poker strategy, and you will go into most hands with an advantage, that should see you winning the pot more often than not.