Easy Beginner Starting Hand Rules

As you get better at poker, you’ll realise that starting hands can be good or bad not just depending on what they are but also what type of opponents you are playing against and what your position on the table is?

This can sound way too complicated for beginners who just want to start playing and get a few good useful tips from the beginning. In that case, I recommend that you only see the flop when these are your starting cards:

Pairs

Anything higher than 7-7. You might be tempted to play 2-2 but it is simply too risky and you can bet that someone will have better than you if they have decided to play all the way to the showdown. Bluffing will not help you then.

Others

A-K, A-Q. If you don’t even have a pair then you need either the best connector available or the next best thing. At least these cards offer the possibility of getting a top pair from the community cards. And if someone else gets the same pair then at least you will have a game winning high kicker to go with it.

If you play like this then you will appear to be a tight player who is to be reckoned with when they bet or raise. You’ll be able to use this image later and force people to fold. For example, you spot a player who limps in and checks. If you are bold and make a hefty bet of around 4x the big blind then they will be unlikely to challenge you.