%20(1).jpg "4 Hands You Should Always Play (Don't Fold These!)")
This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.
One of the most common beginner poker mistakes is playing too many hands preflop.
If you want to quickly improve your poker game, the best place to start is to only play strong starting hands.
This will give you an automatic advantage over opponents who play just about any random hand.
In this article, we’ll go over 4 starting poker hand categories all beginner poker players should play, and the best way to play each category for maximum profits.
Let’s get right into it.
Best Poker Hand Category #1: Pocket Pairs
The first hand category all beginner poker players should play is pocket pairs (pocket Aces through pocket Twos).
Pocket pairs have a statistical advantage over unpaired starting hands, because you already have a made hand preflop.
Some pocket pairs are strong enough in and of themselves, while lower pocket pairs usually need to improve post flop in order to be played profitably.
There are fewer combinations of pocket pairs compared to unpaired hands in no-limit hold’em, meaning you’re less likely to be dealt a pocket pair than an unpaired hand.
There are 6 different combinations (or combos) of each pocket pair you can be dealt, which means there’s a total of 78 combos of paired hands in no limit hold’em.
And there are a total of 1326 different starting combos of potential starting hands you can be dealt.
This means that the chance of getting dealt a pocket pair is 5.88%, so you will be dealt a pocket pair roughly once every 17 hands.
Pocket pairs have the potential of making very strong post flop combinations like sets or even full houses.
With that in mind, we can categorize the paired hands in 3 different categories based on their strength:
a) strong pocket pairs: (aka premium pocket pairs): pocket Aces through pocket Jacks)
b) medium pocket pairs: pocket Tens through pocket Sevens
c) small pocket pairs: pocket Sixes through pocket Twos
This categorization is not set in stone, however. There’s a bit of an overlap between the categories.
For example, sometimes you can treat pocket Tens as a premium pocket pair, or you can treat pocket Sevens as a small pocket pair, depending on different factors.
Let’s start by examining how to play strong pocket pairs first.
a) Strong pocket pairs
These are the strongest starting hands you can be dealt in no-limit hold’em, and they will be your most profitable hands overall.
If you’re using a hand tracking software like PokerTracker 4, you can check these stats yourself.
Chances are, you'd be surprised by how much more you earn with premium pocket pairs compared to all the others starting hands.
The best way to play premium pocket pairs is to play them very aggressively, both preflop and post flop.
These hands are so strong that they often don’t even need to improve post flop to be played profitably.
That’s because they will often make an overpair on the flop, which is a relatively strong hand combination.
An overpair is a pocket pair that’s stronger than the strongest card on the flop.
For example, on a board like: Q♦8♣5♥ pocket Aces and pocket Kings are an overpair.
Pocket Aces will obviously always flop at least an overpair, which makes it the strongest starting hand in no-limit hold’em.
Other premium pocket pairs won’t always flop an overpair, but they should still be played aggressively preflop.
The range of pocket Aces through pocket Jacks will flop an overpair 60.4% of the time.
So if you get dealt a premium pocket pair, you should always open-raise it preflop.
If another player open-raises before you, you should raise them back (i.e. make a 3-bet).
Here’s why you should always play your premium hands aggressively preflop:
a) to build up the pot
If you have a strong hand, you want to build up the pot with it as quickly as possible.
The bigger the pot you build preflop, the easier it is to ship the rest of your money in the middle post flop.
b) to gain initiative
If you are the preflop aggressor, you have the opportunity to make a continuation bet (aka a c-bet) on the flop).
If you flop an overpair, you want to keep building up the pot while you can get called by a lot of weaker hands.
c) to avoid multiway pots
A multiway pot is a pot with more than 2 players involved.
By playing aggressively preflop, you’re making multiway pots less likely, meaning you will ideally get to the flop against only one opponent, which will make it a lot easier to win the pot.
Some players may try to get tricky and slowplay their strong hands preflop, but this is usually a mistake.
If you slowplay your strong hands, you’re inviting other players to see the flop cheaply.
And since every hand will have some chunk of equity against you, you’re increasing the risk of your strong hand getting outdrawn.
So when players complain about constantly getting their Aces cracked, one of the reasons may be the fact they’re allowing too many multiway pots.
c) medium pocket pairs
Medium pocket pairs aren’t going to flop an overpair as often as premium pocket pairs, so they are a lot trickier to play.
You should still make an open-raise with them if you’re the first player to enter the pot.
You can also throw in an occasional 3-bet with them, especially with stronger pair like pocket Tens or pocket Nines.
But you can also just flat call with them preflop and keep the pot size more manageable.
After that, it all depends on the board runout and your relative hand strength.
If you manage to hit a set, you should look to play for a big pot and potentially stack your opponent.
If not, you should try to go for a cheap showdown, as you will usually have decent showdown value.
Hands with showdown value are hands that aren’t strong to value bet with (i.e. you can’t get called by weaker hands) but can often win at showdown unimproved.
For example, let’s say you are dealt pocket Tens and you see the following board runout.
A♦7♣4♦J♠2♥
You can’t really value bet in this spot, because you’re not likely to get called by any weaker hands.
But you can still win the pot from time to time, as your opponent could have a number of weaker hands like busted draws (like KQ, KT, 65) or a weaker pocket pair like pocket Nines, pocket Eights and so on.
For this reason, medium pocket pairs usually make for good bluff catchers.
As the name suggests, bluff catchers are medium strength hands that can’t bet for value, but can be used to catch bluffs if your opponent has a lot of air in their range.
c) Small pocket pairs
Small pocket pairs (aka baby pairs) will practically never flop an overpair, so they need to be played differently than stronger pocket pairs.
Small pairs need to improve post flop in order to be played profitably.
This is why it’s best to play them as set mines.
To set mine means to call a preflop bet with the sole intention of hitting a set post flop and potentially stacking your opponent.
Set mining can be extremely profitable, but only if you do it the right way.
You shouldn’t just set mine every chance you get, because the odds of hitting a set post flop are not in your favour.
The chance of flopping a set with a pocket pair is only 11.8%.
So you should only set mine if you can potentially make at least 10 times the initial investment.
For example, if your opponent open-raises to 3 BB, you need to be able to win at least 30 BB post flop in order to set mine profitably.
For this reason, calling 3-bets with small pocket pairs is not likely to be a winning proposition, unless the effective stack sizes are super deep.
That’s because calling 3-bets is relatively expensive, and you will usually just need to fold on the flop when you encounter a 3-bet and you miss your set (which will be the most common scenario).
Playing baby pairs in single-raised pot is a different story, because you don’t have to pay up as much in advance, and your opponent will likely have more than enough chips in their stack to make set mining profitable.
If you’re the first to enter the pot, however, you can still make a standard open-raise, unless you’re playing in early table positions.
When that’s the case, you should usually just fold baby pairs, because you’re
a) unlikely to play in position post flop
b) you run the risk of getting 3-bet
c) unlikely to hit a set post flop.
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Best Poker Hand Category #2: Broadway Hands
The next hand category all beginner poker players should play is broadway hands.
Broadway hands are strong face cards that can make the strongest possible straight, like AJ or KQ.
Aside from the potential of making strong straights, broadway hands can make strong pairs with good kickers.
A kicker is the card in your hands that doesn’t help you make a certain hand combination, but can often determine the winner of the hand if both players have the same combination.
For example, if both players have a pair of Aces, the player with the stronger kicker wins the hand.
And since one pair is the most common hand combination you’ll make in no-limit hold’em, you want to make sure that you’re playing hands with good kickers.
This way, your hand will often dominate your opponent’s hand, instead of the other way around.
A dominated hand is the one that’s unlikely to win against a stronger hand due to a weaker kicker.
For example, if you play Ace-King, you will dominate all the other Ax hands in your opponent’s range.
Similar to premium pocket pairs, you usually want to play your strong broadways fast, especially preflop.
This means open-raising or even 3-betting preflop.
This will allow you to keep up the aggression post flop with a c-bet when you connect with the flop.
Broadway hands will often flop a top pair, meaning you can c-bet for value and get called by a number of weaker hands.
Even if you miss the flop, you will usually have one or two overcards, meaning you can still make a c-bet.
This way, you can either make your opponent fold right away, or potentially improve to a strong pair on future streets.
When you make a c-bet on the flop with the intention of making your opponent fold, this is known as a light c-bet (aka a bluff c-bet).
If you make a light c-bet, it’s usually better to do it with hands that have the potential to improve on future streets, as will often be the case with strong broadways.
However, unlike premium pocket pairs, broadway hands need to improve post flop in order to be played profitably.
You can still make a c-bet with them on most flops unless you happen to miss the flop completely and the flop seems to connect well with your opponent’s calling range.
Beginner Poker Example Hand #1
Cash Game, Effective Stack Size: 100 BB
You are dealt A♦Q♦ in the MP (middle position). You open-raise to 3 BB. Villain calls from the BB (big blind).
Pot: 6.5 BB
Flop: K62
Villain checks.
You: ???
You should c-bet 3 BB.
Even though you missed the flop, you can still go ahead and make a standard c-bet in this spot for a few reasons.
First of all, the board is bone-dry, meaning it’s hard for your opponent to have connected with it in some meaningful way.
There aren’t any two pair combos that make sense here, because your opponent is unlikely to have called preflop with a hand like K6, K2, or 62.
So your opponent is just as likely to have missed the flop as you.
The only hands that could reasonably call you here are some Kx or 6x hands, and maybe some medium pocket pairs.
There’s also sets of Sixes or Twos, of course, but there’s only 6 combos of those available.
Another factor that’s going in your favour is the range advantage.
Your opponent is less likely to have strong Kx combos like AK or KQ because they would likely 3-bet those instead of calling preflop.
On the other hand, you can still have a number of strong Kx combos in your range.
Finally, even if you get called, your hand could still improve on future streets.
Any Ace will give you a top pair, and you also have backdoor straight and flush draws.
A backdoor draw means you need both turn and river cards to complete your draw.
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Best Poker Hand Category #3: Suited Aces
Suited Aces are great hands with an insane nuts potential.
The nuts simply refers to the strongest potential hand on a given board.
When you play suited Aces, you’re drawing to the strongest possible flush.
This means you don’t have to worry about only having the second best hand if you do manage to make a flush.
In other words, you don’t have to worry about reverse implied odds.
Implied odds refer to the amount of money you can potentially earn on future streets if you complete your draw.
Reverse implied odds refer to the amount of money you stand to lose if you complete your draw, but your opponent ends up having an even stronger hand.
Reverse implied odds are not an issue when you make a nuts flush, unless the board happens to be paired, in which case your opponent can theoretically beat you with a full house.
But these spots are extremely rare, so you don’t really have to worry about it.
It’s very rare for one player to make a monster hand in no-limit hold’em, let alone two.
And even if it does happen, it’s just a cooler and there’s not much you can do about it.
Another factor that makes suited Aces great hands is their versatility, i.e. their ability to connect with the flop in more than one way.
Making the nuts flush is great, but it won’t really happen all that often.
But the beauty of playing suited Aces is that you don't necessarily need to make the flush to play them profitably.
Aside from their ability to make the nuts flush, suited Aces can also make a top pair post flop.
And small suited Aces (A5s through A2s) can also make a straight, which nicely adds to their nuts potential.
Due to their great post flop playability, suited Aces also make for great 3-bet bluffing hands.
A 3-bet bluff (aka a light 3-bet) is a bet made with the intention of making your opponents fold and taking down the pot preflop.
When you make a light 3-bet, it's better to do so with a hand that has decent post flop playability in case your 3-bet gets called.
Beginner Poker Example Hand #2
Cash Game, Effective Stack Size: 100 BB
You are dealt A2s in the SB (small blind).
Villain open-raises to 2.5 BB in the CO (cutoff).
You: ???
You should 3-bet to 10 BB.
You should 3-bet to 10 BB.
Flat calling is not a bad option in this spot, but a 3-bet is likely to be more profitable.
If you flat call, you run the risk of getting 3-bet squeezed from the player in the big blind, which can put you in an awkward situation.
And if the big blind just flat calls, it means you'll be playing out of position against two opponents without the initiative.
Your hand can also easily be dominated by all the other Ax hands.
For these reasons, a light 3-bet is much more preferable.
If you 3-bet, you're attacking a relatively wide cutoff open-raising range, and a lot of the hands in that range can't stand the pressure of a 3-bet.
And if you make your opponent fold any Ax hand, that's a complete win for you because you've denied them their equity and you've won the pot with a weaker hand.
If your 3-bet does get called, all is not lost, because you still have a decent hand that can connect the flop in more than one way.
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Best Poker Hand Category #4: Suited Connectors
The last hand category all beginner poker players should play is suited connectors, i.e. cards of the same suit that are directly adjacent to one another, like 9♥8♥ or 7♠6♠.
Suited connectors are great speculative hands that can connect with the board in a variety of ways.
They can make both straights and flushes, which makes them potentially very profitable.
Similar to the small pocket pairs, these hands need to improve post flop in order to be played profitably.
Suited connectors favour deep effective stack sizes, and the deeper the better.
In other words, these hands prefer good implied odds, because you want to get your money’s worth if you do manage to hit a strong combination post flop.
For this reason, suited connectors are likely to be more profitable in cash games, where the effective stack sizes are usually a lot deeper than in poker tournaments.
In multitable tournaments, the effective stack sizes are usually quite shallow, especially in the later stages of the tournaments.
In cash games, you would usually sit at the stack size of 100 big blinds, or even more if you’re playing deepstacked.
This is where suited connectors perform best.
The idea behind playing suited connectors is that you want to see a cheap flop and potentially hit a strong combination.
Suited connectors also have decent playability even against strong premium hands due to their great nuts potential.
For example, a hand like 65s has a decent amount of equity even against pocket Aces, meaning it has great Aces-cracking potential.
Six-Five suited has 22% equity against pocket Aces, which is one of the reasons it made it to my list of the top 4 underrated poker hands you should be playing more frequently.
One of the reasons suited connectors perform well even against premium pocket pairs is the fact that you have more outs available to make a potential straight.
For example, if you play a hand like QJs, it actually has less equity against pocket Aces, because it has less available outs to make a straight.
Again, suited connectors depend on their ability to flop monster combinations, which is not going to happen all that frequently.
That’s why it’s important to see a cheap flop, and make sure your opponent has enough chips in their stack to make playing them worthwhile.
For this reason, suited connectors don’t really mind the multiway pots as much as premium pocket pairs.
If you have more opponents involved in the pot, it’s more likely that at least one of them will be willing to pay you off if you manage to make a monster hand.
This is especially the case in most low stakes games where players may overvalue certain hand combinations like top pair, two pair and so on.
However, there is one issue you need to be aware of when playing small suited connectors, and that is the reverse implied odds.
Unlike suited Aces where you’re always drawing to the strongest possible flush, you may be drawing to only the second best flush when playing small suited connectors.
Small suited connectors like 32s or 43s may look pretty enough at a glance, but may actually get you in trouble if you make a flush with them.
That’s because there’s a number of stronger flushes that can potentially beat you, meaning you may end up with only the second best hand.
If you’re drawing to a straight, you may encounter a similar problem, because you may be drawing to the bottom end of a straight.
For example, if you play a hand like 4♦3♦ and the flop is: K♦5♣6♥
If you hit a Seven, your opponent could still beat you if they hold 98.
So the smaller the suited connector, the more caution you need to exercise when playing it post flop.
This doesn’t mean these hands are completely unplayable, but there are risks involved you need to take into account.
Beginner Poker Example Hand #3
Cash Game, Effective Stack Size: 100 BB
You are dealt 8♥7♥s in the BB (big blind). UTG (under the gun) open-raises to 2.5 BB. CO (cutoff) calls.
You: ???
You should call.
This is a good spot to flat call and play some poker post flop.
Calling is usually the last option you should consider preflop, as you want to get to most flops as the preflop aggressor.
This means open-raising or 3-betting if you have the chance to do so.
In this spot, however, calling is likely to be the best option.
You can see a cheap flop and the effective stack sizes are very deep, which gives you great implied odds.
Also, the open-raiser’s range is likely to be quite strong, since they are open-raising under the gun.
This means they will be more likely to pay you off if you manage to hit a strong combination post flop.
4 Hands You Should Always Play - Summary
If you’re a beginner poker player, you don’t necessarily need to learn a lot of advanced poker strategy to start winning quickly.
All you need to do is learn the basics of tight and aggressive strategy, which involves only playing strong starting hands preflop.
To sum up, here are 4 poker hand categories beginners should play preflop.
1. Pocket pairs
Pocket pairs have a statistical advantage over unpaired hands preflop, and they have the ability to make strong combinations post flop like sets and full houses.
Premium pocket pairs are often strong enough in and of themselves, while medium or small pocket pairs usually need to improve post flop to be played profitably.
2. Broadway hands
Broadway hands have the ability to make the strongest possible straight post flop, and they can also make strong pairs with good kickers.
Since one pair is the most common combination you’re going to make in no-limit hold’em, broadway hands are going to be your most profitable hands overall, trailing behind only premium pocket pairs.
3. Suited Aces
Suited Aces are great versatile hands that can connect with the flop in more than one way.
Aside from the ability to make a top pair on the flop, they can also make the nuts flush, which makes them potentially very profitable.
4. Suited connectors
Suited connectors are speculative hands that can make strong combinations like straights and flushes, and they can connect with a variety of different board textures.
However, you should be careful when playing small suited connectors, since you run the risk of making only the second best hand post flop.
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This article was written by Fran Ferlan
Poker player, writer and coach
Specializing in live and online cash games
For coaching enquiries, contact Fran at fran.redline@gmail.com
Or apply directly for poker coaching with Fran, right here
Lastly, if you want to know the complete strategy I use to make $2000+ per month in small/mid stakes games, grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.
