Hold'em Starting-Hand Basics

The biggest money-losing mistake inexperienced players (and many experienced ones, for that matter) make in limit poker generally and Texas hold'em particularly is getting involved in hands they shouldn't play at all.

I have written many times about two basic but apparently conflicting concepts regarding starting hands. The first concept is that there are no hard-and-fast rules or formulas regarding starting hands, as each individual situation is unique and calls for independent analysis of numerous variables. The second concept is that starting-hand decisions are some of the easiest poker decisions, and that when confronted with identical scenarios, winning professional players will make identical decisions more than 90 percent of the time.

These thoughts are reconciled by the fact that winning players have knowledge derived from extensive experience over numerous trials about how different hands play in different situations, and an awareness of how the innumerable variables beyond just the cards you hold affect the decision to enter a pot, and if entering, whether to do so with a call or raise.

That said, all winning players know that good starting-hand requirements are an important factor in playing winning hold'em. Different two-card starting combinations have differing likelihoods of hitting strong flops and winning money. Understand that hitting strong flops and winning money are not necessarily the same thing situationally, as each case depends on independent variables. Although flop, turn, and river play warrant independent discussion, how hands play after the flop is a significant factor in preflop decision-making. You want to play starting hands that will show an overall profit and fold in the situations in which the hands will not show a profit.

There are only 169 different two-card starting hands in hold'em (disregarding suits), and this relatively small number gives rise to the idea in the minds of many that starting-hand play can be reduced to a formula along the lines of: "169 starting hands, 10 different possible positions. Positions can be broken down into early, middle, late, and the blinds, so there are 169 hands and four positional choices. Of the 169 hands, somewhere around 70 are totally unplayable, so there are 100 hands and four positional choices, which makes 400 starting scenarios. And perhaps I can further minimize what I have to memorize by breaking the combinations down into premium hands, non-premium pairs and big cards, and non-premium suited connectors/gappers. If I memorize a little bit, I'm ready to play hold'em."

Unfortunately, it just doesn't work that way. Contrary to the advice of many poker writers, there is not an easy-to-learn rote strategy regarding what hands are correct to play. This is not like memorizing multiplication tables. There is no formula that says if you hold two specific cards in a specific position, you should or should not enter a pot with a call or raise. Getting into a mindset of using a rote strategy will cause you to make many preflop-decision errors.

There are many variables affecting what constitutes a playable hand in any given situation. Position, player composition/styles, number of opponents, opponents' emotional states, tells, what happened in the previous hand, and how this hand can affect future hands are just a few of the things that factor in to determining the value of the cards you hold, and affect your decision of whether or how to enter a pot.

Fortunately, the most relevant variable applies to 100 percent of all starting-hand decisions, and is perhaps the easiest to apply to situational analyses of starting hands. That variable is position. At its most basic, the general rule regarding position is to play tighter in early position and looser in late position. It just sucks to have the worst hand in the worst position. Most players pay lip service to this fundamental principle; the garbage I see people, sometimes even knowledgeable players, turn over in early and middle position never ceases to amaze me.

After position, the variable that most affects hand selection is opponents' playing styles. Loose, passive players broaden your starting-hand possibilities. Tight, aggressive players require you to tighten up. Your information about your opponents will be based on your observation of their play, regardless of whether or not you are contesting a pot with them. When I am on a list for a game, I spend the time before I'm seated observing the game, learning what I can about the players. There is no spare time in poker. You're either in a hand or watching a hand; there are no other correct behaviors. And, yes, that includes flirting with the cocktail waitress.

Hand-selection decisions should be based on a sliding scale. The greater the positives of the situation, the more you can loosen up on your starting requirements. The greater the negatives, the more you should tighten up on your requirements. It is important to vary your hand-selection strategy when you are playing against opponents who are aware and will read and adjust to your hand selection. You must be deceptive by playing some hands differently in order to throw the opposition off and create doubt in their minds. In marginal situations that can be played in different ways, your analysis should attach strengths and weaknesses to the variables dictated by the field and the moment, thus defining which direction you should go.

One situation too often ignored regarding starting-hand decisions is how your kicker plays when holding two big cards, suited or unsuited. One must understand kicker issues and tend to avoid starting hands with kicker trouble in order to become a winning limit hold'em player. Kickers may be the most important component in after-the-flop loss of chips, and avoiding kicker traps is a major reason why starting-hand selection is such an important issue. It is likely that more bets are won and lost in kicker situations than in any other hold'em scenario. K-10 is always in deep trouble when an opponent holds K-J, and so on, and those who have high awareness of this when initially deciding whether to commit chips to the pot tend to be the ones taking down the dough.

You'll notice that in addressing starting-hand basics, I haven't suggested how you should play specific hands. That would run contrary to a correct approach to starting-hand decision-making. There is in the final analysis only one way to make a starting-hand decision: It must be based on the current situation. In other words, as I have so often said before, it all just depends.

Roy Cooke played winning professional poker for more than 16 years. He is a successful real estate broker/salesperson in Las Vegas. If you would like to ask Roy poker-related questions, you may do so online at www.UnitedPokerForum.com.