All other starting hands are in the offsuit category, like A♠8 ♦, 7♣5 ♥ and K ♥9 ♦. Suited hands contain two cards of the same suit, like J♣9♣, A ♥K ♥, K♠Q♠ and 9 ♦3 ♦.
Let’s first become familiar with the common poker starting hand notations you’ll often see in articles from the Upswing Poker Strategy section and elsewhere.Īll Texas Hold’em starting hands can be separated into two categories: “suited” and “offsuit”.
Preflop mistakes will sabotage your game, so let’s go through some of the essential elements of selecting your Texas Hold’em Starting Hands: Strong hands like A ♥A♣ and K♠K ♦ should always be played from any position, while hands like 8 ♥3♣ are very weak and should almost never proceed past the preflop betting round.įactors like position, number of players in the hand, and playing style of your opponents should all be considered when deciding to put money in the pot preflop. It’s critical to have a solid understanding of poker hand rankings, what hands are worth playing, and how those hands change based on your position at the table. If you’re playing a winning strategy, you’ll be folding preflop more than 70 percent of the time. Success in Texas Hold’em starts with good preflop hand selection.
