Online poker has become highly sophisticated in the last ten years. Many players now think that they need all kinds of advanced strategies and intricate plays in order to win at poker.
The truth is that the basics still work really well, if you know how to play them properly.
The top ten starting hands – those two cards that every player is dealt before a hand begins – are still the same as they have always been. Here they are in order of strength with the best at the top;
A pair of Aces
A pair of Kings
A pair of Queens
Ace King suited (of the same suit, such as both are diamonds)
A pair of Jacks
A pair of Tens
A pair of Nines
A pair of Eights
Ace Queen suited
A pair of Sevens
Don’t think that these hands will win all the time. They won’t. They won’t even win most of the time. But if you play them properly and against the right opponents they will win enough to make your game profitable.
Ideally you should play these cards very aggressively and you should play at the lower limit stakes in no-limit hold’em.
It will be more difficult to play these properly in the ‘limit’ variations of Hold’em, but if you are prepared for the bad beats, then by all means play that variation too.
At the lower limits of all online poker games, many players are going to far, and committing too much money, on the longer odds hands. Playing hands just because you feel lucky, or they are your favorite hands, or you have paid the blinds, ends up costing you money in the long run. And while you may hit your nut flush on the river, you won’t do it often enough to be still in the hand holding a flush draw at the river card.
Typically, when you are dealt one of those starting hands, depending on position, you should raise aggressively. Generally, a good rule is to raise three times the big bling, plus one blind for every player still in the hand.
Raising like that should mean that you have few opponents still paying to see the flop, and so your chances of winning are increased against less opponents.
One more thing to consider is that if you only play these ten hands you will be not laying quite a lot of the time. Also, playing like this is quite easy for the other players to spot, and before long you will only be going up against opponents who are holding similar cards.
Thankfully, at the very low limits most players are still willing to play with any two cards even against a solid tight aggressive player, so there is still money to be made.