Poker Strategy

Tight Aggressive

The vast majority of new players start off playing every hand they get or every hand with a high card (J,Q,K or A). Often these hands are over valued. This is called "playing loose". Soon those players realise that it is a recipe for going broke quick and start to play "tight".

Which hands you chose to enter a pot with is one of the most critical decisions in No Limit Holdem (NLH). Making good decisions preflop will greatly increase your return! As the song says, you got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em and you should roughly be folding 2 out of 3 of your starting hands, 3 in 4 if you are playing very tight!

So which hands should you fold and which hands should you hold? If there was a correct answer to this, we'd all do the same thing and over time the only profitable position would be the dealers! The truth is that there is no magic formula but there are good basic principles and that's what I'll try and show you here. If you print this out and stick it to your computer I would be very surprised if you didn't see a noticeable increase in your returns.

While its nigh impossible to order starting hands perfectly, here is a good guide (in descending order). (An "s" means that the two cards are of the same suit, an "o" means they are off-suit ie: different suits).

AA			KT	S		Q9	S
KK			A9	S		J9	S
QQ			AJ	O		QJ	O
JJ			QT	S		A6	S
AK	S		KQ	O		55
AQ	S		77	O		A3	S
TT			JT	S		K8	S
AK	O		A8	S		KT	O
AJ	S		K9	S		98	S
KQ	S		AT	O		T8	S
99			A5	S		K7	S
AT	S		A7	S		A2	S
AQ	O		KJ	O		44
KJ	S		66	O		33
88			T9	S		22
QJ	S		A4	S

Does this mean you should play or raise with these hands regardless, whenever you get them? NO!!! But hands other then these should be discarded unless you are using an advanced strategy (and if you are, why are you reading this beginners guide?!). The number of players who think they should raise/call with A4o online is what has fuelled the stories of good players making millions!

If this list seems hard to memorise then do what I do and create a short mnemonic. Unless I am a blind or button, I will automatically muck anything that isn't:

1. A Pocket Pair
2. Two cards unsuited where one is over ten with a kicker over 8
3. Suited connectors (consecutive cards of the same suit, i.e.: 8, 9 of spades) higher than 6
4. An Ace with a suited kicker of any value.

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