Holdem Starting Hands

Positions In Texas Hold'em


Early Position

When in early position, you must play extra tight. You want to stick with strong hands like AA-TT, AK, AQ, AJs and KQs. If you’re playing shorthanded, you can play all the pocket pairs down to 22 if you come in with a raise.

You should never limp into the pot from early position. If a hand isn’t strong enough to raise preflop, it should be folded from early position. Weak hands are hard to play from out of position, especially if it gets raised up behind you. Always come in with a raise from early position.


Late Position


You can play many more hands from late position thanks to the advantage of acting last. The information advantage you gain by acting last each betting round is huge – you get to see every action your opponents take before you have to act.

If several people have limped in already, you can limp in behind them with small hands that can occasionally win big pots. The suited connectors 45s-JQs, and small pocket pairs 22-77 can be limped in behind other limpers. The goal here is to either hit a big hand or fold.

If nobody has entered the pot yet, you can leverage the power of your position and come in with a raise with a wide range of hands. Here’s a list of poker hands that I raise with in late position:

* Pocket pairs: 22-AA
* Suited connectors: 45s-AKs
* Any two face cards: JT, QT, QJ, AK, KJ, etc
* Suited aces: A7s +
* Suited 1-gappers: 46s, 57s, 79s, etc

That list works the best if the blinds are tight, predictable opponents. If your opponents call your raises and play back at you a lot, you need to tighten it up and stick to your stronger hands. Final Thoughts

Preflop play isn’t as cut and dry in no limit as it is in limit. You have to make adjustments based on your opponents, their stack sizes and your table image.

For the most part though, this starting guide will get you off to a good start. If you make sure to play tight from early position and aggressive from both positions, you’ll have a major advantage over your competition.