Hand selection is choosing the good hands and folding the weak ones. Any hand can win in poker, but some hands will have the higher probability to win compared to the opponents. When you are playing in the best online poker sites, the decision is to play a hand that is based on multiple factors like position on the table, opponent’s chip stack and their action before your turn. There are 169 types of starting hand combination in Texas Holdem- 13 pocket pairs+78 suited hands+ 78 unsuited hands. Pairs -two cards of the same rank, suited hands -two cards of the same suit, off suit hands – two cards of different suit and rank.
Early position: As you have little or almost no information about opponents’ game play and hand strength, you should only play with premium hand at the early position. The recommended hands are the big pairs, middle pairs, Non-pairs.
Middle position: In this position, it allows the players to play liberally with average hands i.e small or medium pairs as it provides information about the game play of early position players. You can play with a wider range of hands but as late position players are seeing your actions and will act after you, you should not take any risk of playing with junk cards.
Late position: This is considered the most favorite position to play as it allows the players to see the action of other players and create a game plan on the basis of available information. You can play with low pairs like or suited connectors, but do not risk too much on betting with these hands.
Small pairs: These are any pocket pair of 9 or lower value. Player should fold them in most of the situations but if your opponent is raising too high or limping which can pay you off much bigger amount than what you need to call, you can give it a shot.
Don’t forget that holding a strong hand doesn’t mean you gave won the game. No one can predict which cards will appear on the board. If you have great holding, you need to take crucial decisions while playing. However, categorizing starting hands can help you decide whether to invest in a hand or not, develop strategies and improve chances of stealing the pot.