I am not going to go over the rules of how to play Texas Hold'em. Chances are you know the basics and are now ready to improve your game.

So, I will get straight into the Strategy of Texas Hold'em.

Basically the game begins with everyone being dealt 2 cards (hole cards). Out of the 169 possible starting hands there are only certain hands you should play with which I will list below.

STRONG HANDS

AA, KK, QQ, JJ and AK (suited).

These are the strongest possible hole cards in texas hold'em. These make you favorite straight away and should be played very aggressively and always raised with no matter what position you are in. If others want to stay in you should make it costly for them, this will also drive out any weaker hands that might have otherwise stayed in and got a lucky flop to make a better hand. With AA and KK you should always re-raise if there is a raise before you.

GOOD HANDS

TT, AQ (suited), AJ (suited), KQ (suited) and AK

These are good hands, an ace plus a high card gives you the chance of a high pair with a great kicker. Also suited high cards give you the chance of high pairs and flushes with a great kicker. These hands should also be played aggressively and raised with from middle to late positions if no other raises have been made. If there has already been a raise it is often best to just call. Similarly if you are in an early position it is often best to simply call or perhaps just make a small raise with these hands for fear of being re-raised by someone with a strong hand.

MEDIUM HANDS

A10 (suited), KJ (suited), QJ (suited), JT (suited), AQ and 99. A2 (suited), A3 (suited), A4 (suited) and A5 (suited

These are medium strength hands with good possibilities but you have to consider how other players are betting. If one or two players bet aggressively then chances are they have a better hand than you and you should fold.

If you do stay in for the flop then you have to decide whether to stay in for the turn card. You have to use common sense here. If you have made a hand then you might want to stay in but consider what the other players might have. Could they make a better flush or straight than you? Is there an ace in the flop giving someone a potential pair of aces that beats your high pair?

Any pair, 8 or lower, is worth playing if it does not cost you much more than the big blind to see the flop or about 5% of your stack.

The reason being that the flop will make your pocket pair into three of a kind about 12% of the time. So a low pair is suddenly a fairly strong hand if the flop turns your pair into a set. As always you have to consider if someone can beat it depending on what's showing.

You have to decide what to do based on how they bet, again if they bet aggressively they might well have a better hand than you. They could be bluffing but as a rule its best to be cautious and wait for the killer hand to beat them with.

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