Mon, 01/10/2011 – 22:52 – PokerPages Staff

Through continuous play, the beginner poker player will be faced with hands that require additional knowledge beyond their good foundation of the poker rules and betting.  In fact, the beginner will find that their knowledge base might actually be in conflict with some nuances of the game.  This is true when dealt a troublesome hand, such as Ace-Queen.

For the beginner, any two face cards may appear to be a premium hand.  In the case of A-Q, many players will overplay the hand.  A-Q is not a premium hand and is, in reality, a marginal hand.

Consider this.  Of the starting hands that you may find yourself up against, AA, AK, KK, and QQ, all dominate AQ.  So from the outset, AQ is significantly behind.  As a result, your chip stack will see huge losses from playing the AQ. 

AQ only dominates hands such as AJ, KQ, and QJ.  The problem here is that, in most instances, you will not be playing against these starting hands.  If you do find yourself against these hands with AQ, generally, you will only win small pots.

AQ is best played in late position.  Further, it is best to not play AQ aggressively.  If you don’t flop a monster hand, fold and wait for a better opportunity.

To learn more, check out PokerSchoolOnline, the best source on the internet for poker related learning.  Then put those skills to work by playing for free at PokerStars.net.  Also, check out the PokerPages sections Poker Information and Poker Articles for more poker tips, poker betting, poker information and strategies.

Fri, 01/07/2011 – 20:26 – PokerPages Staff

When learning to play Hold’em, the beginner poker player must tackle the basic poker rules, but success in the Hold’em game goes beyond those rules.  There are a multitude of nuances of the game that a beginner is mired in from the outset.  These subtleties can be very troubling for the beginner, as well as some advanced players.  

Most beginners believe that any two face cards constitute a premium hand.  The truth, however, is that some two face card hands are not premium starting hands, but rather more of a starting point for which the player must regard with caution.  K-J is such a hand.

K-J appears to be a premium starting hand, but it simply is not.  From the beginning of the hand, K-J is significantly behind the most likely starting hands of the other players.  K-J is dominated by A-A, A-K, A-J, K-K and K-Q.  In fact, K-J only dominates K-T, Q-J, Q-T and random hands. 

With that said, playing K-J is likely to get you into trouble.  Since you will be behind from the beginning, by playing K-J you will, more often than not, likely lose a large chunk of change.  In situations where your K-J dominates, you will win, but the pots will be small.

So what do you do with K-J?  If you play K-J, remember it is a marginal hand, at best.  Play from late position and if you don’t hit big on the flop, fold.

To learn more, check out PokerSchoolOnline, the best source on the internet for poker related learning.  Then put those skills to work by betting playing for free at PokerStars.net.  Also, check out the PokerPages sections Poker Information and Poker Articles for more poker tips, poker betting and strategies.