Starting Hands for Limit Texas Hold'em
One of the most important skills in Limit Texas Hold'em is to be very selective about what starting hands you choose to play. There are a number of factors to consider when deciding which hands to play:
- What is your position?
- Is the table tight or loose?
- How many players are sitting at the table?
- How many players are in the pot when it is your turn to act?
- Has the pot been raised? If so from what player and position?
How many players are already in the pot
If many players have limped in before you the more correct it is for you to play weaker starting hands, such as 76s or small pocket-pairs, since these types of hands increase in value in multi-way pots. At a short-handed table with only six players or less, high cards increase in value. Even Aces with a lower kicker than 10 usually become playable. In a full ring game, hands like AT, KT, QT decrease in value as these can easily become a trap hand, meaning they make second-best hands. In sum, the more players there are in the pot the better weaker hands such as suited connectors get and the worth of premium hands will decrease since they are more likely to be outdrawn.
Position and type of game
The position is very important to think about when you choose whether to raise, fold or call with a hand. Much more hands are raise hands in late position and good starting hands such as AK, AQ offsuit can be calling hands. The type of game is also important to think about before taking action, if the game is loose you should play the cards value, after the flop more, and play the players if the game is tighter, meaning that you bluff more.
