Texas holdem - what's considered a decent preflop?

A decent preflop hand has more to do with position and action than what you hold. Your rule of thumb is going to get you busted quite a bit with decent players. I see more rookie players get busted overplaying A rags (9 or less) than any other hand. And don't raise with two royals unless paired or suited. These are nothing more than drawing hands, unless paired, and should be pitched if you miss the flop in the face of aggression. As a general rule, you can split how you play into hands that you play cheap and hands that you raise with or call a raise with, all preflop of course and assuming a 9 player table.

Cheap hands:
1) All pocket pairs
2) Two "royals"
3) Suited connectors (like 9 and 8 of spades).
Raise hands:
1) Pocket JJ through AA
2) AQ-AK and KQ, especially if suited.

Situationally, other hands are ok. But A rags is a rookie hand (I see more people get busted playing garbage like A8 and losing the batlle of kickers when the Ace pairs, but someone else has AJ) and K rags is ridiculous. Q8 is ridiculously bad, too. .

If you are New player follow This instruction, you will do good in online poker.

A: Only raise with a pocket pair 10 or better.
B: With two royal cards, I'd only bet/raise if they are suited.
C: If you have a straight draw suited, check or bluff.
Anything like 8-3 or worse you most likely want to fold unless you can check.
NEVER LIMP IN if you only have two off-suit number cards that are not part of the same straight.

If You're a Beginner, Avoid Making these Mistakes!

Not being able to fold good hands

If you got a confused look on your face when you read "not being able to fold good hands," you just proved that you are a beginning poker player. For beginning poker players, if they are dealt a pair of Queens, they will bet big and go all the way to the end with their hand. Although a pair of Queens may be a good hand, you have to also take into account the flop. If the flop contains Kings or Aces, you may not be holding that great a hand. A mature poker player is able to analyze the situation in front of them, without letting the excitement of being dealt a potentially strong hand cloud their judgment.

Being overly timid

In many cases, beginners perform poorly because they are overly excited to play a strong hand, which results in them being wiped out by a more experienced opponent. However, there are situations where a beginner may feel overly timid, and as a result, you will be unable to maintain the strength it takes to finish and win a difficult hand.

Bluffing too often

For the novice poker player, bluffing can seem like a fun way to take money from your opponents even when you are not holding a good hand. Unfortunately, there is more to bluffing than simply tricking your opponent and winning a huge hand. Bluffing takes experience, knowledge and skill, and if you are lacking any of these, not only will you end up ruining hands through your bluffing, but you will also become an easy target for your opponents.

Playing every hand

If you are dealt a bad hand, just fold it. You can waste a lot of chips calling blinds before the flop if you refuse to hold hands that shouldn't be played. Although you're excited to play, it's important to use discretion and only play hands worth betting on.

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Poker Table Etiquette 101

Because of the immense popularity of online poker, a large percentage of new poker players get their introduction to poker on the Internet. Although the Internet provides a great environment for learning about the game of the poker, there is one area of your poker education that the Internet is unable to provide: table etiquette.

Before you make the transition from your computer to a real table with other players sitting around it, it is important to understand how you are expected to act while you are sitting at a poker table. Not only will knowing how to act at a poker table ensure that you avoid making a fool of yourself or offending the other players at the table, but it will also maximize your enjoyment of the game since you will feel comfortable sitting among the other players. Here's what you need to know:

-While you probably swear at your computer when you lose a hand, you need to avoid using profanity to express your frustration when you are in the company of other players.

-If you knock another player out of a tournament, don't automatically shake their hand; it's up to them to initiate the hand shake.

-There is no reason to apologize when you win a hand. Even if it's pure luck, everyone is happy when they win a poker hand, and apologizing that you win is simply lying directly to someone's face.

-Don't ask to see a player's cards at the end of a hand. A player can choose to display their cards, but if they choose not to, it's rude to ask them to do otherwise.

-Avoid answering questions directed to other players. Just like any other social situation, it's rude to jump into the middle of a conversation (even if you know the answer to what is being asked).

At the end of the day, if you show respect for your fellow players, they will almost always do the same for you, and everyone will have a great time playing poker together.

Celebrities and the World Series of Poker

As anyone who has ever watched a poker tournament on television knows, celebrities enjoy the game of poker just as much as an average person. Whether they are a sports figure, actor from your favorite television show or a musician that's at the top of the charts, celebrities are people too, and many of them are fanatical about the game of poker. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that poker's biggest event of the year attracts quite a few celebrities to its tables.

Even though most celebrities really don't need the just over nine million dollar prize for the winner of the WSOP, the thrill of playing poker and competing for that large of a sum of money is enticing to anyone, regardless of the size of their bank account. In the hunt for this prize were two of the most competitive men on earth, UFC fighters Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. Unfortunately for these two, even though they can dominate the world of UFC (Forrest Griffin's face was actually bruised up from his recent victory over Quinton Jackson), neither could last through the first day of the WSOP.

In addition to those hardcore athletes, there were some other very notable celebrities in attendance. Although they don't get paid to pound others into the ground, they are just as competitive as the UFC fighters. This list included Jennifer Tilly, Shannon Elizabeth, Jason Alexander and Sam Simon (who is not only the producer of The Simpsons, but also Tilly's ex-husband). Although they all played their best, the only celebrity out of this group to make it through to the second day was Shannon Elizabeth. Don't let her good looks fool you: Shannon Elizabeth is a serious poker player that wants to make it as far as possible in this year's World Series of Poker!

Poker Success: It's All About the Long-term

Everyone that plays poker wants to win and be successful. Not only do you get to enjoy the thrill and pride of winning, but you also get to add more money to your bank account. Unfortunately, the stress that goes along with playing poker causes many players to lose sight of what's necessary in order to be a successful poker player.

The key to being a great poker player is being able to look at the long-term. While it's important to give every hand you play your full attention and focus, it's important not to let your emotions get the best of you in the short term. Players that obsess over every bad hand they play are not helping themselves. In fact, they are doing quite a bit to sabotage themselves.

When you are playing poker, you have to remember that you are going to lose a LOT of hands. It doesn't matter how good of a player you are; you simply can't win a lot of the hands you play. Every player goes through times when they have a bad session, a bad day, a bad week, a bad month or an even longer streak of bad poker playing. The thing that separates great poker players from average or poor poker players is their ability to persevere, focus on their own playing skills and work their way through a slump. Because great poker players focus on the long-term, they know that if they focus on what they are supposed to be doing, they will eventually come out of their slump and start winning again.

Even though in can be hard to control your emotions when things aren't going your way, just remember that if you don't give up and continue to play your style of poker, you will eventually make your way back to the top!