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.