The first decision you will have to make when playing Texas hold’em online is what starting hands to play. This may seem like a trivial decision, but in fact, it is one of the most important ones you will make.

A fundamental of poker is that early mistakes compound as the hand progresses. The early mistake does not seem that costly, but by the end of the hand, it can be devastating. If you can cut off that early mistake, you can save yourself a lot of money in the long run.

Starting Hands in Limit Texas Hold’em

In most limit hold’em games you really want to limit your starting hands to only the top hands, hands with both cards in the “Broadway Zone” of T through A, medium to high pairs and suited aces. If you are in late position with several limpers and no raise, you should be inclined to play a wider range of hands.

If it is a very loose game with little raising pre-flop but a lot of post-flop action, you can play a lot more hands as well. However, you must be willing to release these hands if you don’t flop the likely best hand or best draw.

Starting Hands in No Limit Texas Hold’em

You can afford to be much more liberal with your starting hand requirements in no limit Texas hold’em. Here, especially in late position, you can afford to throw a lot more suited connectors, small pairs and even the occasional completely random hand into the mix.

Since there is no limit to how much you can win when you hit a well-disguised big hand, you can afford to speculate a lot more. You should be more reluctant to do this in early position when you are likely to have less information than your opponents, however.

Starting Hands in Texas Hold’em Tournaments

In a tournament, it’s all about stack sizes and blinds. If you have more than 20 big blinds in your stack, you can afford to do more speculating as in a no limit hold’em cash game.

If you have 10-20 big blinds left, you should probably be playing a more conservative, limit style, committing chips only when you are likely to win. If you have less than 10 big blinds left, you should be looking for spots to put all your chips in right away with a medium to strong hand. Less than five and any ace, pair or even suited connector will do -- throw it all in there and pray.