No Limit Texas Hold’em is a very complicated game that can be very difficult for beginners.

You get together with your friends every weekend and you lose your stack. You deposit a few bucks to an online site and you lose your bankroll. What seems to be the problem? Are you just that unlucky? Are you making bad calls or just taking bad beat after bad beat?

The truth is 95% of the world’s poker players probably feel the same way that you do. They just can’t seem to win. Is there a concept that could improve your game and turn you into a winner? You don’t have to be a professional poker player to become a winning player. If you can learn and apply certain basic poker principles your game should begin to improve and you will start to reap the rewards at the tables.

The first golden principle is to stick to premium hands which means play fewer hands. Out of all the starting hands in poker the following five are considered the best:

1. AA
2. KK
3. QQ
4. AK (suited)
5. JJ

These premium hands should always be played from any position strongly as long as you take into consideration the action ahead of you.  Players in general should be folding 80% of their starting hands and only playing the best of the best.

Be selective in the hands that you play as a beginner, always pay attention to your position and you should begin to see a gradual improvement in your game!! As you play more you will gain more experience and thus add more starting hands to your arsenal. Keep your game simple and your starting hands simpler.

Best of luck at the tables,

Max Sullivan