One of the biggest poker mistakes often seen at both brick and mortar poker tables and free online poker establishments is playing every single hand regardless what starting hand one is getting. Poker gives you the option to choose your battle carefully and avoid risking money when you know you have no chance of winning; you should really learn how to use this option to improve your overall profitability when playing poker. There are people who call bets after the river even when they know for sure that they have nothing; don’t be part of this group. Instead, you can learn to play calculated and more mature form of poker and be a lot more profitable.
An avid poker player will fold their hand if they think it is not good enough to start with. They simply calculate the relative strength of their hand and decide whether it is good enough for them to play. To help you understand when to fold, we are going to discuss some possible combinations of poker starting hands and see if you should play it.
High cards and pairs are definitely worth keeping. Anything from A-K to 2-3 can be kept, at least until seeing the flop, as long as they are sequenced, preferably of the same suit. However, starting hands such as 7-2 (where you know you cannot make a straight out of it) shouldn’t be kept. Some people might opt to play them if they are same-suited, but the choice is entirely yours to make.