Poker: Which Cards should I play?
After you have got your two cards, you need to decide whether
you have a chance to get anything with them or not. Whether it's
useful to put more money into this game or not.
Firstly, there are certain cards you should always play (if they
are suited): AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK, AQ, AJ, KQ, KJ
Why these cards?
These cards have the highest possibility to beat others - to get
high pairs, full houses, flush or four of a kind possibilities.
Of course, you do need to think about how much money you need to
put into the game as well. For example, AA is the best pair you
could have at all. But even with that pair there's a chance to
lose. So if you have AA, no flop has been dealt yet and someone
calls ALL-In, then you need to think first whether you are ready
for the risk or not. Yes, you do have a great chance to win this
game, but these chances are never 100% sure. What if the other
guy is bluffing and he has 10 and 3....but then from the flop he
gets two more threes...or 10 and 3. There's not a big chance for
that to happen, but it's possible and you do need to keep that
in mind.
Secondly, there are all the smaller pairs like 22, 33, etc. With
these cards you should call only when you're one of the latest
callers or somewhere in the middle. Never call with these cards
if you're the first one to call.
Thirdly, all kinds of suited cards (with a picture on it) like
Q5, K6, etc.
And if the cards are suited then also hands like 98s, 97s,
96s,87s, 86s, 85s,76s, 75s,65s, 64s,54s, 53s,43s can be played
with, but play these cards only when you're in the end of the
ring, one of the latest callers.
When talking about unsuited cards, then simply put - don't play
with anything smaller than pictures. QJ is okay, Q8 isn't.
Some other poker pro's can definitely disagree with me here just
a bit, but these are the basics. This is a bit simplified look
into it, but it should give you the general idea of what to play
with and what not to play with.