What Preflop Hands to Play - Complete Guide
Learn which starting hands to play from every position and stop leaking chips with bad preflop decisions.
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Understanding Starting Hand Strength
Knowing what preflop hands to play is the foundation of winning poker. Your starting hand selection determines whether you enter pots with an advantage or a disadvantage against your opponents' ranges. The best preflop hands combine high card strength with connectivity and suitedness. Hands like AA, KK, AKs, and QQ are premium holdings you should always play, while hands like 72o should almost never see a flop.
How Position Changes Your Playable Hands
Why where you sit matters more than what you hold
The hands you should play change dramatically based on your position. From under the gun (UTG), you should only play the top 10-15% of hands. From the button, you can profitably open 40-50% of hands. This is because position gives you information advantage - you get to see what your opponents do before making your decision on every postflop street. This makes marginal hands much more playable.
Hands That Look Good But Lose Money
The trap hands that catch most players
The biggest leak most players have is playing too many hands from early position. Hands like KJo or QTs might look pretty, but they're losing plays from UTG against solid opponents. Another common mistake is not adjusting to stack depth. In tournaments with 20bb stacks, your preflop strategy should be completely different than with 100bb in a cash game.
Suited vs Offsuit: When It Actually Matters
The real math behind suited hand value
Being suited adds roughly 3-4% equity to your hand - but that small edge compounds over thousands of hands. Suited hands can make flushes, giving you more ways to win big pots. However, many players overvalue suitedness and play weak suited hands they should fold. AKo is still a premium hand, while 72s is still trash. PreflopAI teaches you exactly when suitedness tips a marginal hand into playable territory and when it doesn't matter.
Adjusting Your Hands to Stack Depth
Why 20bb and 100bb require different strategies
Stack depth fundamentally changes which hands are profitable to play. With deep stacks, speculative hands like small pairs and suited connectors gain value because you can win big when you hit. With short stacks, these hands lose value and high-card strength becomes more important. PreflopAI includes specific training for different stack depths, ensuring you know exactly what hands to play whether you're deep in a cash game or short-stacked in a tournament.
Starting Hands FAQ
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