I'm new at poker so right now I only play with play money. But I do have a question. What are good held cards (the two cards you start with) besides suited and pair.

I watched/listened to Negreanu alot and he has a weird or to me weird liking of held cards.

Please tell me/list to me the best held cards.

suited aren't good unless they're connected like 54s or 98s, only then should be played speculatively

it depends almost entirely on position but to make a super generalisation any two cards jack and above, any pair, and some suited connectors named above

Here is the top 20 starting cards but all of them are pairs and/or suited except AQ and AJ. So if you go beyond this it is more a playing style and depends on what position you are at and how much it is to play.

Now I know you said you are playing for fun right now but this is kinda hard to learn in the real world because so many play money poker players call so many hands and the hand you are asking about will get beat alot of the times in a play money situation. As the money goes up , the more player are force to make real decisions and most will play night and day when 5 bucks is on the line. lol

As an example I for some reason like K9 only because i have won a lot of pots with this hand. Now this is not that great of a starting hand but in the right position i get pretty lucky.

1. AA
2. KK
3. QQ
4. JJ
5. AK (s)
6. TT
7. AQ
8. AJ (s)
9. AK
10. KQ (s)
11. AT (s)
12. KJ (s)
13. AQ
14. 99
15. QJ (s)
16. KT (s)
17. 88
18. QT (s)
19. A9 (s)
20. AJ

Originally Posted by sk8freak_21

you dont know what your getting yourself into...lol

Me? I just wanna play.

Originally Posted by FrostedFlush

I watched/listened to Negreanu alot and he has a weird or to me weird liking of held cards.

Negreanu can outplay most of the people he's meeting at a poker table, hence he's usually playing loose to maximize his chance of taking their money (or chips).

Since you're new to poker, this approach will not work out for you. In the beginning you should stick to the stronger hands, and then go from there once you feel more comfortable.

No hold cards can be considered good before seeing the faces-up. Have in mind you play the players rather than playing the cards. So an eventual mistake of you overestimating a good high pair of aces in the holds can trick you off and you would lose a lot if believing there is no one having higher than your hand. But that's just poker, realize it, you have other players against you - opponents that might have higher or lower and you have shared cards which are all the same for every one on the table. Do not forget that

First off!!! DON'T follow Negreanu's hand liking b/c hes a pro and pros can play every hand well. Now to start you off, since your a beginner your two highest hole cards would be AA and KK, I don't think I have to explain why these two are the best. Next on the list would be QQ and JJ be aware that these two hands have a very dangerous field since you only can assume the players calling your preflop raise (you should be raising these hands preflop) are playing cards that are AQ or better (unless you have a good read on your opponent, then this rule applies). With QQ and JJ beginners tend to over play it and lose their entire stack (basically these two hands aren't as great as they look). Next down the list are AK, AQ, and AJ, now pros don't consider AJ a "strong" premium hand during live games or live tourneys, but since your playing online poker AJ can be quite strong since players online seem to play more hands. AK and AQ are strong hands (even better when their suited) but they can cause you to lose a lot of money, JUST DON'T OVER PLAY THEM, fold when you should!!! Second to last are pocket pairs that are 10 and lower, these kind of hands should see flops cheaply and aren't good if you risk your entire stack on live games (unless you flop a set,"three of a kind"), but during tourneys you can push your entire stack (only if the price and situation is right) b/c a fair amount of the time you'll be facing a 50%/50% scenario and players registered in a big tourney tend to laydown big starting hands. Lastly, are the small suited connector, note im putting KQ and lower down under this section because beginners like you don't understand that two face cards aren't as strong as you think, I think all the great players reading this can concur. These hands should also see flops cheaply to make big drawing hands like strights or flushes or you could even flop it. Mainly suited connectors are good hands because they have a big potential to bust your opponent out. I really hope this helps you bro, I can't believe I spent the time to write this, but it doesn't matter im waiting for my next class to start anyway.