Limit Hold’em is a game of ’showdown poker’.

What this means is that a lot of hands will go all the way to the river, players will turn over their hands, and the player with the best hand will win the pot. So it’s vital you start with an advantage by playing premium hands most of the time.

But what do we mean by ‘premium cards’?

Well, big pairs – A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J – are obviously going to be the best hands out there a lot of the time, while powerhouse hands like A-K, A-Q, A-J, A-10 and K-Q suited will make strong hands on the flop a decent amount of time, not to mention the time you make even better hands such as straights (five cards in a row) and flushes (five cards of the same suit).

Mid and smaller pairs – 10-10 to 2-2 – are often worth playing in the hope of improving to three of a kind and winning a big pot. Similarly cards such as 5♣ 6♣ and 10♠ 9♠ known as suited connectors are good when they improve to a straight or flush.

The power of position

The most important part of Hold’em, however, is the power of position. This can be more important than the cards. The later you are in relation to the dealer button the more power you have, because you get to see what everyone does before the action reaches you. You can then act with more information than other players who have had to make decisions before you. So let’s look at what cards to play in the various positions in a ten-man game. For a six man game the play effectively begins in mid-position.

The blinds

These are the worst seats at the table because, after the first round of betting, if you’re in the blinds you will be first to act on every betting round and have no idea what action will happen after you. For this reason you should not call a raise with most cards. You should generally only call one bet with speculative hands like suited connectors and small pairs, but raise if you have big pairs – A-A to Q-Q – or powerhouse hands like A-K and A-Q. Against a raise and a re-raise in a tight game you should fold everything except A-A to Q-Q and A-K suited. In fact that rule goes for all the following positions.

Early position

These are the first three seats to the left of the big blind. From these positions you must play very tight, raising and re-raising with A-A, K-K, Q-Q and A-K. You should raise and call raises with J-J and A-Q. You should limp (call the big blind) with hands like A-J, A-10 suited, K-Q suited and pairs 7-7 to 10-10. If once you have limped in you face a raise for a single bet you can call, but fold A-10 and K-Q to two or more bets.

Middle position

The next three seats are known as middle position and you still need to play fairly tight from here. If there is no raise, you should raise with any pair above pocket fives, cards such as A-K suited to A-10 suited, K-Q suited to K-10 suited, Q-J suited to J-10 suited, where both cards are of the same suit and A-K to A-10, KQ-KJ where the cards are of different suits.

The power of suited cards cannot be emphasised enough so don’t be tempted to play marginal hands like K-10 and J-10 where both cards are different suit. These hands will only get you into trouble.