This is a revised list of which texas hold em hands you should or should not play depending on your position at the table. We’ll start with the no brainers then break down whether or not you should raise, limp in, or do something unexpected with the hand.

OK, so these are the hands that you should NO MATTER WHAT raise with pre flop: Pocket Aces through Pocket Queens, Ace King suited, Ace Queen suited, Ace King offsuit, and Ace Queen offsuit. That’s a total of seven hands where no matter what you should raise regardless of position.

After that we start getting into position. Ace Jack suited and offsuit can be raised from mid – late position, as can King Queen suited and offsuit. The same applies for pocket jacks through pocket sevens. If you really want to you can raise with King jack suited or offsuit as well, and with Jack Ten.

For late position you can start adding in nine eight suited, eight seven suited, and a variety of other suited connectors depending on how the table is playing. If it’s a lot of conservative types at the table I would not advise raising with a nine eight suited, unless you know they’ll fold if they don’t hit anything on the flop. If you’re with a lot of maniacs you can raise with pretty much any two cards knowing you’ll get a few callers and if you catch a decent flop, well, you just increased your pot odds and now it makes sense to semi-bluff on the flop, or make a call you typically wouldn’t because you have better odds in the hand.

Your online calculator may disagree with this strategy, but hey if it works then it works.

The important thing to remember about texas hold em hands is the way your table is playing. Switch up your image and throw in some hands you typically wouldn’t if you’re playing tight. You can always make a raise with seven six suited from late position if everyone thinks you’re playing tight. They’ll think you have a monster and you may pick up a decent pot. And when you’re playing against a bunch of “we’ll call anything types” you can always pick up some pots you typically wouldn’t by playing with the suited connectors. Don’t go overkill playing every pot, but you do have more freedom to see what you can catch being that the swings are slightly larger.