No Limit Texas Hold'em: How to Play the Top 10 Key Hands

You're sitting down and waiting for the first hand to be dealt in a No Limit Texas Hold'em tournament. You're probably wondering which hands you should play now, and which ones you should hold off until later to play. This guide will give you some insight on 10 top hands that could go either way when you're wondering whether or not to play them.

1) A-K suited: Big Slick. Always play this hand. ALWAYS. Under the gun, on the button, in the big blind. It doesn't matter. Play this hand. The only situation where you might fold this hand is if someone has raised in front of you, and someone else has gone all-in. A-K suited up against two other players is not good. Anytime you can isolate one player with this hand, do it. At best, you're dominating over an A-Q, and at worst, you're usually looking at a coin-flip situation against an underpair.

2) A-Q suited: Also known as Big Chick. Admittedly, this is a solid hand, but I wouldn't recommend calling anything more than 5x the big blind with this hand. Make sure the pot is decently sized before you come in with this hand, and if you're up against a group of limpers in front of you, raise it up to 4x or 5x the big blind. If you raise with this hand, and are re-raised... you should probably fold.

3) K-J suited: Also known as Kojak. This hand will lose you more money than any other hand you will ever play. If you call with this hand and hit the K on the flop, your opponent will probably have a better kicker. If you hit two pair, your opponent will likely have a good straight draw. This is one of those hands where no matter what you do, you'll probably lose. I'd play this hand very cautiously. If you're coming into a hand with this, in an unraised pot, go ahead and raise it to get random junk hands out of the way. If you're coming into a raised pot, chances are pretty good you should probably throw this away.