Phil Hellmuth has probably offered the best advice that a novice player can learn. In his book “Play Poker Like the Pros”, he explains that a good way for a new player to play poker is to only play the top 10 hands. Those hands consist of A-A, K-K, Q-Q, A-K, J-J, 10-10, 9-9, 8-8, A-Q and 7-7. Every other hand you get should be folded, as you learn about the importance of patience and getting into hands with good cards.

This tight style will afford you lots of time to read your opponents and try to learn how they act as they play their game. When you do get one of these hands you’re supposed to play it aggressively because you’re likely to have the highest winning percentage at the time. This top ten hand method works best at a full table of nine players, or early in a tournament setting.

As your game progresses you can start to widen out the hands that you will play. But playing the top ten hands will keep you in the game longer, allowing you watch and learn, instead of going broke from playing too many hands.

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