The starting hand table may look to be very strict, but this is simply a rough guide to help beginner players find their feet in Texas Hold'em. After you start to learn the game and become more experienced, you can start to open up your starting hand selection to incorporate different hands in different situations. However, if you are a new. Poker starting hands: playing the right cards at the right time The basic idea of poker is to play the strongest poker hands in early position, good hands in mid-position and a few more hands in the late (aka strongest) position. The Importance of Starting Hand Selection As you know Poker is a game of maths and probability. It is therefore possible to know which starting hands are most probable to win a hand and this has been statistically proven in many studies. GET my 30 Day Cash Game Strategy Program for FREE This Video will teach you How To Play Poker Basics, including what hands to play. Starting hand charts are training wheels, crutches. They keep you from doing the stuff of playing poker: critical, situational, analytical thinking. A rank amateur can look at a starting hand chart once and get some ideas about hands, but a chart itself is meaningless for one look.