Starting Hand Requirements
for Online Poker

These requirements work very well with tight/aggressive play. For less experienced players, this is a way to get going. Don’t play marginal hands or you will have to do a lot of guessing and be vulnerable. If you are an NL novice, restrict yourself to playing pairs AA-22, AK, and AQ. With these hands, you won't be caught in many difficult situations and you can still win big. Playing only these hands requires discipline because you will fold most hands but this strategy will provide you with time to study the game and watch the other players. These are minimum required hands per position in a semi-tight/semi-aggressive game in Online Poker:

Minimum required starting hand when facing un-raised pot



Players left to act Non-pair Pairs 


9 (under the gun) AK 99


8 AQ 88


7 AQ 77


6 AJs 66


5 ATs 55


4 A9s, KQs 44


3 (cut off) Axs, KJs 33


2 (button) Axs, KTs, QJs, JTs 22


1 (SB) Axs, K9s, QTs, J9s 22
0 (BB)


How to modify the table depending on the action before you in Online Poker:


• If there are a limpers before you, only raise with the top hands, such as AK and AA-JJ, and be inclined to call with the marginal hands because these hands will do well in multi-way pots.



• In a raised pot, consider who raised and only then decide whether to call, re-raise or fold. If it was a strong player, re-raise/fold. If it was a weak player, call because you will have a good chance of winning a big pot when you hit. Re-raise strong players with AK and AA-JJ to shut them out and win the pot, otherwise fold. Jst call raises from weaker players with all pairs, AK and AQ, but only if you have position and will likely end up heads-up, otherwise re-raise so you can trap them on the flop when you hit a great hand instead of running them out pre-flop.




These tips are going to help your Online Poker game . Are you ready to put it to the test? Head over to www.playersonly.com and get into the action today.