Ten Best Starting Hands In Texas Hold' Em Poker

1. Ace-Ace
This is the best Hold'em poker hand you can hope to have. It's the best of the best, and will win more than any other hand. Also known as American Airlines, pocket rockets, and bullets.


2. King-King
This 2nd-best hold'em hand is still incredibly strong and will win you a good chunk of change. Two kings, or "cowboys" are only dominated by aces.

3. Queen-Queen
Two queens, or "ladies" are a very good hand. Sure, kings and aces will beat you, but you've got the upper hand on jacks and below.

4. Ace-King
Ace-king is a strong but tricky hand. It is the strongest of the drawing hands, but the flop needs to work with you to give you a pair of aces or kings for it to really pay off. Suited it is slightly stronger than unsuited, as then you can also make the nut flush much more easily.

5. Jack-Jack
A pair of jacks, ten-handed, will win almost 20% of the time. If the flop shows a queen, king, or ace, watch out, but otherwise, it's smooth sailing.

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6. Ace-Queen
Ace-queen is the second best drawing hand, and when suited, will win about 20% of the time as well.

7. King-Queen
King-queen, especially suited, is a great drawing hand that is only afraid of an Ace falling on the board.

8. Ace-Jack
Ace-jack is another great drawing hand. Suited is always better here, but unsuited is still playable.

9. King-Jack
King-jack, especially in later positions, is a fine hand to play, but can be beat by any of the hands listed above and should be folded to big raises. Statistically, suited it will win just under 19% of the time, but unsuited that drops to just 15%.

10. Ace-Ten
Ace-ten is still a good hand -- you've got the ace, and can make a straight if the miracle J-Q-K falls on the board. But be wary of playing it too strong, especially unsuited, as if all you end up with is a pair of aces, you may be out-kicked.

Are online casinos illegal?

The answer to the above question may have been a “Yes” four or five decades ago. However, today if you talk about online casinos, it would seem to be a very common affair. The reason why online casinos thrive these days is because of the mass indulgence and all thanks to the world of Internet. The Internet is finally here to stay and the easy accessibility to the online casinos has made gambling much easier than before. One of the best things about online casinos is that a person can gamble from home, any time he wants.

Online casinos are more enjoyable than the traditional land based gambling houses and other betting rooms. To be more precise, the online casino gaming has a turnover of more than a million dollars a year. Even if one compares the rate of growth of online casinos with the land based ones at say, Las Vegas, the online ones surpass the profitability of the land based ones. However, one cannot miss out on the fact that most of the online casinos are located outside the US in order to avoid the federal rules and regulations. That’s because the United States Federal court has stated some prohibitions when it comes to online gambling. But at the same time, although many states in America promote the land based gambling casinos, the courts have imposed certain rules when it comes to gambling at online casinos.

Therefore, most of the online gambling casinos are located in countries like the United Kingdom and some of the Caribbean countries. As for the rules imposed by the American federal authorities, if the online casino owner has not obtained the respective licenses and complied with the prescribed guidelines, the online casino that he owns may as well be illegal. One important thing to remember in this aspect is that the rules and regulations regarding online casinos vary from state to state. Speaking of online casinos, many websites disbanded advertisements of online casinos due to legal issues. Popular search engines like Google and Yahoo too were among these websites. Following the legal issues, even some banks and other financial institutions refused to make any credit card transactions that were related to gambling through online casinos.

Licensed online casinos never face any problem with the federal authorities, but instead of being in a constant war against the online casinos, the federal government is expected to consider devising a tax plan, specifically for the online casinos and at the same time keeping a watch on any illegal activities such as underage gambling, credit card frauds, etc.