Begin with the Hand in Mind
Upon receiving one's hole cards, evaluate immediately if the cards in one's hand is good or needs another card. This should guide one on whether to fold or not in the pre-flop. There are checks to watch out for if one should keep to the low limit or raise.
Right from the beginning, players should know if the cards they have are playable for the 169 possible hands one can have, half of these hands are not playable. If one receives a pair of aces, kings, queens, or jacks and tens the pot is favorable to be increased and be advantageous to the player. Same goes with a king and ace or ace and queen.
Don't call higher than 2 bets if one has the following cards: ace and jack, king and queen, king and jack, queen and jack, jack and ten, suited ten and nine, suited ace and any number, pairs nine, eight and seven. Others would suggest that having any pair is considered a playable hand. With a pair one may go for a full house, three of a kind or even a quad later on in the game.
With a high pair, raise and re-raise the pot. Pocket pairs are a good sign and when improved will help one to win. If more than one player has a pair trying to improve a pair will normally at times cause slow play because they are powerful starting hands.
If one has an ace, king, queen, jack and ten paired with any other card of the same suit this is also a sign of a good starting hand. An ace, king, queen are immediate candidates for flush. Just like having a pair, this hand has to be improved as the game progresses. One should not make it obvious to other players one is pushing for a flush for if other players get a hint one is pursuing a flush they may make ways to minimize one's gain.
Only play cards that are not suited if they have a combined value of twenty-one or higher. If an ace, a king, queen, jack and ten is pair with any other cards of a different suit help from other cards are needed to win.
If one is dealt a two suited set of cards meaning that one after the other or gapped by one card such a hand is still playable. There is a possibility of a possible for a flush or a straight. Aside from a good starting hand, sound decision-making is still crucial in winning at the game of poker.