Getting Started - Hand Selection

What is a good starting hand? Without getting into more advanced topics like your position relative to the dealer button, your chip stack and what other players at your table have done and might do…beginners just need to decide to (A) fold, (B) call or (C) raise (trust me, this will save you a lot of grief).
So what hands should you fold? Without giving you a list (many books do) the general idea is to fold two small cards like 3 5 or 2 7, fold any middle cards mixed with small cards that are unsuited like a 9 3 or an 8 4; and also fold high cards that are dragged down by a small card (a large gap kills the chance of getting a straight) and are unsuited like a J 4 or K 6 (even an A 3 can be a week hand since another player with an Ace who pairs a community card Ace will bet big and usually the best kicker gets the pot).
What is a good starting hand that is worth calling the big blind? Again, without prescribing a list, you want larger cards that are “connected” with a small gap so a straight is more likely, you want suited cards so a flush is more likely, and of course big cards so your pairs, two pair, straights, flushes and full houses are winners. Try to call the big blind with hands like a 5 6 suited, A 10 or K J unsuited, and pairs 2 2 to 7 7 (some people will go all in with 5 5 so remember these are for beginners to stay conservative and learn to play better by surviving not gambling).
What is a good hand worth raising? These are the hands where your heart goes boom and the adrenaline starts pumping – the middle and high suited connectors like 9 7 diamonds and K Q spades, and the big pairs like 9 9 or K K. The best starting hand…you guessed it the pocket Aces.
Folding pocket Aces? Yes, this happened to me in a small $60 tournament last weekend. I was dealt AA and a few players called the $100 Big Blind I bet 3 times the BB and announced “make it $300”. With a table of seven players there were three callers including the two blinds. Well, now I am not happy because I would rather have had some isolation down to just one player…the odds just went up that a worse hand (three players without AA against me) will get lucky. So the flop looks ok, a pair that can get scary, it was J 6 6 and guess what the first player does…yep, she says All in. Then the 2nd player calls and the 3rd player calls! I bail and get ready to spit like a cobra if an Ace comes out…It turns out she had QQ and now has two pair, next guy has two cards and is just gambling, while the 3rd guy had a 6 and has three or kind and starts celebrating…too early. The turn helps no one and then bam the river is another Q so the new chip leader got there by luck not by the best starting two cards.