Hold On Until the Flop

  The basics of tight play involve folding any and all hands that are weak, keeping your chips out of the pot, and thus out of the other players' piles. Tight play is one of the key skills you must learn in order to have any chance of success at Holdem. If you don't play tight from time to time, you'll end up tossing away your chips on useless hands.  However, what really constitutes a hand that should be folded and a hand that should be held on to, at least until the flop? It's best to look at this from the angle of what kinds of hands you should hold on to, instead of which ones to fold.  The first consideration is the value of the two cards you're holding. There are obvious keepers: high pairs, Ace-King suited, etc. These hands are immediately strong, with good chances of development. You don't want to raise with them until the flop, at least, if you are slow playing.  With weaker starting hands, you have to pay attention to how the betting is going. Weak hands might be strong enough if the betting is not aggressive.  What you want to always keep in mind is that sometimes it is a good idea to keep your chips out of the pot by not raising until you are certain of winning. In almost all cases, you simply shouldn't raise with any hand before the flop, because only after the flop hits you can see if you can develop a good hand to win.