Hold'em - Cards to Play The preferable hands to start with are A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, A-K, A-Q, A-J, 10-10. The strength of your pair is influenced by its size, how many players are in the pot, what comes on the flop, what comes on the turn, and what comes on the river.

For example, if you have J-J and the flop comes A-K-Q the value of your two jacks would go way down because someone might have one of the over cards, an A, K or Q. On the other hand, if the flop came 10-9-8 you would have hit a good flop, having an open ended straight draw and an overpaid.

If you have a pair and flop a matching card, you have flopped a big hand … trips or three of a kind