The most important decision a player will make in Texas Hold'em is which starting hands to play. Most players lose because they play too many hands. There are 169 possible two-card starting hands. Hands of equal rank but different suits are counted as one because they have the same value before the flop. For instance an Ace and King of hearts has the same value as the Ace and King of spades, clubs, or diamonds. Out of these 169 hands there are only about 75 that are playable. Which of these 75 you play will be determined by your position to the dealer button. Not all of these hands can be played from every position. Cards of the same suit are more powerful than unsuited cards because of their flush potential. Strong starting hands such as big pairs have a better chance of holding up to make the winning hand than smaller cards.

The combination of starting hands will fall into four categories. Actually you could further simplify this by noting that there are two categories. Big card hands that will win in a small field without improvement and drawing hands that need help.