Starters, good for both high and low combinations are to be played aggressively no matter what is the position and how aggressive are the opponents. The only problem here is that many players evaluate their hands as mixed when they are not. The problem with high starters is much more complicated. These are the starters good either for nuts-high or for nuts-low combination.
High starters
High starters are something absolutely real. These are hands which cannot form a low-combination. We can say that there are two types of high starters - the ones that include and the ones that do not include A (ace). Very few among the high starters worth playing aggressively in case they don’t include an Ace. An exception are the strong starters like 10, J, Q, K but only in case you are in middle or late position and there are no aggressive players among your opponents. If the opponents in early positions did not act aggressively but we raised the pre-flop from late position with this hand, we solved two direct problems and one indirect as follows:
1. Most probably that will substantially increase the amount of money in the pot for the flop because limpers fold very rarely after raise from late position.
2. In case the flop did not give our starter a strong hand or draw, as a respond to our opponents aggression, we can fold while the pot is relatively not big.
3. In case the flop gives the opportunity to stay in the hand, the late position will allow to evaluate your chances at the most even for a pot that most probably is going to be split. With this starter you are going to achieve the inverse effect if you raise in early position. First, if you act like this, there is a possibility for the potential limpers to fold. There is also a possibility some of the opponents to re-raise. And that will create unfavourable for this hand conditions. The logic of playing with strong high starters with A is a little bit different. In case your high starter with an ace is strong enough, you have to raise no matter what is your position.
With this your action you are going to:
1. Increase the amount of money in the pot.
2. The marginal high starters are going to be fold.
3. The marginal low starters are going to be fold. The worst flop for the strong high starter is different suit no pair low flop which iof frequent occurrence. As a rule, this type of flop does not give the opportunity to this starter to form a hand. But it gives low expectations to some of the opponents and they are not practically able to ignore them. In fact, in order to make a low, they can make nuts-high and our starter in this situation is not going to get any profit. The same situation is when the flop has two low no pair cards. Do not forget that if there are strong low starters on the table such as A, 2; A, 3 etc. this is bad for the high starters. But if you have an A in your hand, this decreases the probability some of your opponents to have strong low starters since one of the aces is already in your hands.