How To Play A Strong Hand

Strong hands in Texas Holdem can be very difficult to play properly, and many misplay them all the time. You want to get the most out of your hand, without losing to a lucky catch. Unfortunately there will be those times that your opponents will catch a better hand than you, and as soon as you recognize that you must be prepared to fold regardless of your hand.
One of the easiest ways to be unsuccessful at online poker is by hanging onto a strong hand when you should be laying it down. The biggest example is when you hold AA, as many people can’t lay that down, even when they need to.
Increase Your Odds
The best ways to prevent a situation where you have to lay down a monster hand is by minimizing the amount of people in the hand, which is best done by an above average preflop raise. If you just double the blind you will probably get mediocre hands limping in, but it all depends on how tight your opponents play. You want to raise a minimum of 3 times the big blind, but of course if you are playing at a really loose table, that may not be enough to get the mediocre hands out.
The strongest preflop hands that you want to pound the pot with are: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK
Slow Playing The Flop
As long as there are only one or two others in the hand, and assuming that you hold AT LEAST top pair, you may choose to slow play, but ONLY to the turn. One exception would be if there are no straight or flush draws on the board, but it still isn’t a good idea to slow play all the way to the river. If you choose to check after the flop and no action occurs, you must start to bet on the turn, unless the turn gives you a monster (ex: 3 of a kind, straight, flush, or better).
Betting On The Flop
If you place a bet rather than check after the flop, your opponent will probably call if he has a decent hand, since he wouldn’t be expecting you to have a monster hand unless you give it away. Again, your bet amount is important. Too much will likely make your opponent fold, which is something you don’t want if you can get more out of your hand.
If your opponent catches top pair or gets a flush or straight draw and you have an over pair or even top pair with the best possible kicker, you don’t necessarily want to go all in, unless he places a fairly high bet, because he/she will likely fold. It may be hard to tell, but if you think your opponent has top or mid pair, rather than a draw, you would be pretty safe to bet an amount that your opponent will likely call to send the hand to the turn (giving you a bigger pot in the end).
If you believe that your opponent is on a draw, you want to make your opponent think about calling by placing pressure on them. You must make sure there is constant pressure on your opponent and it’s not a bad idea to bet your opponent out of the pot. Although when your opponent is on a draw he/she will lose more times than not.
The Turn and River
At this point you CANNOT let your opponent limp to the river if you have any suspicion that he/she is on a draw, just like you learned to do after the flop. Regardless of how weak your opponent’s hand is (even though this may be VERY difficult to determine), you should still bet. The pot should be fairly big, so if your opponent folds, no big deal. Just remember to keep constant pressure on your opponent.
Recognizing When You’re Beat
Recognizing when you’re beat can be one of the most difficult tasks in poker depending on your opponent. Obviously, when you have a monster hand it is harder to tell when you're beat. Let’s get a little further in depth.
The easiest way to know when you’re beat is by knowing your opponent. If your opponent only bets on his/her hand strength, then it will be much easier to tell whether you’re beat or not. If your opponent is more advanced and varies the way he/she plays a hand, then it will be much harder to tell whether you’re beat or not. You have to pick up any clues that your opponent gives to you and go from there. Just remember that the easiest way to recognize when you're beat is by getting to know your opponents, which won’t come after only a few hands. Here are a few things you want to consider when you get to know your opponents:
-How does you opponent play his hands, does he bet more on strong hands and less on weaker hands, or does he vary his play?

-Will your opponent call literally anything regardless of his outs (ex: straight or flush draws)?
-Does your opponent usually bet on draws?
-Does you opponent often slow play?