Tournament Strategies
After receiving pocket cards, you are immediately faced with a choice: play your cards and either raise or call the blinds, or fold.
Practice Matters
Whether you raise, pre-flop or not
Whether you raise, pre-flop or not also depends on your read of your opponents. How strong their hands may be. If you detect weakness, then you should raise with any kind of hand. This will either take the hand down for you, right then, or put you in control of the hand.
Sometimes, it is acceptable to slow play
Sometimes, it is acceptable to slow play a big pocket pair if you are against only one other player and he is a very aggressive player. Let him do the betting for you. If you show too much strength by betting or raising, you may scare him off. On the other hand, don't over play a single pair. It is better to give up the best hand once in a while then to go broke often with the worst hand.