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
The first rule is:
The first rule is: When you have nothing, get out. More money is lost by Stud Poker players who go in with two indifferent cards and drop out later, or by Draw Poker players who stay with a low pair and fold after the draw, than is ever lost by having three kings beaten by three aces. The player who has the patience to stay out of pot after pot, for hours if necessary, is the player who, in the long run, will win.
The second rule is:
The second rule is: When you're beaten, get out. You may have a pair of queens back to back in a Stud game—a high hand good enough to win 99 pots out of 100. But if, on the next card, one of your opponents should show a pair of kings or aces, in most cases the smart play is to drop out at once. You may improve your hand, but the odds are against it. Even if you improve, your opponent may improve also— and his pair was better than yours to begin with. Except for going in on nothing, trying to beat a big pair with a small one loses more money than anything else in Poker.