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
Compare it with a table stakes game in which the average bet is the
Compare it with a table stakes game in which the average bet is the same $2 or $4, but in which every player has $100 or $200 in front of him and can later bet the $100 or $200 at any betting interval. Suppose in such a game you toss your $2 or $4 into the pot hoping to better your pair. With $40 already in the pot, you are getting excellent odds, but you are risking a situation in which you may better the pair and then be confronted with a $200 bet. Yet, if you better your pair, nobody is likely to call a $200 bet unless he believes he can beat your hand. Therefore your potential risk is much greater than in the $2 or $4 limit game.
In any form of Poker it usually pays to play only when your hand,
In any form of Poker it usually pays to play only when your hand, even without improvement, has a chance to win the pot, and when you believe your chance of improvement is as good as all other players'. For example, you have a pair of aces and another player has kings showing. If neither of you improves, you win. You have as good a chance to improve as your opponent has, and if you both improve equally, you'll still win.