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
1. The prime rule of Poker is:
1. The prime rule of Poker is: Don't try to beat the other players; let them try to beat you. This isn't just an introductory sentence; it is probably more important than all the tips and hints that follow. Do yourself a favor by memorizing it. 2. Be sure you know the rules of the game. The player who knows the rules has a decided advantage in any game against players who are vague about them. 3. Study the mathematics of Poker in Chapter 10. A player who knows the Poker probabilities of drawing and improving hands has a decided edge over the player who thinks he knows. But don't become a slave to Poker probabilities. They are probabilities, not laws; and they do not supply a surefire recipe for winning. 4. Observe your opponents; learn their Poker mannerisms. Are they loose or tight players? And avoid giveaway mannerisms of your own.
5. Play as often as possible;
5. Play as often as possible; experience is the best teacher. 6. Always remember that in a Poker game the average hand be comes less valuable the more players there are. 7. Treat every round of betting as if it were the first. Forget the previous betting rounds and the money you have contributed to the pot. 8. When you hold a cinch hand, wait till the last two betting inter vals to raise. 9. Fold a doubtful hand at the start rather than in the middle or at the end. 10. Call your opponent or opponents when you believe your hand is good enough to win, not merely because you suspect a bluff. 11. As a general rule, don't try to steal a pot by trying to bluff a poor player, a heavy winner or a heavy loser. 12. When you're in a losing streak, don't let yourself get panicky.