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
True, by holding a kicker
True, by holding a kicker your chances of improving the hand are lessened. The exact chances of improving a pair with a kicker are 1 in 3.86, whereas the chances of improving a pair without a kicker are 1 in 3.48. But the player holding a kicker has added a certain deceptive value to his hand. Your judgment must decide if it is worth holding. Your decision must be made after analyzing both the players' characteristic methods and the number of cards each player has drawn before your turn to draw.
Here is a hint on whether to stay in with a four-card flush,
Here is a hint on whether to stay in with a four-card flush, which I have found sound both in theory and in actual play. Calculate the amount of money in the pot and recall the chances of drawing the fifth card to make the flush. The chances of drawing one card to make a flush are 1 in 5.2. Therefore, the pot should contain at least five times the amount it will cost you to draw a card. In other words, if the opening bet was $1, there must be at least $5 in the pot before it is worth your risk in paying $1 to draw a card in an attempt to make a flush.