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
After the fifth card, the player should fold if he does not have at
After the fifth card, the player should fold if he does not have at least a pair of queens or a four-card straight or flush. By this time the player should have some idea of the strength of the opponents' hands by the betting and the face-up cards shown on the table.
If no serious betting is taking place, a player's high pair is worth
If no serious betting is taking place, a player's high pair is worth playing, provided that no card of that denomination has appeared face up. If it has, the player's chances of making three of a kind are so reduced that they aren't worth taking. A four-card straight or flush is usually worth staying for the sixth card, and generally for a seventh, especially if you have two or more opponents. However, there are two exceptions. One is when it appears that even if the player does make the straight or flush, his opponents may hold a higher-ranking hand —a seventh card is not worth the price of another card. The other exception is when odds against filling do not warrant the money contained in the pot.