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
If your opponent only bets when he has a strong hand
If your opponent only bets when he has a strong hand though, you should be happy to fold to two streets of aggression. That being said, some opponents see 9-9 on this type of board as the nuts. Pay attention so you don’t fold incorrectly.
Great hands for pot control
Great hands for pot control are those that are either way ahead of or way behind your opponent’s range, which are usually hands like top pair, bad kicker or middle pair, good kicker. The less likely your hand is to be beaten by an overcard, the more likely checking behind is a good option. For example, checking behind with J-10 on a K-10-3 board makes a lot of sense, whereas with 8-7 on a 7-4-2 board it is probably a poor play against non-aggressive opponents because any overcard could beat you, but you don’t know which one. With J-10, only an ace or queen will make your hand worse, and even then you will have a straight draw in addition to your pair.