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
Weak players raise and check-raise hands like top pair.
Weak players raise and check-raise hands like top pair. This is one of their biggest leaks. Raising the flop with top pair usually turns your strong made hand into a bluff, as most thinking opponents will only continue if they can beat top pair. Also, you tend to be in terrible shape if you’re four-bet on the flop.
Suppose you have A-J in the big blind
Suppose you have A-J in the big blind and call a middle-position raise to 3BBs. You both have 100BBs. The flop comes J-10-2. Your opponent bets 5BBs and you check-raise to 15BBs. In this spot, if your opponent raises or calls, you are usually in fairly bad shape. Also, notice that there are numerous bad turn cards for your hand. Any heart, A, K, Q, 10, 9, 8 or 7 could give you a strong, but second-best hand. If your opponent re-raises you on the flop, you should almost always fold, but many weak players stack off with top pair, top kicker. Clearly, you are almost always beat here if your opponent is willing to put a lot of money in the pot. If you have J-10 instead of A-J on this board, you should be very willing to get the money in, as your opponent could have an overpair, top pair or draw and be willing to get all-in. Basically, if you see someone raising the flop with top pair, be willing to wait for a hand that can beat it and look to get all the money in.