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
Hands that are better played by checking include top pair with a bad kicker,
Hands that are better played by checking include top pair with a bad kicker, middle pair and bottom pair of a fairly high rank, such as A-9 on a K-Q-9 board. Also check when the board is highly likely to have hit your opponent’s pre-flop calling range and missed yours. If you raise with A-3, an opponent calls in the big blind and it comes 9-8-7, feel free to check behind. Even though this board did not hit your hand, it probably hit your opponent’s range so strongly that you should just give up.
In position, if you are not the pre-flop raiser
In position, if you are not the pre-flop raiser and your opponent bets into you, you should raise with your good draws as a semi-bluff. Also raise with strong made hands, like the nuts, flushes, straights and two pair. You should rarely raise with a total bluff. Consider raising when your hand is weak and you think your opponent is weak as well. Call with hands like top, middle or bottom pair, although raising with your weakest pairs has some merit because you are basically turning them into a semi-bluff. Fold when you miss the flop, especially if it is likely to improve your opponent’s hand. If your opponent is known for continuation-betting often and then playing straightforward on the turn, feel free to float the flop with the intention of taking away the pot on a later street.