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
Another example occurs often on the river.
Another example occurs often on the river. Suppose you have the nuts and think your opponent missed a draw. Assume the pot has 50BBs in it and you and your opponent have around 70BBs left in your stacks. Betting around 15BBs will often induce an overly aggressive opponent to go all-in, winning you a ton of chips when a large value-bet would have won you nothing. Pay attention to stack sizes. Always make sure your opponent can think you will fold to a push. If the stacks are short, it is usually best to go for a check-raise that will get your small stack in. If you are deep-stacked, bet out and push over top of a bluff-raise, as your opponent will probably be pot-committed. Tricking my opponents into bluffing at me might be the most profitable thing I do at the poker table. With a little practice, it will be for you, too.
Play Straightforwardly in Large Pots
Play Straightforwardly in Large Pots I’ve already touched on this concept, but it is so important that I am going to mention it again. It is perfectly fine to bet a small amount of your large stack with a weak hand or in a spot where you are unsure of your equity. But as the pot gets large, deception and advertising value go down and your concern for scooping this specific pot goes up. Suppose someone raises to 3BBs out of a 50BB stack and you re-raise to 9BBs with A-K on the button. The player calls and the flop comes K-5-2. Your opponent checks. Since the pot is already 20BBs, you should bet and not be too sad if your opponent folds.