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
When You Are Re-Raised the Minimum
When You Are Re-Raised the Minimum You will occasionally be re-raised by the minimum amount. Always call except with hands that are usually dominated, such as K-4 and A-2. Suppose you raise with 7-6 from the cutoff to 3BBs out of your 150BB stack and the button re-raises to 6BBs. While you would normally fold to a standard 9BB re-raise, you should call here and hope for a good flop. People usually have a monster hand when they min-re-raise, which means you have huge implied odds. So, call with every hand that lacks huge reverse implied odds against most opponents’ super-tight min-re-raising range. Obviously, you should do your best to determine your opponent’s hand. A few years ago I would almost always be shown a strong hand, but some weaker players in today’s games min-re-raise all pairs, suited aces and a few other random hands. Make sure you know your opponent’s range as well as possible before making a big fold.
Sometimes you will re-raise a player
Sometimes you will re-raise a player only to have him min-re-raise you. Even though the pot is larger than before, you should still call with all hands except A-x and K-x. Suppose your opponent raises to 3BBs out of a 125BB stack and you re-raise with Q-9 to 8BBs. Your opponent min-re-raises to 14BBs. You are not getting huge implied odds, but calling 6BBs to hopefully win 135BBs is always a fine deal. So, call and fold most flops unless you hit a monster.