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
Assume in each example,
Assume in each example, that you have 2-2, 8-8, 7-6, J-10, A-4, A-J, K-10 or 7-4. I will list a range your opponent might push and determine whether you should call with each hand. So, if your opponent will push a range like 2-2+, A-2+, K-8+, Q-9+, J-10, 10-9s, 9-8s, 8-7s and 7-6s, which of these hands should you call with if you are getting 2-to-1? You may be surprised that you should call with every hand in this range. The 7-4 only has 33.5-percent equity, so you can fold it if you like. But folding any of the other hands is a huge error.
If there are a lot of short stacks
If there are a lot of short stacks likely to push over your raise, you should just fold your weaker hands like 7-4. If there are no antes in play, you would have to win 36 percent of the time to break even, making the 7-4 an easy fold. Now, assume you raise and an average player pushes on you. You expect his range to be something like 7-7+, A-10+, K-J+, Q-10s+, and J-10s. Assume again that you are getting 2-to-1. You should now call with 2-2, 8-8, A-4 and A-J, and fold 7-6, J-10, K-10 and 7-4. In this example K-10, J-10 and 7-6 are close to being calls, although they are only marginally above the break-even point, so you should fold them.