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
Putting Opponents on a Range
Putting Opponents on a Range If someone says, “He raised pre-flop so I put him on ace-king,” or something along those lines, you can be confident that he is a weak player. Professional players put their opponents on a range of hands, which they narrow down as the hand progresses. For example, say a very tight player raises from early position. You can immediately narrow his range to A-A to 10-10, A-K, A-Q, and maybe a few suited Broadway hands like Q-J. You call on the button with 7-6 and see a flop of 7-4-2 heads-up.
Your opponent makes a continuation bet.
Your opponent makes a continuation bet. If he is competent, he will bet his entire range on this flop, representing an overpair. If you call and your opponent has a weak hand, his turn check will let you know that. If he bets again, he probably does have the overpair and you can fold. If you raise, he will fold all his weak hands and probably call or push the strong ones. This is a spot where raising makes sense, as long as you are deep-stacked. An amateur may look at this hand and think, “He raises pre-flop, and so I put him on A-K. He bet the flop, so I raised and he went all-in. I called because I put him on A-K but I lost to his A-A. Where did I go wrong?”