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
At the Foxwoods World Poker Tour event
At the Foxwoods World Poker Tour event I won, I had been playing my standard, aggressive game all day, not being overly tight or overly loose. We just got back from a break and I picked up 10-10 in the big blind. Daniel Negreanu raised from late position, I re-raised and he folded. The very next hand I picked up A-K in the small blind. Daniel raised and I re-raised again. I could tell he was getting a tad frustrated, as I had re-raised him a few times earlier in the day as well. He thought for a while and called. The flop came K-x-x. I took my time and made a standard continuation bet. I noticed myself shaking a little, as a large crowd always closely watches Daniel’s play and I tend to get a little nervous deep in huge buy-in tournaments. I was pretty annoyed at my shaking and hoped he did not pick up on it. He thought for a while before putting in a raise that left him with only about 20BBs left, essentially committing himself to going all-in. Despite knowing he was committed to the hand, I pushed all-in, as top pair, top kicker is usually a monster in a re-raised pot when your opponent thinks you are playing loose. He folded quickly and I won a large pot with no showdown, which is one of the best things that can happen for you in poker. The image I had cultivated by re-raising the hand before probably won me that large extra bet.
While it is necessary to know your image,
While it is necessary to know your image, you should also be aware of what your opponents think their image is. If you are playing against an opponent that is normally tight and straightforward and you see him playing a few more hands than normal, it is probably because he is getting a better than average distribution of cards. Do not fall prey to variance by assuming he’s changed his game and become a loose player when he’s been tight every other time you have played with him. Pay careful attention to all hands that are shown down, so if you see him showing up with 8-6s when he raised from early position, you can start to assume he’s loosened up his game. If he only shows down premium hands, you should assume he’s just getting good cards.