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
From middle position I play quite a few more hands
From middle position I play quite a few more hands than from early position because there are fewer players left to act behind me. I will raise 2-2+, A-10+, K-10+, Q-10+, J-10, all hands with two suited cards 9 or higher, suited connectors down to 5-4s, one-gap suited connectors down to 6-4s, and two-gap suited connectors down to 7-4s. I will occasionally raise hands like K-8s, A-x and 10-6s if the players in the blinds are tight. Hands like A-4, K-5, and J-2s are still clear folds for me.
From the cutoff, the position to the right of the button,
From the cutoff, the position to the right of the button, I will raise an even wider range, including 2-2+, A-2+, K-7+, Q-9+ and offsuit connectors and one-gap hands down to 7-5o. You can raise pretty much anything from the button, although I shy away from hands like J-2s, Q-3, K-2, 10-4, 7-2 and other unconnected low cards. I fold suited hands if they are not connected in any way and have no high-card value.