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
Before you learn to sprint at full speed,
Before you learn to sprint at full speed, which you will be doing by the end of this book, you must learn to walk. I am going to assume you can barely crawl in these first few chapters, as you must know the basics of poker. Every house has a strong foundation. I want to make sure you know what you are doing so you can come up with the optimal play in every situation at the table. Even if you memorize everything in this book, you will eventually run into spots that are not covered because poker is such a complex game. Learning the basics will help you to think for yourself and make sound decisions in the future.
Do Not Get Stuck on Formulas
Do Not Get Stuck on Formulas I used to love math in high school, but as I started reading poker books, the math became rather boring to me. I have coached numerous players that also say they fail to understand poker because they do not understand the math. While you need to do some basic things, like figuring out implied odds, counting the pot and converting your stack size into big blinds, the other math is largely irrelevant as long as you know the principle that each equation teaches. If you read a formula and do not understand the math, simply keep reading and I will explain the concept.