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
If everyone folds around to you in the small blind,
If everyone folds around to you in the small blind, your play should depend entirely on how the big blind plays. If the big blind is a good, aggressive player, you should fold most hands from the small blind, because you are going to be out of position. If you know he likes to re-raise, feel free to limp with hands you don’t mind seeing a flop with, like Q-9s, 6-5s and 3-3. Most of your profit against this type of opponent will come from making a hand and taking advantage of his aggression. If you are against a tight-passive opponent, you can raise every hand pre-flop. Most of your profit against this type of player will come from raising and continuation-betting. Most opponents are a mix of these two types of players. If I knew nothing about my opponent, I would raise something like 2-2+, A-2+, K-7+, Q-8+, J-8+, 10-7+ and all suited connectors. You can adjust as you figure out how the big blind plays.
In the small blind you will be out of position throughout the hand,
In the small blind you will be out of position throughout the hand, making it the least desirable position at the table. Even though you get a slight discount pre-flop, you should still fold most hands and wait for more profitable situations.