The nice thing about the early part of a tournament, especially on Betfair Poker is that you have a deep stack and plenty of time on your hands. You can adapt your own style of play albeit tight, aggressive, or perhaps even the maniac approach, which my good friend Pennick/Steve seems to enjoy and he still constantly reminds me that he has been ladies champ at the Big Slick. (He was so proud). I am not going to advise in these articles the best way to play as that is something to which you need to adapt a style and feel comfortable with it.

Hand Selection

The old Connectors and Suited Connectors are a bit harder to play and you need to know when to make a semi-bluff with a draw, when to call with one, or when to fold one. All three options are very viable depending on bet size, the board, and players in the pot. A good piece of advice here is that any serious tournament player will know the odds on draws with one card to come as well as two cards to come so that you can make correct decisions regarding flop all ins if you have a strong draw but it costs you all of your chips. (I shall cover pot odds and draws in other articles).

As advised previously I would tend to limp in especially in position with a varied range of hands however you need to be careful with hands such as AJ, AT, KQ, KJ, QJ, etc. (known as trap hands). It is important to note that although these hands look pretty it's important to be aware that these hands are easily dominated and you have to play them with care in the early stages. Please note that I'm not saying you should just automatically hit the muck when you have top pair, but you should be careful with them if you aren't sure if your hand is good or not.

If there is one thing I can stress about the early portion of a tournament it is that you really should not be raising that many hands before the flop. I really do not understand why players are raising and trying to steal blinds when they are 10/20 is not really a smart idea since it will be hard to know where you are at against loose players and you will have to invest a significant amount of chips to do so. It is often better to just limp in and then play stronger than they do after the flop and this will allow you to play more hands.

Final Thoughts

I do feel that the best strategy in the beginning stages of a tournament should be to play mainly tight, but limp in when possible with suited hands in good position against weak players, and you should mainly be focused on looking for a good spot to get your money in as a big favourite.

What you should not be worried about is stealing blinds or making big preflop moves that will only get you busted. The end stage is the time for bluffs and stealing blinds now you should be focused on playing solid poker. Also pocket pairs are very valuable; especially small ones that can deceptively flop a small set and bust someone with top pair. And finally be careful with the trap hands as detailed previously as they can get you into serious trouble.

I also would advise that it is not wise to play If you just watched an episode of the World Poker Tour and you saw Gus Hansen take down a monster pot with 3-8 off suit, then you may be thinking,  "I should start playing more like Gus, since he's a winner!"  My advice to you is this:  If you play like Gus, you will go broke.

Beginner players are almost always looking for shortcuts on how to improve their poker skills.  Emulating the playing style of one of your favourite professional players is not the best way to improve your game, although it seems to be a popular approach for new players which helps pay the bills I suppose ;-)

The next article will be based on the middle stages.

Good luck at the tables …

Scotty ((Shaa boom))