Most people believe that the early stages in any tournament such as no-limit Hold’em are not very important. The popular belief or misconception rather, is that it isn’t worth the trouble for such small blinds and the ultimate pot will not be big enough to matter much. This is because they think that a small or medium-sized pot, will at most come up to no more than a big blind a couple of levels later. While they are not entirely wrong, this may be true only with a particular type of player who is adept at grabbing pre-flop wins, but may not be too great post flop.
Implied odds matter
The fact is that a very skilled poker player has his/her potential peaking whenever the stacks are correspondingly deep. This is because there is enough room to maneuver to lead the opponents to make costly mistakes. Assuming you are at a table that has quite a few professionals who have tight playing style, and a few inexperienced ones who happen to be weaker, though not prone to mistakes. In such a situation you should be happy if you were to be dealt a suited J-10 instead of a pair of aces in the very first position.
You know that armed with the aces, you are guaranteed to grab the blinds, or add money to the pot. Pre-flop always turns out as the smallest in the rounds of betting, and you may have to play out of position when it comes to the post flop stages, that too against several opponents. As the bets grow larger, their combined decisions are bound to be better than yours. It is not just J-10 suited happening to be a better hand than aces. You’d hope and wish that you still want to have the aces, even if you get the button either way. A good hand kin a good position is always preferable to the best probable hand from a very poor position.
Bet big with strong hands
With a game like no-limit Hold’em, your stack is always in jeopardy. Strong players will keep trying to intimidate you with raises and bets with the intention of reducing to stack. In case you hold cards that cannot withstand such an onslaught, you’ll be forced to make decisions you don’t fancy much. This is felt more acutely when you find yourself out of position, not able to do anything about the size of the pot. However, if your position is advantageous, you may just be able to scrape through in spite of holding marginal hands post flop. This is because you will be quite sure whether to call, bet or go for a showdown, whichever is warranted.
Whenever you find yourself out of position, especially against tough, strong opponents, you would best avoid dicey situations by not playing cards pre-flop, in spite of your wish to play a big pot. It is going to entirely depend on the flushes, straights, and full houses that is going to help you decide putting a couple of hundred blinds in the pot. Though these may not be all that easy to make, that is what you wish to aim for. This is in spite of having strong over pairs or top pairs, which will be only a form of consolation.
Bluff
You would be an easy target for seasoned players in a tournament if you plan to lie low and watch out only for good cards and blinds that are worth grabbing. You will be making it easy for your opponents to decide what hands to bet big, and they won’t be spending too much time, mulling over their decisions. This sort of strategy might work well with players who do not rush to scramble out of your way, should you decide to take an occasional shot at the pot. In contrast, if you were to play more aggressively and portray yourself as a tough opponent, especially when your opponent has a poor hand, or if he is calling and checking out of position, you will be putting him or her in a very awkward situation where you would never want to be in.
You should be aware that if you wish to have eight and nine-out draws for semi-bluffing, it is essential to raise pre-flop, using suited aces and connectors. If you have 30 big blinds, you are probably planning to make a great pair to go with. If the same were to be 300 you need to alter your pre-flop strategy accordingly, maybe a nut draw.
Aggression
Usually, tournament poker and no limit poker always favor the most aggressive players. However, you need to maintain tight control over your hand and betting range. With tournaments, people believe that they need to buy-in just once. Once their money is in, they won’t have to fret too much about losing it as they are already in. This is what makes most players loosen up a bit and play wildly. Yet some others believe that tournaments are when one needs to be conservative, as getting knocked out leaves not chance of buying back into the tournament.
More often than not, it is the aggressive players who control the game. They are least bothered with no qualms about being knocked out and play with gay abandon. In stark contrast, tight players are too scared and pass several opportunities, just because they want to play safe. It is needless to say that the most aggressive person always ends up winning the most number of chips.