Playing big hands slower early in tournaments

Playing big hands slower early in tournaments is something that not many players do. Most professionals will go about playing bigger pairs like AA or KK slower early in tournament. Whether it is just making a smooth call of an early position raise or just calling from the big blind of a position raise, there are a great deal of things you can do. Some players will make it obvious when they have big pairs by making big raises or putting a lot of poker bonus money in the pot. To effectively play a big pair slower you will be letting your opponent bet at the pot to build it rather than show off your strength. If you get your opponent to fire two bets at a hand and build a pot you are playing your big pair correct. After a pot like that is over with your opponent will be dumbfounded as to what you had or will make a call and be behind.

If the blinds are too small to be worth getting early in a tournament you want action with big pairs. You will not get action by making big raises unless the other player also has a big pair or AK. If they go about playing back at you and you are just calling you can trap them and even stack them for all their chips very early in a tournament. Ideally, you want to get all of your opponent’s chips, but if you do have a hand like jacks early on in a tournament you really don’t want to have a three or four bet pot before the flop. It will put you at a disadvantage if the flop shows Ace high, king high, or queen high. Playing pocket jacks is probably the most difficult thing to do early on in a tournament, and if you see a flop cheaply then you can get away from them just as easy. They are the most difficult hand to play and will get you in trouble a lot of the time. If you can see a board that shows jack high, that is your money flop. Nobody can possibly put you on a hand like JJ if you didn’t re-raise or make an initial raise, and the hand is virtually unreadable. When you do see that flop you shouldn’t flinch though because you aren’t in the clear just yet. You will hopefully see an ace on the turn if you check the flop. If that ace does come or if an ace was on the flop you can take down a big pot with a disguised set. Trapping your opponent into firing money at a pot drawing dead is something you will always want. If you can trap your opponents early on in tournaments you will be better off for it. You will not get yourself stuck by playing small pots early on because if a bad flop comes out you can get away cheap. If a good flop comes out then you will get paid by having a hand that is unreadable.