Kicking Back
A lot of poker players start out swinging in a poker online tournament-playing every hand, raising and reraising, and basically trying to establish dominance from the very beginning. It’s fun to start out betting, and it may look impressive, but a good percentage of these guys never seem to make it to the final online poker table. The problem that these guys face is that they are making their moves before they know how their opponents play. I take a much more laid-back approach to the beginning stages of a tournament. Unless I’ve got a killer starting hand, I’m more than content to see action play out around me, and the more action I observe, the better. By sitting back and observing, I’m getting an idea of how my opponents play. That guy’s aggressive, this lady never folds, that guy’s a calling station, and so on. Most of the hands I’m dealt in the beginning are garbage anyway, so by folding and keeping an eye on my opponents, I’ll have a good idea of which opponents I can exploit and which opponents I need to watch out for. If you let your opponents duke it out in the early stages of the tournament, you’ll know what you’re getting into by the time you’re ready to play.
