STARTINGHANDS

There are different styles of play, some play many hands, some play very tight. The right way to play has no really good answer. Here we will assume a quiet tight style of play.

It's best to play tight in a tournament if you're not that experienced. The reason is that you gets less involved in hands where one false decision can cost you the whole stack.

In early positions you can raise with AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, AKs, AK, AQs,, AQ. And call with 99, 88 & AJs.
If someone has raised before you play AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs & AK.
Re-raise with AA, KK, QQ.

In middle positions you can raise with more hands if you're first to act. And call with 77, KQs, 66, ATs, 55, AJ.
If someone has raised before you can call and raise with the same hands as in early positions.

In late positions you should raise with every playable hand if you're first in to win the blinds.
Call with KQ, 44, KJs, 33, 22, AT, QJs.
If someone has raised before you can call and re-raise with the same hands as in early positions.

The starthands above are just guidelines, you can play more hands and raise more depending on the situation. If the table is very tight you can raise with more hands to try to steel the blinds. If you sit in a late pos. and many players before you have called you can also play more hands (like 67 &78 suited) because of the odds, example it costs 100 and the pot is 800, in such situation you can win a big pot if you hit something.



How Much Should You Bet

When you raise before the flop its good to bet around 3-5 times the blinds. Vary your raises so that your opponents don't find a pattern.

After the flop it's adequate to raise about halfsize of thr pot, also vary here.
If you have an overpair against many opponents and the flop is dangerous, it can be a good idea to raise a bit more to protect your hand, so that you reduce the risk of being outdrawn on turn and river.

The reason to raise about half the size of the pot is that you have good odds on your bet. If you are bluffing you don't have win with the bluff so many times to win in the long run. And if you have a decent hand and are re-raised you can fold without it costing you too much.

MONEY MANAGEMENT

It's very important too keep track on your stack compared to the blinds in tournaments. You usually keep track on how many rounds you can survive if you don't play any hands. For example: you have 2000 and big blind is 200 and small blind is 100 (300 total), you can play about 7 rounds before you're out of chips.

If you can survive more than 20 rounds you're in a good place, you can keep playing tight without the risk of being eaten up by the blinds.

If your chips is enough for 10 rounds you're about to get into trouble. You can't no longer wait for good starthands, you have to act soon. In this case you should start playing more high cards and play it more aggressive. You can still raise about 3 times the blinds, without being potcommited.

If your chips will last for less then 5 rounds you're in a critical pos. You want to avoid getting in this seat. If you have gotten here you have to do the best of the situation. There's no use in raising 3 times yhe blind anymore, cause you have such small amount of money that you're potcommited if somone re-raise you. In this case it's better to go all-in with the first decent starthand you get. K8 for example is a hand that's good enough to go all-in.

The reason to go all-in as fast as possible is that you can't afford to let the blind eat you up. If your chips just last for 2 rounds you will get called when you go all-in, but if your chips is enough for 3-4 rounds you might still be able to steal the blinds if you go all-in.