In these big tournaments you have got everything, from players with years of experience to totally inexperienced players, so these big bets are in particular hard to read and understand. It is normal condition where we you get to see about 10 to 20 percent of players go out of a lower stakes multi-table tournament before the blinds even go up.

Strategy: Planning

Keeping a very low profile is what the most experienced players prefer. These players spend the early part of a tournament keeping a very low profile. Folding all the cards except the premium pockets and ace big and only playing them aggressively with at least high pair after the flop. These players are well aware of the fact tournaments are a game of survival, a game of endurance– the last man standing,of course, wins.

It is quite hard to get a read on players early in a game and a big bet at this stage could be saying anything from, “I’ve got the nuts” to, “I’ve had way too much tequila”. Finding out which can be an expensive business. Only call with very strong openers and be prepared to fold them, especially if you’re in early position and see escalating raises (one player raises your call, then another raises again) coming in after you, this could well turn into a game of bingo with a few players all-in before the flop.

Counter strategy

Each and every turn of a typical hold’em game presents tons of opportunities, and under different circumstances, these opportunities vary. Like if you are feeling like playing an aggressive game, then the early stages of the game would be fertile ground to stack up on more and more chips by leveraging the edge you have over the weak players on the table as well as those that are over aggressive.

If you manage to hit those strong pockets right at the beginning of the tourney and you will definitely find a lot of loose chips lying around inviting to be pocketed. Also, if you place a real big bet just before the flop, it will blind out any loose players while also helping you cash in on a big blind.

If you end up with the high pair post a flop, that is by either hitting your card or holding higher pockets, then a very big bet or all-in raise may just take the pot right there – or better yet, find a caller who is fiddling with a draw or has a lower kicker.

It is a dangerous plan but the results can be excellent, double up or triple up at this juncture and you will end up putting yourself in an extremely strong position. However, if you do lose, then you have the option of either buying again or moving on quickly to the next game.