The Same. Except Different

Last week I played a WSOP tournament ridiculously tight folding over 90% of my hands.

I really wasn't looking to play that tight. That wasn't my pregame strategy.

But with blinds still small and no playable hands it quickly became my reality.

The tournament I played yesterday was quite different.

This time I had alot of playable hands.

No big pairs.

But a plethora of small pairs and suited connectors.

So I decided to get in there and gamble.

In the first hour I saw 14 flops which is alot for me.

There are two school's of thought for early tournament play. One school says to fold and play tight since you can't win too much. (Small blinds, no antes). Thus there's no reason to really get involved without a playable hand.

The other school of thought is to play as many hands as possible. The blinds are cheap so it doesn't hurt your stack so much. But it's a chance to amass some chips while everyone else is playing too tight.

Usually I let the cards decide. I certainly don't need big pairs to play at this point. If anything I prefer the suited connectors and stuff since they're so much easier to play post flop.

So 14 times in that first hour I had what I would deem playable cards.

No monsters. But plenty of opportunity.

Hands like: Jack 9 suited. Pocket 10's. Ace 5 suited. Queen, jack suited. Pocket 7's. Ace jack.

Post flop things didn't really go my way. I stole one large pot from a guy with a reraise on the turn. But overall I was mostly happy that I gave myself a chance to get lucky.

My opponents were usually overplaying their starting hands. If I could connect I could probably win alot of chips. It didn't happen for me but the chances were there. And that's what I play for.