- If you fall off the boat, you can't just tread water -

The Opening starts with first hand and ends around the first break or a little after. After the 1 st break when the players start to come under Blind pressure. If 3 players have less than 10 times the big blind, the Opening has ended. In a Re-buy & Add-on poker tournament, the opening will end sometime after Re-buys have been discontinued. It may last a little longer because the add-on gives short stacks a chance to prolong their participation with additional chips.

This period in a poker tournament most closely a normal poker ring game. Good solid poker play even with good marginal cards can build your stack. If you are going to play marginal hands. Try to do it in late position and don't get involved in large pots unless you have a premier hand.

During this period you have a great opportunity to build a chip stack, but it also has the additional risk involved. I am a firm believer that:

"If you fall off the boat, you can't just tread water and wait for the tide to carry you to shore. Sooner or later you have to start swimming toward land. Otherwise you'll just eventually tire and sink." -- Turner

That doesn't mean that you strike out in any direction. You have to know where you are going. Playing any marginal cards in Poker is a risk. You should never hesitate to muck marginal cards to a strong raise and make sure that you are getting good pot odds.

After the flop, Don't slow play anything except a flopped flush or a set for your pocket pair. If there is a flush draw or straight draw, consider betting your set immediately. Slow playing is a slow death, and we'll have to listen to another poker bad beat story.

To sum-up the Poker tournament opening: Play a solid poker game, Don't get confrontational. Expect the other players to play quite loosely, (especially in free rolls and R&A Hold'em tournaments). Don't get anxious as your stack shrinks. Sit patiently and wait for good hands. Don't push.

See you at the final table.

Sarge