* Take your image in consideration when playing certain hands. For example, if you were having a good run and have been raising with a lot of premium hands, pay attention when you play a hand like 33 in late position. You have an aggressive image at this point and don’t want to get reraised with a hand like this.

* If you’re in the final phase of a tournament (and most likely not deepstack anymore, considering the high blinds), you better fold the mediocre suited connectors preflop in an early position. Those hands are perfectly suited for situations where you can win a lot of big blinds in a pot with a lot players. Those situations don’t arise that much in this stage of a tourney.

* If you are in the ‘bubble stage’ of a tournament with a decent stack, use it. Try to play VERY tight aggressive preflop (with a good hand selection) and you will finish without much problems in the money and will be able to fight for tournament victory without becoming shortstacked. If you’ll just wait it out till you’ll be in the money without playing too many hands, you won’t be making too much profit in the long run because you’ll be eliminated a lot of times just after the bubble.

* If the tournament is still in its early blind levels, be sure to make BIG preflop raises with your premium starting hands, especially in deepstack tournaments. If you raise it three times the big blind in a regular tournament, make it four or even five times in a deepstack tournament.

* Suppose you’re in a limping pot and you flop two pair on a paired board, for example: you hold 68 and the flops comes TT6. If somebody bets into you, consider making the minimum raise here. This way you gain pot control and it looks very suspicious to your opponent.

* A last tip, especially for online poker: if you raised preflop and you are being minraised on the flop by some amateur, don’t expect it to be some kind of advanced move by this guy: he most likely just hit a monster.

*If somebody makes a minimal or other small reraise preflop (in position), it’s most likely this player has either AA or KK. This way, he tries to isolate only one opponent he wants to take a flop against.

*If you flop a (low) flushdraw in position on a paired flop: ALWAYS bet it. In this spot, it’s all about what you can represent (so also a flopped set) AND you immediately acquire the information you need from your opponent when he calls you.

*If you dó flop a set on a paired board and the preflop raiser bets into you, you have to take a good look at the texture of the board to see whether you can just call this bet (are there any and how many draws out there?). Otherwise it’s possibly better to raise.

I have some tips for you, concerning situations where there isn’t much out there on the board:

* There’s a minraise preflop in front of you and you call with a (small) suited ace. On the flop you hit your kicker on a flop filled with rags. If the preflop raiser makes a continuation bet on this board, you should make a small raise here. If the turn comes another blank you should bet big here. Probably you’ll take the pot right here, but there is a good chance that your opponent is holding a mediocre pocket pair here when he flatcalls you. That’s why it’s so important in this spot to bet the river (by another likely to be blank). You don’t want to check here because you’re kinda scared and lose against such a pocket pair.

* Pocket jacks: always a difficult hand to play, ask Norman Chad about it. If there’s a preflop (big) raise and call in front you, I think you can still call with this hand, but I think raising isn’t a good play in this case (in a deepstack game). Of course you can hit your jack on the flop, but also if the flop comes low cards, it’s a good play to shove there: you can also represent a loose preflop call (depending on your image) and your opponent with a better overpair is most likely not willing to play for whole his stack with just a pair. So early position can be an advantage in this case.

* It’s an unraised pot and you happen to have flopped top pair (top kicker) on, again, a flop full of rags. One of the blinds leads out with a small bet. This can be another good moment for a minraise: this way you’ll acquire information about the strength of your opponent’s hand and they will be suspicious about your hand.

* In particular when the table gets shorthanded (or you’re just playing a shorthanded tourney), it’s important to make some powerful plays now and then. For example, if you raise it up preflop yourself with a strong Ace, the flop comes rags and your preflop caller leads out on the flop with a minimum or small bet: definitely RAISE. He probably has hit a small pair or a draw and wants some cheap cards. If he doesn’t release here, he will when you fire again on the turn.

* Did you mix your game up and happen to hit the nuts on the flop (which is of course disguised)? Maybe it’s time for placing a scared bet at that point, that way inducing your opponent to make a bluff (or maybe he’s just convinced his high cards are still best).

* An always returning question in poker is how to play AK. In the following situation this is definitely a raising hand preflop: there’s a small raise in early position and multiple callers in front of you. In this case you certainly don’t want anybody to flop Aces or Kings up with their Ax or Kx .

So I promised you some other tips last time, especially for tournament play. I collected some for you, however: some are tied to specific situations but I hope you can use them anyway some time.

* If you call a raise preflop in position, you flop a good draw (OESD, flushdraw or both) and the preflop raiser makes a continuation bet, you can of course raise it right here, depending on the texture of the board. You can also just call and if your opponent checks the turn (which you missed and is not likely to have improved your opponents hand), you should DEFINITELY bet here. If you take a free card here and miss the river, you will get called for sure on the river when you try to take it there.

* Should you only call with the really big hands after a raise and a raise preflop? Not necessary, it all depends on the situation. Is the game shorthanded? Who makes the raise? Who reraises? What kinda bet? For example, you’re in the big blind in a 7 handed game with AQ offsuit. It’s folded towards the cut-off who makes a standard raise. The button is a good player and reraises. Now you should notice the button is likely playing the player on the cut-off instead of his cards and you can still play your AQ. However, I think you should reraise (big) here instead of calling.

* You play longhanded and a lot of limpers come into the pot while you’re sitting in late position. If you wake up with a reasonably big hand you can of course pop it right here and take a nice pot. But if you decide to call, be sure you play a hand with which you know what you’re looking for. So better play T8 suited instead of an unsuited Ace rag.