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Unless you have a great run of cards, it is nearly impossible to win a tournament with quickly climbing blinds by waiting for a hand. When you are the aggressor, you make things happen. By incorporating even one or two of these moves into your game, you put yourself that much closer to the winner’s circle.

This is the first of three articles where we will examine various types of moves.

The Slow-Play. This is the most used move in small stakes tournaments. I should point out that it is also the worst used, the most misused, and the least understood play as well. Playing slow is usually the fastest way to exit a tournament.

You slow-play in order to mis-represent the true strength of your hand. In my last article, I pointed out the danger of slowplaying a big pair preflop then overplaying it after the flop. You should only slowplay when you either:

a) have hit a monster and risk little by letting your opponent catch up or

b) have an overaggressive player to act behind who you will bet your hand for you. Only slow-play when you have a hand like 8-8 and the board is A-8-9. You will bust A-K or A-Q if you let them do the betting (although sometimes I like leading at this board since they will often come over the top all-in). Another time to slow-play is if you have made your flush or straight and really don’t risk anything by letting another card come off cheaply.

Never slow-play a big hand on a coordinated board. If you have A-K and the board comes down Kh-10s-7s, you have to do your best to pick up the pot right there. Why? Because your hand is vulnerable to a wide range of holdings on this board. You want a call from the hands you have dominated (K-Q), and force out the ones that can outdraw you (As-9s), because you do not have a deep enough stack to lay down a good hand after the turn. Don’t be greedy-it’s better to win a little than lose a lot.

The Check-Raise. I love check-raising. It’s the simplest form of raw aggression in the game. A great time for this is when you limp with a pocket pair but are not sure whether or not it helped your opponent and are the first to act. Often if you put a feeler bet an opposing player will see it for what is and raise you off of the better hand. Instead, check with the intention of coming over the top if you don’t think it really helped them either. You will need to vary this move up or else your table will catch on. Sometimes check-raise with a monster, sometimes check-raise with a marginal holding. Try an experiment. Watch for a player who likes to bluff, then pick a spot to blow him off a hand. It doesn’t matter what two cards you have. If you think that they will make a move at the pot go ahead and check so they commit a few more chips to your pot.

The Semi-Bluff All-in. This is one of the more common moves you will see in a tournament. If you flop an open-ended straight draw or four to a flush and your opponent makes a stab at the pot it’s often better to just push now instead of calling your chips away on the draw. By pushing, you give yourself an extra to chance to win the pot if the other player decides to fold. If they do call, you usually have at least a 1 in 3 chance to win anyway.

Ifyou have two suited overcards to a flop where your opponent hit top pair and you flop a flush draw, you are actually a slight favorite to win. If you have the As-Ks, and they hold Q-J on a board of Qs-6d-3s, you have 15 outs and are a 53% favorite to win the hand, so you might as well get all your chips in now.

There were a few limpers to my friend sitting in the big blind who had the 2c-4c. The flop was 2d- Qc-8c. Against any pair, he was actually no worse than a coin-flip (nine outs for the flush draw, and five for two pair or three of a kind), so he decided it was time for the semi-bluff allin.

He checked, hoping for a check-raise. The player who was under-the-gun preflop led out the betting. It was folded to my friend, and he pushed. The initial bettor actually turned over Ad-Ah and rather sheepishly the semi-bluffer showed his 2c-4c. The turn brought a club and the Ad-Ah was now drawing dead.

This seems like a big gamble to take, but in reality, these are the kinds of edges you have to push if you are going to come out a winner.

The key to winning a small-stakes tournament is practicing selective aggression.

Bymaking each of these moves, you place the burden on your opponent to make the tough decision, and give yourself multiple opportunities to pick up the pot. If you are able to use these moves by picking your spots wisely, I am sure I will see you at a final table soon.

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