Andrew discussed how it is critical to always be aware of your own and opponents stack sizes at all times. This will help you make better decisions at both earlier and later stages in a tournament since people play differently. For example when the blinds are higher, you can often raise preflop a smaller amount such as 2.5x the big blind since calling can sometimes represent a good portion of the opponents stack whereas at the start of an event when the player is deep, He or she may call that raise with an enormous range of hands.

If you are fortunate enough to make it to the final 2 , 3 or 4 in a tournment , you may be asked to chop the pot.There are many reasons for this. Sometimes people are tired, or they want to play in another Tourney or they are the short stack. It is perfectly acceptable to chop and move on but by no means are you required to do it. Unless all participants agree, play will continue and there will be no chop. Push back if you do not want to chop.

When you play in a re-buy tournment it is much harder to bluff and push people off of their hands. Unless you are willing to do a lot of re-buying yourself, play tighter as people will tend to chase hands since they know they can always buy more chips. This is especially true at a charity event where people have a few drinks and chalk it up to the money going to a good cause. I found that out in a recent charity event with a very high buy-in. If people seem to be very loose with their money stick to playing quality hands.

Enjoy your wins! Everybody talks about their bad beats. Just as in life people tend to focus on the negative. Learn for past play mistakes but take the time to remember and bask in your wins.

In a 10 handed game there is a 75% chance that someone else holds an Ace. If you have a low kicker, be very careful especially if there has been a raise or you are in early position.

When the action begins pre-flop you should be looking at the other players at the table to see if you can pick up a tell or body language that will give you a clue as to what your competition is holding. Don’t look at your cards till the action is on you. If you do sometimes when you have a good hand you will give away your strength my looking at your chips stack or making a premature motion in anticipation of betting or raising. Don’t worry about taking the time you need. People will wait for you. Pay attention to others as they are paying attention to what you are doing.

Someone asked me last week what the average winning Hold’em hand was and I had to look to Phil Gordon’s Green Book Audio Book to find the answer. The Average winning Hold’em Hand is 2 pair. Thanks Phil.

This one bares repeating. It is the start of cold and swine flu season and lets face it poker is a dirty game. Bring some Purell or other hand sanitizer with you and avoid touching your face . Also best to stay away from finger food. Ask for a fork even if you look a little strange cutting your pizza at least until someone invents antimicrobial chips.

Before going All-In it helps to know some key Statistics like we saw in Poker Pro Magazine:

Pocket Pair Versus Two overcards -55% Chance of winning
Pocket Pair Versus One overcard -69% chance of winning
Pocket Pair Versus Higher Suited Connectors -50% Chance of winning
Pocket Pair Versus Lower Suited Connectors -77% Chance of winning
Pocket Pair Versus Lower Pocket Pair- 82% chance of winning

If you are playing in a re-buy tournment home game set the rules upfront and make sure that they make sense. A good rule of thumb is to allow re-buy when someone is at felt or has less than 20% of the original starting chip stack. Also no more re-buys once you are down to final payout positions. You do not want people buying their way in to the money.