If you wish to win a Texas Holdem tournament you need to accumulate big amount of chips. At the same time it is very important to learn how to protect your stake. Therefore I am going to tell you what you SHOULD NOT do if you wish to save your chips.

1. Do not call raises before the flop too often

Texas Holdem tournament consists of hundreds of hands. And you will definitely have to make difficult decisions related to bets. Mistakes with continuation bets are very painful. Therefore you should use two rules to avoid such mistakes:

•  Do not place continuation bets all the time

•  do not place very expensive continuation bets

I advice to use continuation bets only in cases when you are sure that your opponent is going to fold or when you have a perfect draw with a big value. Looses induced by continuation bets can be extremely huge. Many Texas Holdem players are not afraid of placing big bets. They prefer aggressive style. The size of the bet can be 2/3 of the pot or even bigger. And this is a dangerous game . You should understand it . Placing expensive continuation bets can be punished really hard if one of your opponents has collected good cards. Therefore I advice to place small bets. In such cases you can win at least something. Let’s have a look at the example.

Your hand: A♥ K♥
The flop: 7♥ 2♥ J♦

And there is only one opponent.

So, as you can see, the flop brought you good cards. At the same time you do not have a completed combination yet. Now you have a drawing hand with a potential value. Therefore if you raise you will have good chances to complete your drawing hand and win the big pot. Therefore continuation bet is suitable in this situation

Your hand: K♥ Q♣
The flop: Q♠ 8♠ 8♣

There are three opponents

Use of continuation bets is a mistake in this case. First of all, you play against three opponents and it is very possible that at least one of them has got ace, or even pocket pair. Possibility of folding by all the opponents is extremely small. Therefore you should try to save your chips and avoid continuation bets.

2. Do not hope too much on strong pocket cards

You have got final word at the hand with pocket AK. Your opponent with a big stake raise by the size of four blinds. After several minutes of thinking you decide to be all-in. Your opponent calls your bet and shows QQ. And after several seconds you have to leave the table. Such situations are very common in Texas Holdem poker especially at the earliest stages of different tournaments. Experienced Texas Holdem players prefer to have a look at the flop before putting all the chips on the centre of the table if they have high card ace.

Instead of being all-in with such cards it would be wiser to call big bet or even re-raise. If your opponent bets $100 just re-raise it to $400. Maybe your opponent will fold cards and you will get the money. Anyway if you use this Texas Holdem strategy you will be able to check the flop and if it hasn’t brought you any useful cards you can just fold. In the worst case you will still have some chips.

I wish to advice the same if you have got pocket jacks. Most poker players are ready to be all-in with such cards. They expect most of their opponents to fold before the flop. But if somebody calls, the flop can change everything. And don’t forget that your jacks can be outclassed by pocket queens, kings or aces. So, your chances are not as good as you might think. So, once again, first of all check the flop and build your strategy then. This is Texas Holdem poker, not a Russian roulette. Therefore don’t rely only on luck. Always use advantage of your skills!

Also recommended:

1. DO NOTS of Texas Holdem tournaments: part 2
2. Five biggest mistakes of poker tournament players
3. How to be successful playing Texas Holdem in Sit&Go tournaments?
4. Texas Holdem (Limit) Tournaments
5. The Check-Raise Bluff in Texas Holdem