Team PokerStars Pro Aditya Agarwal Shares Tips on How to Play During the Early Stages in Tournaments

Team PokerStars pro Aditya Agarwal is one of the key contributors to PokerStars India`s online training site, PokerStars School and will be making regular video tutorials sharing poker tips for beginners on the PokerStars India Fan Page. In his first poker strategy video, Agarwal shares valuable poker tips on how to play during the early stages in tournaments.

“The main strategy is to survive”, advises Agarwal, underlining the need for a player to adapt, evolve and prioritize. The poker veteran talks about three key aspects to put his point across –

1. Hand Ranges: Play very few hands, apply tight aggressive style. The idea is to play good hands.
2. Raise Big: Agarwal explains that if an opponent raises and if you are in position holding cards that can connect well with the board e.g. suited connectors or small pairs, see a flop because the stacks are deep and the blinds are small. The implied odds (an estimation on how much you can win if you hit one of your outs) are very high.
3. Play According to the Stage of the Tournament: Keep the pots small unless you catch a big hand. A player cannot apply the same strategy in the later stages of the tournament, as the stacks get shallower Agarwal says.

Check out the video here.

Agarwal will be seen in action at the much-awaited PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC) in the Bahamas next month.