Everyone folds round to the small blind who moves all-in. You’re in the big blind and happen to see the small blind’s cards. He has Q-J suited. You have A-K. Do you call for all your chips on the first hand?

It’s an interesting question because of the emotion involved with it being the first hand. But let’s look at it logically. You’re a 60/40 favourite to win the hand. The question you have to ask is if you pass do you have a better edge than that in the tournament? Most players would take that edge, as – when coupled with the value of doubling up early – is more than enough to call. Whether they could do it and have to call home and explain themselves if they lost is another matter!

But the interesting thing is that in a cash game you would call every… single… time. It’s a no-brainer – you’ve got a profi table situation to invest your money in and you should take it. In fact you’d take it with any edge, let alone a 60/40 edge.

One caveat – if you don’t take my advice about bankroll in this article and you’re playing in a game where losing your whole stack will have a drastic effect, you might think twice.