When considering which hands to play, the decision-making process invariably involves ‘position’. Basically, the later your position the stronger the likelihood of none of the remaining (yet-to-act) players having a sizeable hand. Likewise, if you’re one of the first to act – in an early position – there’s a greater possibility of a powerful hand being among the players who have yet to be offered their option of folding, calling or raising.

Considering this, you should only call in an early position with a powerful hand. The likes of 9-10 suited are nice cards to limp into a multi-way pot with in a late position for example, but doing so in an early position is unwise and invariably costly. All it takes is one big raise from the players behind you and you’ve effectively just given them free chips.

Similarly, a hand such as A -10 can be used to raise with in a late position as it offers a lot of value against one or possibly two opponents. If you’re a more aggressive player you might even see them as worth a raise in middle positions. But the hard and fast rule is that if you want to win you’d muck the cards at the early stages of a tournament as one of the first players to act.

Obviously these rules vary depending on how many players are left in. If you’re under the gun with only two other opponents you can call and raise with a lot less than when you’re staring down the barrel of a full ten-man table.