Position is a very strong factor in no limit hold’em tournaments, and here you will learn the basic strategy of position for fast multi-table no-limit hold’em tournaments. You must use this strategy if you intend to make money in these tournaments. The majority of your opponents do not know this basic strategy, and simply knowing and following these plays will put you way ahead of them in your survival chances.

This basic strategy is the mathematically optimal way to play your position, assuming you have no information other than your seating position in relation to the button and any opponents already in the pot. Any violations from basic strategy must be mathematically justified by other information you may have. The basic position strategy, like any basic strategy, is not in itself a winning strategy. It’s a survival strategy. Most of the money you make in a tournament will come from those hands where you violate the basic position strategy, based on either the strength of your cards or other factors. But the basic strategy will keep you alive and competitive during card droughts.

I must emphasize that the basic strategy of position play for a fast multi-table nolimit hold’em tournament is based exclusively on position. Starting hands are not a factor, nor are legitimate hands postflop. You can simply ignore your cards.

The reason basic position strategy works regardless of your cards is that you don’t win a fast tournament by betting on your strong hands so much as by betting against your opponents’ weak hands. You will win many more pots by representing strong hands than you will by actually being dealt strong hands. And there is one truth about this game that has plagued every hold’em player since the first blind he ever posted in the first game he ever played:

Any two cards can lose.

Most of the poker math I’ve seen in the excellent analyses by Sklansky, Caro, and others analyzes the probability of one hand either holding up or improving versus some other hand, or versus some number of opponents. There is nothing incorrect about this math, but it is incorrect to base an overall tournament strategy on these concerns. Instead of looking for the odds of your cards holding up versus your opponents’ cards, you should be looking for the odds of improving your chip position versus your opponents’ chip stacks. These are two entirely different considerations.

There will be a few key hands in every no-limit hold’em tournament where you must consider the mathematics of a hand holding up, or whether a bet is mathematically justified by the odds. When you are at a ten-player table, however, the bigger overall concern is not these few rare hands that you are dealt, but the likelihood of some other player having a hand so strong that he will not lay it down.

The later your position at the table, the smaller the likelihood that you will be surprised by an opponent’s holding such a hand. And, just because a player has a premium starting hand before the flop, that doesn’t mean he will like his hand as much after the flop, when “scary” boards are common.

You accomplish your first objective in every tournament— which is keeping ahead of the blind costs—by betting that your opponents do not have hands that they cannot lay down in the face of aggression when you are in late position.

Preflop Basic Position Strategy.

One misconception I’ve found many players have about position play is the idea that these types of strategies are based more on psychology than math. They believe that to raise a player on a stone cold bluff, you have to have a “read” on that player —that is, feel fairly certain based on his behavior that he has a weak hand, or is on a draw, or is just taking a shot at the pot with a probe bet. Players who are aware that they are not particularly talented at reading opponents believe their opportunities for bluffing players out of pots must be few and far between. And it’s true that bluffing can be terrifying. It’s easy to envision your opponent sitting there with the nuts, just aching for you to take a shot at him.

The truth, however, is that position play is based on math, though not the mathematical likelihood of my hand beating your hand. Instead, it’s based on the likelihood of my bet being too much for your hand to get involved with. You’ve got to stop envisioning how powerful your opponent’s hand might be, and just consider the odds. Position play is based on the mathematical truths of hold’em:

• 1. Premium starting hands are few and far between.
• 2. Flops more often miss a starting hand than hit it.
• 3. Strong hands on the flop, turn, or river, are rarely the nuts.

The preflop position basic strategy provided below does have some limitations. Again, this is a basic strategy for fast, multi-table, no-limit hold’em tournaments, played with nine or ten players per table.

If you really have no clue about whether you should or should not make your position play, then make it. It’s better to be right 80% of the time than wrong 80% of the time, and only by taking action will you learn to recognize when danger lurks.

You can only learn when to make your moves and when to refrain from experience. If you start advancing to these slower tournaments, and you feel clueless about when to make a position play, then make your moves and watch what happens. Every time you make a position move, you are also testing your opponents. As a general guide, you might start by eliminating position moves on some of the worst starting hands. Make your moves with hands that have potential such as high cards, connected cards, and suited cards. This way if you are called you have a better chance of flopping a decent hand or a good draw. However, real position moves are not based on cards and keep in mind that flopping “good” draws, or top pair with a bad kicker, can get you into a lot of trouble.

Even in the fast tournaments for which this basic position strategy was developed, you must use judgment in making these plays. If you have an aggressive position player to act behind you—one who is capable of reraising with no hand to speak of but just because he plays position with aggression—then you will have to use these basic strategy plays more cautiously and less frequently. You must also pay close attention to the size of your chip stack in relation to those who will act after you.

If you are desperately short-stacked, then the only position bet you can make is all-in —if you make any position move at all.

Likewise, if a player to act after you is desperately short-stacked, and he is smart enough to know that he must play any moderately strong hand to survive, this is not a player to make a move on if you have nothing yourself. You don’t want to risk doubling him up.

Pure position play—and by that I mean raising with no regard whatsoever to what your cards are—works best when you have enough chips to abandon your hand if necessary without serious damage to your survival chances, and the opponents you face are neither desperate nor out-chip you by any massive amount. These moves work best early in a fast tournament, when most players feel they have enough chips to be. This is generally in the first two hours or so of a fast tournament, after which you must be much more selective in making any moves based purely on position. This doesn’t mean you stop making position plays in the later stages of a tournament. You never stop making these types of plays if you have any intention of winning. You simply must use more judgment in picking your spots, primarily because more of your opponents will be desperate and forced to fight back. Given these limitations, here is the preflop position basic strategy that I recommend for fast multi-table tournaments. Again, the cards you hold are immaterial. The strategy is presented according to the order in which players enter the pot:

According to preflop basic strategy, there are only five positions (#6, #7, #8, #9, and #10) from which you would ever play a hand. This is not to say that you will actually never play a hand from any of the other positions, but that to violate this basic strategy there must be considerations that override it—generally, either exceptional cards or your desperation for survival when your chip stack is getting too small.

Let’s look more closely at how this strategy is actually applied at the table. Think of this as the strategy that you would be correct to apply if you couldn’t look at your cards. It’s true that as soon as you look at your cards, you have information that goes beyond this basic strategy—obviously, if you find pocket kings in one of the first five “folding” positions, you’re not going to fold. But we will discuss departures from the basic position strategy later. The reason I’m not providing these departures here is because I want you to get a handle on the power of late position in and of itself.

Playing Positions 1 through 5 Preflop.

Fold.

The first five positions are bad positions because you must enter the pot with no information on too many opponents. Information is power, and lack of information is weakness. So, the basic strategy in these positions is to fold.

Playing Position 6 Preflop and Postflop.

Raise if first in, otherwise fold.

Think of Position 6 as “the raising seat.” This is the easiest position from which to steal the blinds in fast tournaments. From this seat, with five players folding in front of you, there are only four to act after you, and only two of those players would have position on you after the flop. Entering the pot with a raise from this seat gets a lot more respect than a raise from either of the next two seats that have position on you.

Blind defenders don’t defend as readily as they do when raised from the button. In fact, if you get a call from either one of the blinds, you should assume that your opponent has a pretty good hand, and if he bets after the flop, just fold.

If you are called from one of the hands that will act after you postflop—the button or the cut-off seat—this is more problematic. Calls by one of these players are rare, and usually indicate that the calling player has a legitimate hand, as these players will not be assuming that you were just taking a shot with nothing. For the rest of the hand, however, this player will have position on you, and you will never be certain of what he’s going to do, or whether he’s playing his cards or his position. And never think that you’re the only position player in the tournament.

If your poker skills—and by this I mean your skills at reading and exploiting other players and situations—are superior, then you might reraise a position player who raises behind you. But the basic strategy if you are ever reraised by a player who has position on you is to fold.

When I say that your Position 6 basic strategy, given the above preflop conditions, is to raise, I mean that regardless of what your cards are, you should make a standard raise, a bet of three to four times the size of the big blind. It doesn’t matter if you have a 7-2 offsuit, you raise. Don’t even think about not raising. You will make money with this play. It’s that simple. Usually, you will simply steal the blinds. But you will also make money when you are called by one or both blinds and you bet when they check after the flop. And you will make a lot of money when your bets are called on the flop and turn, and you fold your opponents with a bet on the river. Obviously, none of these results are guaranteed, but you’re going for the long run wins with this play, and they will be substantial.

You will lose money on this play when you are reraised and must fold your junk hands, or when an opponent is slowplaying you and calls you down to the end.

Slowplaying is rare in fast tournaments, however. Most players will reraise when they have strong hands, and you can get out of the way with minimal damage. If you can start to recognize the player types who are capable of tricky plays, as well as the calling stations who will not lay down a pair to save their lives, you will know when to crank up your betting to get rid of an opponent and when to shut it down. Your overall success with basic position strategy will improve as you come to recognize a few important player types, so you can play against them accordingly.

Playing Position 7 Preflop and Postflop.

Raise if first in, otherwise fold.

Position 7 is known among poker players as the cut-off seat. In fast tournaments, it is more difficult to steal the blinds from the cut-off seat than it is from the raising seat specifically because every raise from the cut-off seat, as well as from the button, tends to be viewed as an attempt to steal. Players are just as suspicious of this move in slow tournaments and limit games, but the desperation factor in fast tournaments makes all players less risk-averse and more likely to fight back against anything that looks like a “move.”

Your betting strategy from this seat, however, is identical to your Position 6 strategy. You run a greater danger of the button reraising you, because a position player on the button will rarely respect a raise from the cut-off seat, viewing it instead as an attempt to steal the button from him—which it is. He’ll often try to put a quick end to it by reraising you, especially if you make this move more than once.

If the button simply calls your raise, your post flop play is risky. He may really have a hand, or he may simply represent one, and unless you have some kind of a read on this player, you won’t know which is true. The basic strategy play when you are involved in a pot postflop with multiple players is to check and fold to any bet if any one player has position on you. This is just too dangerous a situation if you do not have a strong hand yourself.

In a fast tournament, Position 7 is a trickier position to play from than Position 6. However, in addition to a raise usually winning the blinds, aggressive play will also give you more opportunities postflop to make some of the strongest position plays you can make in fast tournaments.

If the button player calls your preflop raise, and you get heads up against him, you should automatically bet half the size of the pot on the flop. Most of the time, your opponent will fold. If you are called, then you should do the same thing on the turn and river. This strategy assumes that both you and your opponent have sufficient chips to play some poker here. You cannot allow either your or your opponent’s chip stack to be placed in serious jeopardy by these bets. If making these bets, or your opponent’s call, would mean that either of you had more than half of his chips in the pot, then you must either raise all-in, or simply check and fold against a bet and wait for a better opportunity.

Never risk short-stacking yourself on a position play with a “standard” bet or raise. If you are not well-stocked with chips, you either go all-in, or get out of the way. And you cannot allow an attempt to steal force your opponent into a showdown just because he has so many chips already in the pot. Despite the risk, in a fast tournament when both you and your opponent have sufficient chips to play poker, the basic strategy play is to keep the lead in the betting. If you were the preflop raiser, then you should bet after the flop, and keep betting at each street unless you are reraised. You will almost never go out on a play like this. Instead, you will almost always bust out when you actually have a strong hand. It is always less risky to play bluffs than it is to play your actual cards. This is because it’s easy to abandon your hand on a bluff, but much more difficult to get away from a truly strong hand. Some players never realize this.

If you bet on the flop, simply keeping the lead, and your opponent raises, the basic strategy play is to fold. You are probably facing an opponent who has a hand he likes. Even a minimal raise here could be dangerous to call, as he may like his hand a lot more than the size of his raise indicates. Unless you have some kind of a read on this player, don’t test him to see how much he likes his hand. You’ll have many less dangerous opportunities to make money.

If you know this player to be an aggressive position player, however, you do have a chance here to make some real money by playing back at him. You will first have to make the tough decision. Does he really like his hand, or is he just doing what you do—betting that his opponent doesn’t have a hand, or at least not a hand strong enough to continue out of position? If you decide the latter case is most likely, then you are making a big mistake if you fold. Your only decision here is whether you should call or reraise.

If you feel fairly certain that the button player who has position on you is simply making position moves when he raises you after the flop, then your strongest play is to call his raise on the flop, check and call again on the turn, then push all-in on the river before he has a chance to bet at you.

When you check and call, it means one of three things to your opponent. Either you are on a draw, you flopped a monster, or you don’t believe he has a hand. If the raiser was simply playing position, he must decide which of these three possibilities is more likely. The least likely possibility is that you were simply planning on stealing all of his position bets on the river with a trash hand of your own.

You will only get a few opportunities to make this type of play in any tournament. If both you and your opponent have big stacks, then you can play this out to the river, which is the most dangerous but also the most potentially profitable way to make this move. The danger comes from the fact that your opponent may have a strong hand that he won’t abandon, or worse—he may make a real hand as more cards hit the board. For example, he may backdoor a runner-runner flush or straight while you are bluffing at slowplaying him.

So, if you believe his reraise to your bet on the flop is just a position bet, and you want to play with less risk, you should immediately go over the top of his raise (and, in a fast tournament, it will probably have to be an all-in bet) and put an end to this hand before the turn or river cards are dealt. But whatever you do, do not try to check-raise him on the river. When the river card is dealt, you must push all-in yourself. Don’t give him a chance to push all-in on you!

Sometimes, you will backdoor a powerful hand yourself while you are making this play. In this case, you may go ahead and try the check-raise move on the river if you’re fairly certain your opponent will bet.

All postflop position play is very high-risk, but if you do not make occasional high-risk plays, you’ll never make it into the big money. You’ll need to make these plays once or twice in a fast tournament, and only when you can pick up a substantial pot. The preflop basic position strategy will keep you alive for a long time on stolen blinds, but it’s the position moves postflop that put you into contention with the chip leaders.

Playing Position 8 (the Button) Preflop and Postflop.

Raise if first in, call any number of limpers, call one raise (up to 3 to 4 times the big blind), otherwise fold.

Position 8 is the button, the strongest position at the table. If you get into the pot, you will have position on the flop, turn, and river on every other player. This is a huge advantage, so your cards are of minor importance in your decision to enter a pot. In fact, the only time you will fold your hand preflop is when there is a raise greater than a standard raise of three to four times the size of the big blind. (And again, as you will see in the chapter on chip strategy, if you are really short-stacked, this will not apply. All basic position strategy plays assume that you have sufficient chips to keep from jeopardizing your tournament survival as a result of the play.)

The position basic strategy also indicates that you should raise from the button if you are the first player in the pot. This will often be viewed as an attempt to steal the blinds—which it is. If one or both blinds are rabid defenders who will automatically call your raises, then you may find it more valuable to call from the button, rather than raise. You can then bet on the flop when the blinds check. In fact, although the basic position strategy play is to raise, it’s generally best to mix up your play on the button with raises and calls, simply for camouflage. Occasionally, you might even fold a hand from the button in an unraised pot, but this is always a mistake in a fast tournament unless you are doing it purely for show, to convince the blinds as well as other players at the table that you primarily play your cards, rather than your position.

Against an opponent who consistently defends his blind, you should experiment with bigger raises, assuming you have the chips. If he calls your raise a couple of times when you bet three times the blind, make your next bet four times. If he calls this bet, try five times. Most players, even staunch blind defenders, have a threshold above which they won’t get involved in a pot out of position unless they truly have a strong hand.

You may also find that, if you simply call from the button, one of the blinds will take a shot at the pot by raising you. This is a pain in the ass because you don’t really know whether he has a hand or is just assuming that you don’t and that you won’t pay to see the flop. The basic strategy play here is to call the raise, then take it away from him when he checks on the flop.

But this decision must always be colored by your take on the player. If it’s a tight player who raises you from the blind, I’d throw my hand away in a heartbeat. If it’s some aggressive shot-taker, I’d give that bet no respect. He’s going to have to maintain his aggression out of position after the flop if he wants to take this pot. And even if he bets after the flop, I may raise him if I feel he’s just taking another shot to avoid giving up the lead.

Playing Position 9 (the Small Blind) Preflop and Postflop.

Call in an unraised pot, otherwise fold.

From the perspective of pure position play, the basic strategy from the small blind would simply be to fold. You have no position after the flop on any player. The only reason you should call from the small blind in any unraised pot is because you’re getting at least 3 to 1 odds on your money, and more if there are other limpers in the pot. If you flop a monster you might be able to take down a huge pot with a disguised hand and a very small initial investment. The exception to this rule is if the big blind is a position player who is likely to raise you if you limp in as the only other player in the pot. In this case, don’t waste your money calling. Without cards, the small blind is as weak as a position gets. You can’t play position if you don’t have it.

Playing Position 10 (the Big Blind) Preflop and Postflop.

Raise if small blind limps in with no other players in the pot; call if small blind

raises 3 to 4 times the big blind with no other players in the pot; otherwise, fold.

The basic position strategy from the big blind is to fold if there is any player in the pot who will have position on you postflop. So, the only time you will ever play this hand as a pure basic position strategy play is if the only other player in the pot is the small blind, because you will have postflop position on him. If the small blind is an aggressive player who will always take a shot at your blind when he’s the first one into the pot, then always call his raise, or even reraise him. You will have position on him after the flop, so he will be the one who has to make the tough decisions.

MULTIWAY POTS.

Multiway pots, which are pots with 3 or more players involved, are always more dangerous for position play. When you raise from position 6 or 7, you are always hoping that positions 7 and 8 won’t call behind you, because you really want position on your opponents postflop. Although the position basic strategy is to keep the lead in your betting, you may have to alter the basic strategy in a multiway pot if any player enters the pot with position on you and is a player whom you’ve observed playing solid hands only. Although aggression must be your most consistent strategy, you must be ready to throw in the towel in the face of real danger. When you are facing more than one opponent, the danger is multiplied.

HOW TO LEARN THE BASIC POSITION STRATEGY.

One thing I know from thirty years of learning all kinds of gambling strategies is that it’s best to learn any complex strategy one step at a time. The temptation for many aspiring pro gamblers is to try and do everything at once. Inevitably, this learning method fails. It’s frustrating and confusing to try to learn and apply multiple new skills at the same time. I suggest that you learn to play position at hold’em the same way I did, by playing “in the dark,” which means ignoring your cards completely. Don’t even look at your cards as they’ll only tempt you to violate the position play when they’re strong, or scare you off of the play when they’re weak. Ultimately, the problem is that you won’t learn the position strategy. Start out by just getting the basic position strategy down cold. You simply bet or fold according to the guidelines defined above.

PRACTICING AGAINST REAL PLAYERS IN REAL MONEY TOURNAMENTS.

Practice by playing in the dark in inexpensive live tournaments. Believe me, this is incredible fun! You’ll be amazed at how far you’ll get in tournaments just by using position plays. Every time you take down a pot you’ll feel like the legendary blind Samurai, slaying opponents left and right with your eyes closed.

Again, you shouldn’t expect to make it into the money in real tournaments with all of your play in the dark. The value of playing without looking at your cards is to demonstrate to yourself how truly strong position play is. Many times, experienced hold’em players who have come to the tournaments from the ring games say that they can see their chip stack is getting dangerously short, and know they have to take a shot, but just can’t bring themselves to push in their chips without a legitimate hand. In fact, you’ll be amazed at the number of players in the small buy-in tournaments who never even take a shot at the blinds!

If you make the basic strategy of position play part of your regular strategy:

1. You will get short-stacked much less often

2. You will be so comfortable with pushing in your chips without a legitimate hand that you’ll be aching for opportunities to take position shots long before you’re dangerously shortstacked

To me, one of the greatest thrills in poker is taking down a substantial pot without a hand. And this is what the fast tournaments are all about. If you don’t really get a kick out of this kind of kamikaze play, and if you think the fun of poker is in being dealt pocket aces or flopping a set, you’ll rarely make money in the fast tournaments.

Once you get good at combining your pure position plays with actually playing your cards, you’ll find that you will almost never bust out of a tournament, or even lose any substantial portion of your chips, on position plays. You will lose your money when you’re playing your legitimate hands and you get sucked out on, or your pocket kings just happen to bump into pocket aces. That is a fact. You will see this over and over again. It’s good cards that get you in trouble.

If the thought of playing in real money tournaments without looking at your cards strikes you as a very expensive way to learn, ask yourself how often you’re making it into the money when you are looking at your cards. If you want to beat these tournaments, you’ve got to pay a little for the education. The cost of a few small buy-in tournaments played in the dark is a pretty cheap price to pay for an education you can’t get any other way.

One very important point to keep in mind when playing in the dark in a live tournament is that you must absolutely appear to be looking at your cards. You must cup your hands around your cards and appear to be peeking at the lifted corners, when in fact you’re leaving your cards flat on the table and looking at nothing but the darkness inside your hands. Also, you shouldn’t tell any of your opponents later that you played in the dark. If you are suspected by your opponents of playing in the dark, you’ll be raised and reraised on every hand you play. This is your secret. You do it for a few tournaments until you have the basic position strategy down cold, then you’ll never have to do it again.

Some players to whom I’ve described the basic position strategy have asked whether other players at the table get suspicious of these consistent raises from the same late positions. The fact is that there will be nothing all that consistent about your play. You only make these plays under specific conditions that depend on the prior actions of other players at your table—usually, they must all fold in front of you before you even enter the pot—so you do not keep raising from the same positions round after round. Many rounds, you will not play any hand at all. If anything, your opponents will think you are a very tight player looking for exceptional cards. After your initial practice plays in the dark, you will be adding plays from other positions based on your cards and/or your chip stack, and that will mix up your play quite well.

Postflop Basic Position Strategy 101.

There are two major postflop basic strategy position plays that cover the majority of the postflop situations in which you have position on your opponents. Here are the two secret strategies for making money after the flop:

1. He checks, you bet

2. He bets, you fold

That’s it. If you’ve played in a few tournaments already, then you know this is no big secret. You see it all the time. But do you do it? You have to do it! In fact, about the only time you shouldn’t bet when your opponent checks is when you’ve flopped such a monster hand that you want to give your opponent every possible chance to make something so that he’ll be willing to put some money in the pot.

Let’s dissect the logic of these two postflop strategies.

He Checks, You Bet

He-checks-you-bet is just a standard basic strategy play when you have position. Standard. Requires no thought. Just do it. As your skill level increases and you begin to get meaningful reads on your opponents, you will occasionally make an exception to this play, but don’t make a habit of violating this strategy.

If your opponent didn’t bet, it is far more likely that he disliked the flop than that he is slowplaying you. About 90% of the time, the routine is: He checks. You bet. He folds. Forget about the 10% of the time when he is either slowplaying you, or likes his hand just enough to call, or has a strong draw and wants to see the next card even if he’s not getting sufficient pot odds, or just thinks you’re taking a position shot and is determined to be the sheriff. Unless you have some kind of an actual read on your opponent, ignore these possibilities. Follow the basic strategy.

If your opponent calls your bet, you continue with the he-checks-you-bet strategy on the turn, though in fast tournaments there’s a good chance your bet on the turn may have to be all-in. It doesn’t matter what your cards are. The simple math of this situation is that your opponent is unlikely to have a hand he can call an all-in bet with. If this play knocks you out of a tournament, so be it. You’re going to get knocked out of most tournaments before you reach the money, and if you get knocked out on aggressive plays, that’s a hell of a lot better in terms of your longterm prospects than getting knocked out by being slowly ground down by the rising costs of the blinds and antes. You want to go down fighting, not whimpering.

He Bets, You Fold

The postflop he-bets-you-fold move is also basic position strategy, but it will be one of the basic strategy plays that you will be correct to violate most frequently. Basic strategy decisions are never based on any specific player who is betting at you. Assuming you have no read on your opponent and no legitimate hand yourself, the correct play is to just get out of his way when he bets. Now let’s look at the times when it’s correct to violate this basic strategy.

The main reason you will often depart from this strategy and play back at your opponent is because experienced hold’em players all know that they should not “give up the lead” in their betting. Any skilled opponent knows that to check here just because the flop didn’t hit him would simply be giving you an opportunity to take a position shot at the pot, which he couldn’t call. So, if you believe that the player who is betting has a pretty good grasp of traditional hold’em theory, there’s a good chance that this postflop bet of his is meaningless. If you raise him here, he’ll often fold.

One guideline to use on whether to play back at this player is the size of his bet. If his bet is a standard postflop bet, somewhere around half the size of the current pot, you should call. This is most likely a meaningless “don’t give up the lead” bet in which he is simply not giving up his aggression. The reason you just call is to try and get him to make another of these don’t-give-up-the-lead bets on the turn, so that you can get even more chips out of him.

If his postflop bet is much smaller than half the size of the pot, then make a substantial reraise to take the pot right here. Don’t just call if he makes one of these half-hearted stabs at the pot. That weak bet usually means that he won’t bet again on the turn unless the turn card gives him a strong hand, and you just don’t want to give him a free chance to beat you. Take that pot now. You won’t get any more chips out of him. Some players hope that a small bet like this will make you believe they’ve got a strong hand and are just trying to get more chips out of you. But in the fast tournaments, that’s almost never the reality. Push all-in on that sucker and take the pot.

If his postflop bet is much greater than half the size of the current pot, however, get out of his way. He probably has a pretty good hand and he’s unlikely to give it up.