by Chad Brown
I often get asked a lot of questions from people keen to improve their game. This is one that came in to my Facebook page this week after I made it through Day 1 of the PokerStars NAPT event in Los Angeles…

Hi Chad,
Big fan of yours from Rome, Italy. Just a question if you could, I see you frequently if not always get by Day 1 in all the tourneys you attend… could you give a little tip or advice on
your play strategy on Day 1. Thank you for your time and GL for future tournaments.
Ciao Franco

Well, one important strategy is not to gamble too much on Day 1. It is less important to be chip leader than it is to survive. One example from my play yesterday was there were five players in pre-flop. I had 10♦ J♦ and the board came nine high with two diamonds. A player bet and the pre-flop raiser raised to 15,000. I had 59,000 at the time and at that point there was about 49,000 in the pot.

There are only two options here, raise all-in, or fold. If I re-raise all-in and get called, I would be getting almost 3-1 on pot odds. In a cash game, that would be the right play, but just because I am getting good odds (I am less than a 2-1 dog vs. an over pair) I would be knocked out of the tourney about two times out of every three tourneys I do that in.

The time I win, I would be more than double chip average, but that’s not as important on Day 1 as surviving in my opinion.

I hope this helps you and best of luck.

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