In the following pages, we shall be looking once again at how to maximise your custom poker chip stack. Although you should not follow starting poker hand charts rigorously, they provide a good strategy guide if you are stuck on how to stop losing your custom poker chip stack. All our advice is on the basis that the poker table has ten poker players sitting at it, all with their own custom poker chip stack. Obviously as the tournament progresses and the poker players begin to drop out, you can expand your starting poker hand selection by a small margin.

1. Early Position Unsuited

So, you are sitting in an early position at the poker table with your custom poker chip stack. What poker hands must you raise with? Here are the poker hands we advise that you raise with and get your custom poker chip stack into the middle of the poker table with:

• Ace with an Ace, King or Queen
• 2 Kings
• 2 Queens
• 2 Jacks
• 2 10s

If you value your custom poker chip stack, don’t ever call a raise unless you would have raised yourself if you were the first into the custom poker chip pot. You must re-raise the pot from this position with A-A, K-K, Q-Q or A-K.

However, you can still get into the custom poker chip pot fairly cheaply if the other poker players allow you to limp in. You shouldn’t limp in with any poker hand but we recommend that you do consider this option from early position if you hold any of the following starting poker hands:

• Ace with a Jack
• King with a Queen
• 2 9s
• 2 8s
• 2 7s

Avoid raising or limping in with any other starting poker hands. This will only cause you to suffer significant losses and you will see your custom poker chip stack decrease each poker hand. FOLD WITH ANY OTHER POKER STARTING HAND. As we have said, this is only a guide and you should be slightly more flexible than this with the cards you choose to play and the way you gamble your custom poker chip stack when there are less poker players at the poker table. Additionally, if you are at a poker table with lots of loose poker players sitting near you, you can again afford to be slightly more liberal with the cards you play.