The expertise involved with calculating odds, surmising hand strength with incomplete information, negotiating with bluffers, and staying within a bankroll all offer lessons that my daughters will eventually learn to apply to other aspects of their life journeys.  In this world, I think those are especially valuable lessons and applications for women to have learned.  Sometimes, as I attempt to continue the lessons the next day, I get some valuable insight into how play is perceived and how positive attributes are sometimes applied mistakenly to our opponents.

I recently hosted my regular Friday home poker game.  As is typical, I started an hour early for anyone who was willing to sit with my daughters before they go to bed to the sounds of chip splashing and explosive river beats. I stake them each for $5 (blinds are .25 and .50 in our no-limit game) and they get to keep any profit after one hour.  I eat the losses and they leave the table if their stake is gone.  While Emmie left the table after handing me her remaining 75 cents, Gabby paid off her stake and headed up to her piggy bank with $39 in profit (yes, that’s 78BB for an hour’s worth of table time). 

One of the most important things to keep in mind while playing an R&A tournament is that the first hour offers a very different style of play than just about any other possible Hold ‘em table. Typically, you’ll have a fair share of opponents playing a loose/super-aggressive style (LAGs). However, it would be a mistake to play these super-LAGs as you typically would in a ring game environment (where you tighten up and hope to trap the maniacs with a monster). During the first hour of an R&A tournament, you’ll have more than your average share of opportunities to double up. But you have to be willing to take those opportunities and you have to be best prepared for them.

First, consider how much you’re willing to spend on this one tournament.