Premium Hands (Pocket aces, Pocket kings, Pocket queens).Two of the keys to starting a tournament strong are: playing strong hands and identifying your opponents playing style.

So keep that in mind and look to protect your stack for the long road ahead. Lose a big chunk of your chips, and it can really put a damper on any late-stage ambition you had. The first few blind levels are, however, way more vital than they can sometimes appear. At the start of tournament play, the early blinds set the stage for gameplay to be more like a cash game, where more players will get involved with a wide variety of hands to build some big pots and get themselves into an early lead.