Tournament Strategies
After receiving pocket cards, you are immediately faced with a choice: play your cards and either raise or call the blinds, or fold.
Practice Matters
Tension counts range
Tension counts range from -6 to +6 on average. When playing a full ring cash game, your tension count is going to start at 0. When playing a 6-max game, it's going to start at +1. Other games, such as 4-handed and heads up, depend a lot on flow and other dynamics; if you aren't aware of how tension effects your opponents, then those games aren't generally recommended to play in. The tension count is somewhat like training wheels and will give you an idea of how to adjust your play until it becomes more natural for you.
Every action you take
Every action you take at the table you add or subtract from the tension count. If you're online and you're playing multiple tables, it's going to be a bit hard to track of course. So one to two tables is recommended when first trying to learn and understand this concept. Once you've done it a bit, and see how it works, then you can take the training wheels off and drop the tension count.