Boxing Have you ever seen a boxing match? Unless there’s some extremely bad blood between the fighters, the first few rounds start out pretty slow. Most of the time, the two combatants will stick and move, holding their opponents at bay with jabs and keeping their defenses up as they try to get a read on the holes in their opponent’s weaknesses. The first few rounds are exploratory-they’re learning as much as they can about how they can bury their opponents in points or set each other up for a knockout punch in a later round. That’s how you should be playing poker-if you come out with a lot of haymaker punches in the first few rounds, you’re going to end up exhausting your stack. In the early rounds of a poker tournament, feel out your opponents with a few bets and folds, establishing your image and getting a read on how they play. Once you have enough information on your poker opponents strengths and weaknesses, you can use that information to start making a few moves, buying up some pots and getting more chips moving your way. If you start out too strong, you’ll set yourself up for failure in the long run, but if you take your time and feel your opponents out, you’ll give yourself an edge.