Do you ever avoid coin flips early in tournaments?

Nesehorn156 · Apr 3, 2026

Early in tournaments, I sometimes avoid close all-in situations because I feel like there’s no need to risk everything so soon.

At the same time, winning those flips can help build a strong stack for later stages.

Do you try to avoid coin flips early, or are you happy to take them if the spot is good?

Snake2007 · Apr 3, 2026

At the beginning of the game I always play the cards that are good.

mrfastflow · Apr 3, 2026

Sometimes I avoid, sometimes I even look for it, more often I avoid it because I am a better player with a small stack, we should always look for a happy medium

veryluckyfish7k · Apr 3, 2026

Nesehorn156 said:
Early in tournaments, I sometimes avoid close all-in situations because I feel like there’s no need to risk everything so soon.

At the same time, winning those flips can help build a strong stack for later stages.

Do you try to avoid coin flips early, or are you happy to take them if the spot is good?

depends on situation, if it is early stage and my stack is starting so i avoid flips, if i have big stack and chip lead the table i don't avoid.

Like2Play2 · Apr 3, 2026

Nesehorn156 said:
Early in tournaments, I sometimes avoid close all-in situations because I feel like there’s no need to risk everything so soon.

At the same time, winning those flips can help build a strong stack for later stages.

Do you try to avoid coin flips early, or are you happy to take them if the spot is good?

I try to avoid them early on. Even with AA, I often lose.
But sometimes I can't help it.

Kerasuss28 · Apr 3, 2026

Nesehorn156 said:
Early in tournaments, I sometimes avoid close all-in situations because I feel like there’s no need to risk everything so soon.

At the same time, winning those flips can help build a strong stack for later stages.

Do you try to avoid coin flips early, or are you happy to take them if the spot is good?

No, no avoiding, especially chasing more flips against weak players to build big stack

BillyR23 · Apr 3, 2026

Early in tournaments, I sometimes avoid close all-in situations because I feel like there’s no need to risk everything so soon.
At the same time, winning those flips can help build a strong stack for later stages.
Do you try to avoid coin flips early, or are you happy to take them if the spot is good?

You shouldn't let any kind of emotion affect your game/decisions... personally, I try to make the best decision I can in each spot, so if it's early MTT and someone goes All In for like 100 BBs stack and I have a premium hand that usually does very well against this type of opponent(probably a maniac/whale...), I'm going with it and live with the result- you just can't miss this kind of opportunities- Yes, you won't win all this hands, but overall you'll print money from this kind of situations 💸💸💸

danshu01 · Apr 3, 2026

I don’t usually avoid those spots early, especially in tournaments like freerolls or micro stakes. Many players go all-in with very weak hands, so what looks like a coin flip is often actually a profitable situation. If I think my opponent’s range is wide, I’m happy to take it and try to build a stack early.

CardFather · Apr 3, 2026

I try not to go all in early if i can help it. I like to see flops and then make my decisions

tuitui · Apr 3, 2026

Pretty much depends on how much interest I have on playing. Like if it is a freeroll and I have other stuff to do, I play very loosely, but if it is my night planned to be spent with poker, I am more cautious and don't take my changes so easily.

Poker_Mike · Apr 3, 2026

Nesehorn156 said:
Early in tournaments, I sometimes avoid close all-in situations because I feel like there’s no need to risk everything so soon.

At the same time, winning those flips can help build a strong stack for later stages.

Do you try to avoid coin flips early, or are you happy to take them if the spot is good?

Sometimes if I am the original raiser - even if it is early in the tournament - and a player shoves on me then I feel obligated to call with my AK or sometimes AQ depending on the range I put the villain on.

Otherwise I don't want to show the table that I will fold to a shove everytime I raise.

Theoretically a flip at the beginning of the tournament is independent of a flip later in the tournament.

But also there is a school of thought to never put yourself at risk unnecessarily - and one should fold.

Eventually as one approaches the final table almost everybody is medium stack or short stacked. So shoving in those situations is appropriate.

Good luck!

antonis32123 · Apr 3, 2026

The Truth is that I avoid many times the coin flips , sometimes even with good odds , not intentionally, but because I don't know of that's a hand to risk calling for 30 pt 50 percent of my stack , even with 3 players in the hand . Yeah , I am not good for sure . Maybe I learn more tricks , and I ll return a better more agro player in the future . )))

SPANKYSN · Apr 3, 2026

Given that stacks are even, at the start of a tournament, I would probably assume AK…I would fold pocket 2s through 8s…I would go for it with pocket 9s or better.

miklcct · Apr 8, 2026

If someone open shoves 50 BB at the beginning of the tournament, I'll snap call with QQ or better, JJ to 88 depending on position, and never with AK.

But if I am leading the tournament and a medium-stack shoves, ICM pressure dictates that I play tightly and will probably only call with KK or better.

kaynbergo · Apr 9, 2026

If I get AA or KK and someone has already gone all in before me, I'll level the playing field. If other cards come up, I'm likely to discard them, unless I have a strong hand and whoever went all-in has already bet all-in four times in a row.

Igor Popadyk · Apr 14, 2026

In tournaments where it is possible to make an additional purchase - it is quite profitable to play loose at the beginning, this is a good chance to double

Jyco · Apr 14, 2026

I think you should always play based on your stack size and your opponents’ stacks. Depending on the situation, it’s inevitable to fold hands that could end up being flips. You should try to play more hands in a way that avoids flipping, but there are very strong hands where you have to take the flip, even if you don’t want to, and sometimes they’re not even 50/50 but spots where you actually have the edge.

nabmom · Apr 14, 2026

Generally, I avoid situations early in the game that could knock me out. I will play a wide range of more speculative hands (especially if we are deep-stacked) but not risk my entire stack on it. This is especially true in a game like our CardsChat league, where placement (= points) is critical.

burro · Apr 14, 2026

I usually try to avoid coin drawings in the early stages of tournaments.
At that point, I don't see much reason to risk my chips in marginal situations when there's still a lot of game ahead. Losing a flip logo early on usually means leaving without any real gain.
I prefer to wait for better situations and keep a more stable asset stack, especially since there's plenty of time to build chips later.

SergioV · Apr 17, 2026

Yes, I usually try to avoid coin flips early in tournaments. I prefer to play more carefully and keep my stack, because there is still a lot of time to find better spots

BaldHead · Apr 18, 2026

Good players don’t “fear” coin flips — they just don’t rush into them without a reason. Early in a tournament, it’s usually more profitable to play controlled poker rather than treat it like a lottery.

Do you ever avoid coin flips early in tournaments?

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