Early Tournament Raise not as Strong

Yes, when you raise in a poker tournament early on it does not have the same effect as when an hour or two has already passed and the stacks have begun to accumulate chips. Online poker, particularly no limit, will always have the stigma of being hyper-aggressive. Although this is true for the most part it still carries with it some assumptions about how the game is played that do not bare out in live poker tournaments.

For instance, online poker tournaments tend to have very large pre-flop raises that can and do result in at least two players being all-in before a card has hit the board. This is the main reason why I do not advocate going broke with [K][K] early in an online poker tournament. The likely hood of you facing Pocket Aces is far too high for the risk if you know you can out play your opponents. Conversely, for the less skilled player it is an opportunity to double up and grab some easy chips provided the dreaded Pocket Aces are not held by his opponent.

The bottom line is that you need to be smart with your raises in online poker tournaments when the play is still in the early levels. Don't be afraid to lay down those big hands and you don't have to raise one-third of your stack to be effective. Make a little more than the standard 3 - 4x's the big blind raise with [K][K] and [A][A]. If you get re-raised all-in then you have a decision to make. If you get re-raised double your raise you can flat call and see what happens after the flop. In other words be smart about what you are doing adn how you are playing your big hands early on. There are simply too many easy chips to pick up without risking your tournament for no reason with [K][K] after making a big raise.