In chapter 9 of Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Jonathan Little collects a set of technical and mental “glue” ideas that apply across streets and tournament stages. The unifying theme is practicality: make your choices easier, understand what your line encourages opponents to do, and avoid ego-driven poker that creates avoidable, high-variance problems.
Make Your Decisions Simple
Little argues that profit often comes from repeatedly making correct, low-drama decisions while opponents create tough spots for themselves. “Simple” doesn’t mean playing only premiums; it means choosing lines and bet sizes that avoid razor-thin turn/river dilemmas.
Key ideas:
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Reduce future uncertainty early. If a spot is likely to become awkward out of position, taking an aggressive, decisive action earlier (including getting stacks in when appropriate) can prevent later guesswork.
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Shorter stacks simplify. Once stacks are in the ~25BB-and-under zone, many playable hands gain value from shove-or-fold style decisions over raises, because complex post-flop play becomes less valuable.
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Think about raise sizing vs. shove odds late. With multiple short-to-mid stacks behind you, your open size affects the odds you’ll be getting if someone jams. Adjust sizing to avoid being priced into marginal calls you’d rather not face—or size so that calling becomes clearly correct.
He also emphasizes a realism check: if you have a skill edge, you can pass thin spots more often; if you’re outmatched, you should take close-but-profitable gambles rather than folding away necessary equity.
Know What You’re Inducing
A major leak Little highlights: players “act weak” and then fold when the predictable bluff arrives. If your line invites aggression—like checking a later street after betting earlier—you must be prepared to call down appropriately with hands that are often best or that sit high enough in your range.
Examples of what this principle means in practice:
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Pot-control lines create bluff-catching duties. If you deliberately underrepresent your hand (common with one-pair hands deep-stacked), you can’t then abandon the river just because your opponent bets.
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Your line tells a story—opponents react to that story. If your story signals uncertainty, many opponents will stab with a wide range. Your plan has to account for that before you take the inducing action.
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Little agrees that “action gets action,” but treats it as a tool, not a religion.
Core points:
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Too tight creates new problems. If you only play strong hands, opponents adjust by folding too much preflop and only continuing with hands that play well against your narrow range—making even “good” hands harder to realize value with.
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Too loose bleeds chips. Raising everything can lose so many small pots that even big double-ups don’t compensate.
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The sweet spot is selective aggression. Especially when antes matter, opening a wider (but not reckless) set of playable hands in late position builds a loose image that later pays off when you actually have premiums.
He also notes “advertising” is only valuable if you’ll face the same opponents again; if you won’t, focus on direct EV now.
Avoid Fancy Play Syndrome
Little warns against “outsmarting yourself,” especially when opponents are too weak to notice what you’re representing. Many elaborate bluffs and tricky lines fail because:
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opponents don’t interpret the story you’re telling,
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or they call too often with simple one-pair hands,
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or your fancy line accidentally turns your strong hand into a situation where only better hands continue.
His preferred approach: let opponents make the big mistakes; don’t rely on them to make sophisticated folds.
Give the Illusion of Fold Equity
One of the more practical “trap” concepts in this chapter: sometimes you can earn more by choosing a sizing or line that makes opponents think a raise will work, encouraging them to bluff.
How it works:
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Choose bets that look “thin” or “blocky” so aggressive opponents believe they can push you off it.
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Maintain stack geometry where your opponent plausibly thinks you can fold to a jam.
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With very strong hands, don’t scare them out. Over-aggressive re-raising can cause tight opponents to incorrectly fold strong second-best hands, costing you value.
This is presented as a high-profit habit when used sparingly and with awareness of opponent tendencies.
Play Straightforwardly in Large Pots
As pot size grows, Little recommends reducing deception and avoiding massive, low-equity bluffs. The bigger the pot:
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the more you should prioritize winning this pot cleanly,
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the less “advertising” and tricky leveling matters,
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and the more costly one failed big bluff becomes in a tournament.
He still advocates standard continuation betting in re-raised pots (for both value and fold equity), but with sizing that keeps your decision tree manageable.
When You Face a Min Re-Raise
Little treats minimum re-raises as often indicating a very strong, tight range (though he notes some weaker players do it with wider holdings). His general guideline:
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Call more often than you would versus a normal-sized re-raise, especially with hands that have strong implied odds and don’t suffer heavy reverse implied odds.
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Be cautious post-flop. You’re frequently calling to hit a strong flop, not to “outplay” someone in a bloated pot with marginal one-pair hands.
He also warns that min-raises on later streets are usually strong from many weak players, so you should fold more unless you can beat (or strongly draw to beat) what they’re representing.
Check When You Hit Your Draw Out of Position
A common tell Little attacks: players lead when they complete an obvious draw, which:
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makes their hand transparent,
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reduces the chance the aggressor keeps betting,
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and kills the bluffer’s willingness to continue.
Default approach:
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When you complete a draw without position, check to the aggressor to let them value-bet worse, bluff, or pay you off with hands that would fold to a lead.
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Only deviate against specific opponents (e.g., extreme calling stations or players who check back too often when draws complete).
Big Calls vs. Big Folds
Little ties “hero calls” to your table image:
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If you’re loose-aggressive and frequently underrepresent hands via pot control, opponents bluff you more → you should call down more in the right spots.
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If you’re perceived tight, opponents value-bet more and bluff less → you should fold more to heavy aggression.
He leans toward being willing to make big calls overall because tournaments require accumulating chips, but insists those calls should come from coherent range logic, not ego.
How to Handle Good Regulars
He distinguishes between:
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good regulars who avoid unnecessary battles, and
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players who insist on playing pots with you (often trying to leverage position and pressure).
Strategy versus good regulars:
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play a bit tighter,
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prefer re-raising in position rather than flat-calling to avoid letting them realize skill edges post-flop,
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and focus your highest-volume aggression on weaker opponents.
Exploit Player Types
Little encourages actively classifying opponents and adjusting:
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Tight players who won’t fold top pair+: apply pressure in spots where you can credibly represent better; respect their big aggression more; tailor sizing to what they “believe.”
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Passive, sticky callers: value-bet relentlessly with made hands; bet smaller when they call too wide; don’t overbluff.
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Straightforward fit-or-fold types: continuation-bet frequently; extract value when you hit; don’t waste chips barreling when they clearly won’t fold.
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Super-aggressive players: let them hang themselves—induce bluffs, pot-control more, and be ready to call down with hands that beat their wide range.
He also notes that against opponents who mix well, your solid default strategy stays profitable—adjust mainly if they clearly target you.
Dealing With a Maniac on Your Left
Little calls this one of the hardest seat dynamics because it reduces your profitable opening opportunities.
Adjustments:
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Tighten up, but punish hard with premiums.
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Favor hands that can comfortably get stacks in versus constant re-raises.
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With deeper stacks, keep implied-odds hands in mind (small pairs, suited connectors) when you can see flops without getting forced into repeated high-pressure spots.
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Mentally accept variance: against a true maniac, stacks often collide; you want to be the one entering those collisions with range advantage.
When Someone Won’t Back Down
Against opponents who constantly float, stab, and apply pressure (especially with position):
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value-bet thinner early,
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check rivers more to induce bluffs,
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and temporarily shift to a tighter, more premium pre-flop selection to simplify post-flop decisions.
Being the Table Bully
Finally, Little discusses the upside—and the responsibility—of bullying a table that folds too much:
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raise frequently to scoop dead money,
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recognize that your image changes quickly once shown down,
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and dial back once opponents stop “suspecting” you’re loose and start knowing you’re loose, because call-downs and traps increase.
The underlying lesson is constant awareness: your best strategy is the one your opponents are currently failing to respond to correctly.