Entering a big poker tournament is a truly overwhelming experience. Thousands of people in the lobby and venue are seated and fighting to win the same tournament as themselves. It’s impossible to survive if there are so many opponents, advance to the final table, and win the championship. But you don’t have to think that way when a big tournament begins. It’s not impossible to stay until the end and win the championship.
Don’t run ahead
Focus on what’s happening at the table you’re sitting on, not on the number of participants in the entire tournament. You only affect this table. Other tables will continue. A tournament with a hundred or a thousand people will be a long battle until a prize is decided. (Live tournaments like the APPT main event can take days, online can take hours)
Remember, you can’t win early in the tournament. Put up with seeing the chip reader stack early on that doesn’t matter. All you have to focus on is the size of your stack and blinds.
Important midfield
In many ways, it’s the most difficult time in the middle of a tournament, where the blinds go up but the bubble is still far away. You may want to change your strategy here and start hitting a little looser. There is no point in stealing as the blinds remain small early on. Instead, make a strong move early on and get the best value possible and if you want to play online using trancedance will help with that.
However, the value of the blinds suddenly increases in the middle of the game, so you should steal as much as you can in the late position. You don’t have to have a strong hand as it is desirable not to look at the flop when stealing. For example, even if a person with a small blind or a big blind calls, it is often possible to drop it with a continuation bet.
In the middle of the game, the size of the opponent’s stack becomes much wider. You need to pay attention to this. There are short stacks of 10BB or less, medium stacks of 25-35BB, and monsters of 50BB or more on the same table. This is quite different from the early stages when everyone has the same number of chips.
It is important to analyze the number of chips of surrounding players before taking action. For example, if you have a weak hand such as a 5-4 suit and all three players behind you have 10-20BB, don’t raise. One of the three is likely to go all-in, in which case you will not be able to call.
If you can increase the stack in the middle stage, you are more likely to win a prize and you are more likely to survive until the end of the game.