The advices found below are for all the poker players (live or online) because these rules are applied for everyone, but can be used only in big tournaments with more than 250-300 players registered.
You can find many big tournaments and of course the best online poker games here on our website on the poker rooms which we promote. In the poker tournaments the stakes raise constantly, so the players must change their tactics constantly.
When you have a short stack
So, if you have a small amount of chips (short stack), you can`t afford to raise if you don`t have a good hand. But in poker, there is a paradox which offers a lots of opportunities with the help of reverse psychology. If you have a small amount of chips, your opponents will not call you or re-raise you. They will call, only if they have a strong hand, because they know if you will go all-in, you have for sure a big hand. The other players are sure that you will not bluff in the situation when you have not enough chips, so if you know that, your chance to make a nice bluff raises.
Average in a tournament
When you have an average amount of chips at the table, you need to take tougher choices, because you will try to win more chips but in the same time you must be careful not be knocked out from tournament. Generally is good to play the small pots and avoid the bigger ones.
When you are the Chip leader
In the situation when you have a lot of chips, you must be careful because your opponents will try to wait for you to make a mistake in your aggressive game. You can risk more, but you can win with a big amount of chips only if you put pressure on your opponents with many raises and re-raises.
In the first steps of a tournament you need to gain many chips, but you have to be patient to catch a player which goes all-in with a weak hand. In the middle of a tournament you must play more hands and win more pots. Preferably you must be aggressive, but if your opponents are aggressive you need to be passive and vice-versa.
In this stage of the tournament you „learned” your opponents so you can call, raise, bluff or fold just by knowing them, because they will not risk anything in this advanced stage.
At the final table
When you are at the final table of a tournament, you need to stay passive and just feel the smell of the money. You will have many chances to steal pots , because your opponents are scared to be very aggressive. You need to be aggressive with your opponents which have a small amount of chips and to avoid the battles with other players which have also a lot of chips.
In this stage of the poker tourney, if you have a small stack you need to double it and the only way to do that is to go all-in when you see the ace in your pocket. It doesn`t matter if is A-2, or A-3, if you see the ace you must go all-in , because this is your only chance to double your chips and to still have a chance to win the tournament.
If you are gonna to play a live tournament I recommend you to play before some online tournaments because these tournaments are played faster and you will gain experience very quickly.
