big stack poker

hello and thanks for your replies on my previous posts. I am getting extremely frustrated with MTT's. Especially when I have the big stack at the table. I just seem to freeze up and watch the blinds whack my stack and the blinds get bigger until I am no longer the big stack. In fact It seems like I freeze up until I am just over 10 BBs and then I panic and go all in or something and lose. How can I use my big stack to get even more chips. WHAT TYPE OF BEHAVIOR SHOULD I BE LOOKING FOR AND HOW DO I EXPLOIT IT? I have been told that time is on my side when I have the big stack and I should wait for good cards. But what if they never come. HOW DO I USE MY BIG STACK TO KEEP BUILDING IT AND MAKING IT BIGGER. Should I be calling more to get in more hands? Should I be reraising raisers just to see if they will fold? How do I put this so called pressure on people? Please help if you can. I am sick and tired of blowing my lead and not making any money. Please help. PLEASE. Thank you so much

Okay, your obviously good enough to build big stacks at the beginning of tournaments, this is a good start. With regards to your play while you have a big stack, i strongly recommend that you play fairly aggressive and steal blinds and things like that. About calling, try to avoid calling pre-flop at every possible occassion. You should pretty much never call preflop. Stick to raise or fold!

Time is on your side with a big stack but i think that you do need to stay aggressive. Usually the cards will come but if they dont, atleast then you should have something....

Hope that helped!

I agree with chipsuffler, you have to either be the first in the pot raising or fold.... Stay aggressive and steal as many pots as you can and watch out for players who play back at you and will not let you steal..... Then is time to change gears... Unless its a turbo, time is on your side with a big stack... M 20 or more....

i would suggest lowering your raise sizing and opening up a lot more hands in position, lowering raise sizing during middle/late stages will save you a lot of $$ in the long run..

But remember you are the big stack, make your opponants fear you, if they are all in with you, its their tournament on the line not yours, use it to your advantage..

i would advocate if you have a big stack nearing the bubble, to play ultra aggressive against most players at your table, as they will be wanting to get into the money.

One thing i will say, if you are acquiring a big stack early on, that is usually a sign of a person who is willing to take huge risks early, which isnt ideal in the long run.



ok to answer some of the quesions in the post

"How can I use my big stack to get even more chips"
yep well, open more pots in middle to late position.

ok say you get dealt k 7 suited in the cutoff seat(one of the dealer button) its folded to you, you should raise here to try and steal the blinds, i would say around 2.5x the bb should do it, so if the blinds are 50 100 you bet 250, to win 250, which is great odds, you only have to do that once per round for you to maintain your stack... so if you get called so what, the flop comes A45 he checks and you c-bet around half to 2/3 of the pot and you will take the pot then and there a high percentage of the time.
Basically the more chips you have, the more you can loosen your range of opening hands, not to say you should go crazy, if someone reraises you all in and you have 3000 to call with your k7 suited its an easy fold, oh well you lose 250 instead of 300-400 which some bet.


"WHAT TYPE OF BEHAVIOR SHOULD I BE LOOKING FOR AND HOW DO I EXPLOIT IT?"
with a big stack, you want to steadily accumulate chips without going all in too often, which should be your aim most of the way through a long MTT. basically you should be looking for tight passive opponants and stay away from the looser more aggressive opponants if possible. look for the guys with a smaller chip stack and be aggressive, verses those players.


In a tournament time is never on your side, you need to accumulate chips steadily each level to be able to make a run in the late stages of the tournament.

I agree that time is never on your side in a tournament If you want to win !

I love playing big stack poker. First off, you can raise preflop with nothing, you can call out of position, call in position, make raises. All these things would work, many do not try to make moves against the big stack. When you are big stack and you get 78 diamonds in mid position call or raise. You can now afford to play this hand, maybe you will get an AA that just smooth calls and you hit HUGE on the flop, nut str8 or better. You never know. Another way is to just play good cards, and do check raises. No matter what, the cards will come...you may have to wait 20-30 hands, but i gaurantee you that the cards will come. Try these new strategies out, theirs a few ways you can play being a big stack.

yep ditto abt opening up ur range in position. but that doesnt mean u go crazy. play tight still, sometimes its ok to give up on the pot if u meet heavy resistance. the key is "chip your way through"

u do not need to go into flips with your stack

you should still be playing with your normal usual range except for now, try to look for passive players to 3bet them n steal thier blinds off once in a while.. be aggressor..