Playing big stacks

hey all - that's my first poker question post so please be patient..

I seem to have a problem I cannot overcome.. I am good when short stacked and I get great value for my hands. I think that I play good tight-aggressive game.

The problem starts when I am big stacked - which will always happen around the 3rd or 4th stage if the tourney for me. And than I start losing... on the one hand I seem to overvalue my big hands (I lost yesterday 20k - average being 6k - with twice getting AQ, the other guy is a calling station and the flop hits crap - 2, 5, T unsuited). On the other hand, I play too many weird hands but than I lose the aggressiveness post flop and protect my stack... I figured out that I am playing 25% of the flops (winning 50%) when I am short-medium stacked and 40% (same winning ratio, I just loose all my money with the other half...) when big stacked.

So - any suggestions? How do you play when you are relatively high stacked? :joyman:

When I have a big stack I play similary to small stack - That is I try to look only at the good hands and flop the others and when I do have a good hand I raise but not too much in order to guard my "hoard". So basically I am playing very safe with the big stack and try to steal on low hand from time to time - But I only get aggressive when I have a really good hand, otherwise I prefer to fold and save my money and let others get out of the race.

Another part of the problem is more than likely that the better players are coming into the quotient deeper into the tournament. The deeper you get the better players are probasbly there. It was a very good post for your first one. Nice to see the new players being active.

Thanks for your answers!

Bully the small stackers, Steal their blinds and if they happen to push all in you might just call for race if losing wont hurt you so much. If someone with big stack too calls u don't have to bluff him out of the hand and loose more chips. U earn more stealing from low stackers than bluffing againts big stackers (they might hold goods and wait to dbl up trough you )

Hi... When I have a Big stack, I try to maintain focus and get involve with just strong hands.. and also try to bluff more, but only when you are hundred porcet sure that your opponet is on a weak hand. And the last thing remember the sits youre playing. because you can loose a lot of chips if you don't do that... Bye bye and good luck at the tables.
NICK.

Hi guys... playing bis stack for me is easy because I'm Tigh-Strong player, I Mean after the flop I bet a lot.... this tactic it depends of what type of player you are. Like Myself , you just have to keep waiting for the good hands to come , and the rest is easy !!! .. but the important thing it's not getting crazy betting and trying to bluff a lot , because you can loose everything you got. BYE BYE guys and good luck at the tables.
NICK.

i must say - i implemented some of the advice here (mainly don't bluff cause u r big stacked..), pick up on the small ones and don't become loose. it works like a charm and it improved my game in only few days so thanks to all the contributers. i hope this post helped someone else also.

Hm...well playing 25% of the flops isn't really tight aggressive, especially in the early stages in the tournament...and just keep playing tight with a big stack, no matter what urges you get to play multiple marginal hands

Rockon said:

Big stacks often breed over-confidence.

Like you said, you are overvaluing your hands when big stacked and losing respect for your opponents.

Click to expand...

Right on Rockon. In addition, your opponents lose respect for YOU when they see you are playing a looser game. The temptation with a big stack is to play looser because "you can afford to call". I have to remind myself to not give in to the temptation (too much) or the big stack becomes a small stack.