as other people have said, maybe you are playing too tight? and therefor when you shove with your 9's with 8 bb's or whatever, and get called by ace x and get sucked out on, you have no chips left because you haven't been stealing enough. your aim shouldn't be to fold your way into the top 50 or whatever from 200 left, it should be continuing to play the same way you have all tournament- accumulating chips with steals/ re-steals and aggression. of course in a big mtt you are going to lose some flips and hands you are favourite in, you just need to have chips left over to grind back up your stack.
I suspect that many posters agree with this. But assuming that getting it in ahead most of the time is playing too tightly is ridiculous. Indahood (above) is assuming that if I go all-in with 99 and get called by Ax and get beat then I have no chips left 'because I haven't been stealing enough.'
You simply can't assume that someone who is usually ahead at showdown is always short of chips. That's crazy. It's possible to play online for an hour and bet just three times, always getting in ahead, and doubling your stack each time. The big decision is to make sure that your first win gets you enough chips to allow you to have a little leeway.
And one should not assume that somone who is playing tightly is going to 'fold their way into the top 50 or whatever from 200 left.' Playing tightly doean't mean folding against every raise - it means picking the hands one wishes to go to war with.
However I respect the advice indahood has given. But giving oneself the best chance of winning pots is surely the object of the game!
I'm just very glad that so many players don't understand TAG.
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