I was wondering how often you check to see how many players are left in a tournament? Or do you not check and wait till you know you're in the money? I myself find I check way too much.
I like to keep the lobby open so I can see a few things
1) How many players are left
2) When the blinds increase
3) How short the short stacks are
4) How many double ups I would need to take the chip lead
It's not so that I can check these things constantly, but it's helpful for when I have major decisions. Deciding when to gamble vs when to pass on a spot has a lot to do with what your position will be in the tournament if that gamble goes your way
That being said, usually it is more about the exact chip stacks that it is about payjumps. Other than the initial bubble and the final few tables the pay jumps are usually pretty small relative to the buyin for the event. If they mean a lot then you're probably playing a bit to big in terms of your buyin level.
The one time I will check how close a payjump is, is when I know I'm likely to be all in. If there's only 1 or 2 players left til the payjump then I will play more slowly and try to outlast them before committing my chips. It's a small amount of money sure, but those add up over the long run.
I learned about this from Mike Wasserman in his great program "Small Edges, Big Profit"
https://pokermarket.net/collections/alex-fitzgerald-mike-wasserman/products/small-edges-big-profit
I'm grateful for his teachings, they definitely helped me make A LOT more money playing MTTs.
P.S. If that course looks of interest I would suggest holding off until Xmas. Usually pokermarket does some pretty sweet sales around that time! :icon_thum