Tournaments,
Betting Strategy
May 11 2008
Holding the big stack at your table in a tournament is a great place to be. You can’t be knocked out in one hand and the small stacks at the table live in fear that whenever they bet, you’ll come over the top with a huge bet to send them running. However, being the big stack isn’t as easy as it looks. If you don’t play it right you can go from big stack to busted out in just a few hands.
When most players become the big stack they make one of two mistakes. They either play too tight, or they play too loose. They need to find that middle ground to avoid losing pieces of their stack to the rest of the table.
A player that plays too tight won’t be the big stack for very long. These players usually try to coast their way to a money finish instead of staying aggressive and playing for first place. While playing their ultra-tight style, they’ll most likely watch as a few other players start pulling in a lot of chips and suddenly fly by them into the chip lead.
A player that plays too loose thinks their chip advantage gives them free reign to chase draws and make stupid plays. Unless they get lucky while chasing these bad draws, they’re simply feeding the smaller stacks some of their chips. It really hurts when they hit one of their bad draws, only to find their opponent was holding a better hand all along and knocks them out of the chip lead in one fell swoop.
The optimal way to play a big stack is tight-aggressive. Use your large stack to push around the other players at the table, but do it smartly. Don’t be a call-box or bluff in bad spots. Making large bets in good spots should allow you to steal a number of pots, but the key is to find those “good spots.”
Become the big stack in a
Bodog Online Poker Tournament!
