keeping your chipstack secure once you have accumulated it
Posted on March 31, 2008
Filed Under Pocker
There is always going to be a stage during the latter part of a pocker tournament where, if you have had a successful tournament thus far and accrued a relatively healthy chip stack, you will need to work at keeping yourself up there with the leaders. Two nights ago I faced a similar situation in an Omaha $500 gauranteed re-buy tournament, having built myself up to over double the average in chips at that point, and with 15 players left out of 32. This can sometimes be a difficult position to be in, you can play super tight and probably make the final table with a shorter stack, but I wouldnt advise this, especially in the case of a tournament like mine, which only payed 5 places.
My immediate strategy was an obvious one, considering the two players to my left had considerably less chips and were playing rather tight. I started putting pressure on them pre-flop when I was on the button or in the small blind. This isnt something you can do every time the blinds are in that position, another player may have already raised the pot for example, which would greatly increase the risk of attempting such a play and no longer make it viable. If however all others have folded, which is often the case when the blinds are big, then it is certainly worth a try. I managed to make this play successfully more than once, and was careful not to get involved in large pots with the bigger chip stacks unless absolutely necessary. Because if you are involved in a hand and the worst should happen against a smaller chip stack, then you are still in the tournament, this is not always going to be the case if you lose to one of the chip leaders.
In addition to these things I feel it is important to maintain concentration by way of observing each hand even if you have folded pre flop. This helps you to gain a feel of whether a player is waiting for stronger hands or playing a more loose game, and although this may seem trivial, these observations can be crucial when you find yourself needing to make a big decision. I managed to get 3rd place in my Omaha tournament in the end, turning a buy-in, and add-on total of $4.40 into $116. Im not saying this can be done in every tournament by any means, but providing you are picking up chips without getting yourself involved in too many large pots, and you are making careful and calculated decisions, you should make it to the money paying places fairly often from a strong position, in the middle phase of the tournament.
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