Playing the Big Stack In A No Limit Hold em Tournament

[t1riel]

I read this article by Daniel Negreanu about using the big stack in a Hold em Tournament and I would like to share the main points or tips for that article.

-Attack the Short Stacks The players with short stacks limit their options. Any decent hand they come across they have to go all in. So, push them around and be aggressive, especially if they are in the blinds. Even they win a hand the damage is minimal.

-Avoid the Big Stacks They can cause major damage to your stack and you want to protect your big stack. You should only go agianst them if you have a great hand.

-Don't Play Big Pots Again, you want to protect your big stack. Play the small pots aggressively. If you are not sure you have the best hand, play cautiously.

-Be Creative Try out new tactics and play hands deceptively. This would be a great opportunity to modify your table image. The players think they have figured out and you can take advantage of that.

Be a Constant Presence Don't sit on your stack. Let the othe rplayers know you are there to play. Play aggressive constantly and the players will eventually think you play that way all the time. This will strike fear in your opponents and will fold in most cases.

 

[~~Shelynn~~]

t1reil thank you for posting this,I find that this is a very good article and I had ask some questions on some things similar to this earlier. This really gives out a lot of unanswered questions for me that I had on playing,thanks.

 

[t1riel]

Well, what is posted is not the article. I was basically giving you the meat of the article and rewording it in case I don't get in trouble for copyright infringement. Your welcome all the same!

 

[Tammy]

Some good points to keep in mind. I find myself a big stack in tournaments on many occassions, but end up blowing it somehow along the way. I know it's the way I'm playing, so this little checklist will help remind me how to play it smart...thanks t!

 

[DaveS]

I got a lot of abuse trying to force players with lower chipstacks all in on two speed tournaments recently (15 seconds to act, blinds up every 3 minutes), but I though it was neccesary to abuse your big stack to force players to act. Every time I was dealt a decent hand I was trying to put all their chips on the line. I came 3rd in the first tournament, and 97th in the second (both out of around 2500). I picked up a lot of small pots and dodged quite a few dangerous big ones, and it seemed to work well throughout.
Im not sure if this is good poker etiquette though, some of the people playing didnt seem too happy with it.

 

[F Paulsson]

'Course they're not happy about it. You shouldn't make them happy, you should make them uncomfortable from having to make tough decisions. And from the looks of it, you succeeded. Good job.