When you are in late position, have a decent hand, and the players in front of you have not made a raise, you must raise the stakes. At worst, the other blinds may have you beat, but unless they have very strong hands—or are extremely loose—they will normally fold. This approach allows you to take the blinds with little risk. If the two players to your left are extremely loose, picking them off with a strong hand from the button should tighten them up. You should try to take the blinds at least once every round, but try not to become predictable as to which players’ blinds you go after.

During the middle stage, you must be more careful about limping in pre-flop or just calling bets post-flop. In order to increase your chip stack, you need to increase your level of aggression when betting your premium hands. The “pump or dump” philosophy is even more important during these intermediate stages. To be in a strong position during this period of play, you should have at least twice the number of chips of the average stack. Depending on the size of the tournament, it may be difficult to judge the chip stacks at other tables. Determining your relative chip position can be tricky. Having the chip lead at your table is not as important as having a chip stack larger than the majority of other players.

As the tournament progresses, the blinds quickly overcome even moderate chip stacks. This is the stage to separate the short-stacks^[i] from the large-stacks. You need to continue to pressure the short-stacks with aggressive play, especially as the tournament approaches “The Bubble^[ii]” You must also be wary of the larger chip stacks using the same strategy on your chip stack, since they can end your tournament in a single hand. This is also the time to get a feel for which players can make it to the final table and which players are playing as well or better than you are. It is also important to judge which of the large-stacks are there by luck and which are there by skill.

When you get in a showdown, try to force your opponent into becoming pot committed. In a heads-up situation, you can call a short-stack’s bet. You can also make a defensive bet in order to prevent them from checking. At this stage, knocking out a player puts you in a dually advantageous position. Not only does it increase your chip stack, it also decreases the number of players remaining in the event. You must continue to play cautiously no matter how few chips another player has left. A player can always turn things around quickly and move from a short-stack to a commanding position in just a few hands.

Late in the intermediate stage, many players are just trying to survive long enough to get a piece of the prize pool. Use this to your advantage by aggressively stealing blinds and over-betting to force opponents off their hands. If a larger stack is also aggressively taking on the short-stacks, back off when you do not have premium hands. The larger stacks can hurt you much more than you can hurt them.

Most tournaments pay out to the top 10% of entrants. Players receive a share of the prize pool—from making back their buy-in for the lowest paid position to receiving 25% to 40% of the total prize pool for first place. If you are short chips while nearing the bubble, simply staying in a little longer can increase your chances of winning some money.

If your chip stack is smaller than the average number of chips, it is correct to adopt a much more conservative strategy. If there are only one or two players left to the bubble, it is alright to try to hang on to cash out. This is especially true if there is another player at your table without the chips to survive the next round of blinds.

Continue to Part 4 of 5 Parts