First of all, you must consider the initial stack and the blind structure. It is not the same to start with 1,000 chips or with 10,000 chips, just like it is not the same if the blinds increase every 5 minutes or every hour.
Let’s take a first example: a "Sit and Go" on the internet. These tournaments are played among 8 or 10 players and the first 3 are paid. One starts with, let’s say, 1,500 chips and the blinds increase every 5 minutes. The right strategy is to play tight early and then widen the selection range for the starting cards according to the blinds. You also have to be very selective and play "hard" when you arrive "on the bubble", that is to say when there are only four players and the first 3 are paid. Once you are "in the money area", you have to be aggressive all the way!
Here is a second example: a live tournament like an EPT event. Your starting stack is 10,000 and the blinds start at 25-50 and increase every 60 minutes. This is very different because you have more time to build your capital. What many players believe, the idea is not to "mount chips" at all costs at first. A "make or break" strategy can be extremely effective early in the tournament if you have a large pile of chips, but everything will be challenged within hours when the blinds are much higher. Poker tournaments strategies vary from player to player and their isn't a good/bad strategy. So patience and a reasonable amount of aggressiveness are required. It is all about commitment, but you have to know when to be brave. Obviously, the more the blinds increase, the more aggressive you have to be and find good positions to steal the blinds. This is the general pattern, which must be adjusted depending on how things go in the first rounds of the tournament.
So you need to calculate what Harrington calls "M" at any time. M is the number of rounds of blinds you have on your mat. For example, if the blinds are 50-100 and your carpet is 1,500, each round you do not play is equal to 10. If the blinds are 600-1200 with a 100 ante bet and there are eight players at the table, each turn costs you 2,600. If your stack is 15,000, your M is just under 6. Knowing your M at any time, the tactics to be applied are the following:
- M greater than or equal to 20: You are in the comfort zone. Select your hands calmly. There is no urgency to risk your stack on a draw or a mediocre hand.
- M between 10 and 20: All is well again. But do not fall asleep.
- M between 5 and 10: You are in danger. You must take risks without waiting. Do not panic though.
- M 5 or less: You are in the red zone, so full sail! Go all in right away. Yes, this is risky, but as they say, "Whoever takes risks wins".
Remember, your M sometimes has nothing to do with the average number of chips in the tournament. This average, which is the most commonly used benchmark, does not matter much. If you are first, you are well above the average. But it all depends on your M: do not rest on your laurels if it is less than 10 and be willing to take risks! In practice, always try to multiply your chips if you are in trouble (M less than 5) and feel free to do so with mediocre and average hands, too. Do not wait for AA, KK or even AJ or AQ hands because your carpet will be even lower when these hands come (and even if they come). Therefore, AX, JX or QX are not too bad in these cases and neither is a J10 hand, together with a 9 and 8... These are the "Come what may!" hands.
In reversing the argument, if you are the big blind and you have a decent hand like A-10 or JQ, you must pay because there is a good chance that you have the best hand! Well, good luck or rather have a good M...!
