Me, again Let me know if I'm starting to be a pest lol.

I play in small live tournaments 2 or 3 times a week. $20 buy-in, 15-20 minute blinds, $20k starting stacks, between 15 and 30 people. The blinds start out at 100/200. Pretty much the exact same crowd with maybe a few new people thrown in here and there. I actually run one of them which I don't think necessarily helps my game. But here's my problem:

I'm never really the big stack! As I mentioned in another post, I seem to find myself at the mercy of the blinds, which eat up my stack, so I always get to the point where I'm the short stack. There are people that play who always, at some point, accumulate huge stacks compared to everyone else. Now, they are prone to giving the chips away as quickly as they acquire them.

I never seem to go on a tear where I'm hitting everything in sight. I'm not really superstitious . . . one person can't really be unluckier than another, long term, can they? The problem is that I feel like being short-stacked limits play a little bit, especially in terms of reraising and stuff. It makes it more hazardess to act on my reads because if I am wrong or they catch up, it's costing such a higher part of my stack or knocking me out of the game. And it's harder to put significant pressure on other players if they out-chip you. Sure, I last longer than the crazies but that doesn't mean anything if I'm not cashing.

So, what say you? I want to be big and mean and dangerous, too!

Uhhh, that would be hazardOUS not hazardESS. Sorry.

~Jen

Be more aggressive.

to get big stacks you need to steal more pots. find ways to do that. you are never going to be ahead in tournaments by having the best hand when you play a pot all the time.

(1) Is it always the same players who run up the big stacks, or is it different people? If it's different people, be patient and realize that someone always has to get lucky and run up a stack early? If it is the same players, try to figure out how they get chips. Are they aggressive while the rest of the table plays tight? Do they see a lot of flops cheaply and then are just good at getting paid off when they flop big hands? Are they patient but just manage to extract more value from big hands when they get them?
Basically, if there are some players who are obviously better than you, try to learn from them.

2) Depending on the structure, it might actually be correct to play relatively tight early and conserve chips so that you still have fold equity when you shove as the blinds increase. Remember, even a 20bb stack can be dangerous if your opponent only has 40bbs. Figure out who is raising too much and start restealing from them instead of just calling raises.

3) Realize that there is a ton of variance in these type of tournaments, so just work on your game, focus on making good decisions, get the money in good most of the time, and, eventually, you should do well.

if you are worrying that it is hazardous to act on your reads you are right. gambling is hazardous to your stack. but if you dont put it in it goes away for sure.