large stack playing

[NormanHaupt 0]

I play large tournaments, and I've got a huge problem.I get a stack, then I go Matasow.I'll pick on a big stack and inevitably lose a bunch of chips. Then, my image is gone nad I am usually sitting out within 10 hands.I've no problem with playing tight early on. And I don't notice my hand selection changes- I don't think any of my play changes.Should it, based on my stack size (From mid, to large, to largest)?Thanks

[copernicus 0]

I play large tournaments, and I've got a huge problem.I get a stack, then I go Matasow.I'll pick on a big stack and inevitably lose a bunch of chips. Then, my image is gone nad I am usually sitting out within 10 hands.I've no problem with playing tight early on. And I don't notice my hand selection changes- I don't think any of my play changes.Should it, based on my stack size (From mid, to large, to largest)?Thanks

Big stack play is a matter of aggression followed by retreat or bombs. Think of your chips as an army and your cards as WMDs. Because poker is a game of imperfect information, the intelligence on whether or not you really hold WMDs is unreliable.You approach the enemy with your overwhelming numbers by picking on the stacks that are least likely to respond...from average to below average but not so crippled they are forced to respond at the risk of suicide (the Kamikaze's). They will retreat either due to your numbers or the threat of your WMDs, or respond with their own tactical nukes. You will only need to retreat when they engage and you dont have WMDs.Even if their tactical nukes are stronger than your WMDs their small numbers will not cripple your army.If you are going to engage an army that is large enough to test your resolve in a minor skirmish (pre-flop) you need to be confident that your WMDs will overwhelm their tactical weapons, because there is no need to take risks against them when there is so much other small territory to conquer.(In case you want that in English, your hand selection loosens against the target stacks and tightens against the larger ones. Your gap widens against the tiny stacks, and narrows against the big ones, and probably is pretty much unchanged against the middle ones).

[shpaget 0]

A common occurrence for people with a big stack is they inevitably suffer a bad beat against a smaller stack, whether that guy had 30% of your chips or 8% of your chips...he hits a 3-outer on the river and instead of knocking a guy out and being the chip leader, you lose a portion of your chips, the lucksuck is still in, and you're in 12th now.And you get mad...and you start on a quest to get your chips back...and you start forcing the issue...or you get discouraged, and lose confidence, and think you need to be chip leader to be effective, and do everything you can to make yourself chipleader again, except playing smart.And this is how chip leaders (and other large stacks) end up out the door in a matter of a dozen hands.