Tournament Timing
The difference between a cash online poker game and a tournament is timing – and that makes the two entirely different poker games. In a cash game, you can bide your time and wait for hand. The blinds will not eat away at your stack.
A timed tournament is inherently dangerous to your stack. It is structured to eliminate players within a specific time frame. To reach the final table and make it into the money, you must always stay ahead of the time curve.
When playing tournament poker, you can’t wait to be aggressive, but must seize any opportunity or edges. Some players will actually wait until the blinds start escalating to higher levels before they risk any chips because they only want to go after bigger pots. But that is wrongheaded thinking. You should always be aware of how many minutes are left to each interval and what the next round of blinds will be. Without winning some pots to cover the next round of blinds, you will just be constantly falling behind the curve. You can’t build a stack to threaten anyone or risk going all in when your opponents have your covered.
Those who act first in tournament hands are often the winners. Your biggest enemy in a tournament is time. Keep your chip stack ahead of the clock.
