Take your time.
Take my comments with a grain of salt I am good at tournaments but not great. Maybe some of the other comments will help you more but these are just some general thoughts from my one year of playing.
One of the most important thing is to have patience in the middle to later rounds. If you are playing tight and there are a lot of players you will not play many hands. You will see lots of chips flying around and you might try push it by playing cards that are marginal. Think about maximizing your time at the table hang in as long as you can waiting for that premium hand. The chip leaders will be watching every all in hoping for knock outs. If you can wait them out you might be able to wear them down and get them to call your all in when you hit a good starting hand.
It does pay early on when the blinds are low to play a little loser but avoid the early knock out. This early loose play will give you an image that might pay off in later rounds. I find myself limping in or calling small bets and folding after the flop. Usually you will get a few flops that pay and that offsets the small losses. Avoid all ins early unless you really don't want to stick around or the buy in is low and side games will be started. If you have AA maybe you can call the guy who is going all in with KK but do you really want to take that chance? Also make sure you leave enough time to play the whole game. If you are playing at a home game you probably are setting aside enough time but, I have fallen into the trap of trying to squeeze in a quick game online. Next thing I know it's 1AM and I need to go to bed so I start playing looser than I should.
If you do make it to the final table don't get too upset if you lose a big hand, unless of course you went all in. If you have a short stack but the blinds aren't too high slow down take some deep breaths and wait for the right cards. When I first started playing tournaments I would freak if I lost a big hand towards the end and start playing all in on mediocre hands. If you pick the right cards and double up a couple times you can still have a shot at the money. Just think about the time you have invested up to that point and don't piss away all that work by playing junk.
When the blinds are climbing and you are holding a smaller stack you need to hold on as long as you can. If you have a mediocre set of starting cards in early position and you can still play a couple blinds you should fold. Hold your load as long as you can but make it pay when you fire the money shot. If you are in late position or on the button and you have a mediocre hand with few or no callers and no bettors you can play more aggressive. As always position will play a big part in your play.
Other things you may consider if you are playing a home game and there is alcohol flowing don't drink. In fact I make it a point to bring lots of beer with me and drink only one and end up giving away the rest. But then I am the type of guy who can drink only one, for others this may be too much temptation.
If anyone has issues with my comments please reply, don't want to give bad advice.
Oh yeah, have fun!
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