[jimmytheg]

Not to be captain obvious or anything, but you need to accumulate chips in a tournament to go far....which means taking calculated risks. Seeing more flops for cheap, in late position, is something I try to do. You cant just sit back and wait for premium hands in these online tournies where the blinds go up every 15 min...you just wont get enough. Try and isolate weak-tight players, be willing to have a little of the worse of it when entering the hand, and play more after the flop.

Conversely, when up against over aggresive players, let them do the betting for you. It is worth it sometimes to let a guy draw at a tiny chance of beating you, with the expectation that they will pay you off huge if they dont. I.E., you have top two or a set, but a flush draw is out there. They bet into you, and while you normally would reraise to protect your hand, just smooth call. You are risking the loss of a small/medium pot, but upping the chance you will win a monster pot. These over aggresive types will keep leading at the pot after the turn even if they dont hit, which is when you can nail em. And if they do happen to hit, just shrug it off and keep on playing.

You want to win the most possible when you do happen to hit a monster...and sometimes you have to take a little risk if you want to break a guy and really build a big stack. In these online tournies the payouts are soo top heavy, one 3rd place finish is the equivilant of 10 or more 12th or so finishes. I guess, to sum it up, you don't always need to protect your strong hands with huge bets and reraises. Sometimes, in order to make the maximum on your big hands, you need to trust the poker gods and let the odds play out by giving an over aggresive maniac a chance to hang himself....instead of just taking the pot at an early stage. Yes, this might lead to a bad beat and some really pissed off moments. But tourneys are about top 3 finishes, and it takes risk to build that many chips......unless you happen to get aces 6 times and they all hold up.

I know some will flame away and call this advice stupid...but if you play like you are always scared you will get drawn out on, then you will never accumulate enough to be a force in a given tourney. The thought process that tournaments are all about survival is good for limping into the money, but not for actually winning...not in these online tournies. The goal is to win, and to win, you gotta take risks....they wont always come out the way you want....but sometimes they do. And that's when you get a monster stack to ride to the final 3 or 4...and hopefully win