Important of tournament stack variance?

[Zybomb]

Gaining a lead early in the tournament is not important, merely surviving and trying to have a playable stack of chips is.

I believe David Sklansky quoted a stat which was that the leader at the end of Day 1 of the WSOP has never made the final table

At some point in the tournament however, usually late when blinds are high, you are going to have have to take risks you wouldnt take normally. (i.e risking your stack with a low pair, hoping your a coinflip and not 4 to 1, and hoping you hold up). At some point you have to start playing for the win, and your chip stack size becomes more important than just hanging around. Because of this you may see a great variety in your stack varience

Im also kind of the opposite of how you described (loose early tight later)

Early, although I will try to see cheap flops with cards that can hit (i.e 1 gap suited connectors, Kxs in LP) I wont steal much (its not worth it) and I'll bluff at a pot once and then give it up) (again nto worth it, you dont stand to gain enougH) Look at TPs report, eventually the ANTE was equal to the starting chips. Early in the tourny I like to simply grind out smallpots when I can and only rarely make moves.

Later on I start using position steals, pushing my stack in with less than a monster etc.

[stussy2k]

I think an important thing about that stat is that the end of the first day is that the blinds are so low that yoru really not even close to getting a lead. the WSOP is such a large tournament, that i don't think that tactics in the WSOP would work for other MTTs. in smaller tournaments, especially live games, i think that you MUST set an agressive stance to other players. you have to push them around so they become weak passive. Increasing the blinds is like christmas to me.

[Zybomb]

But the thing to keep in mind especially early, is to not get involved in pots that are bigger than they need to be, unless u are sure you have the best of it.

Late in the tournament a simple blind and ante steal from the button can earn you more chips then doubling up in the first round, calling an all in bet Even in a normal sized MTT say you start 1500 chips, getting to 4500 first (say by going all in 2x with KK, its still a gamble) isnt going to mean too much when people are in the 150,000's once it gets down to 40 or so players. You are eventually going to be stealing 4500 chips with a button raise stealing the SB, BB and the antes.

Thats why I believe you should take much less risks early and many more later

[stussy2k]

a really important thing early in the tournament is to see a lot of flops. if you keep the pots low, then there a higher chance that you'll see the flop and catch something, which is better than being reraised.

[Zybomb]

With cards that can pay off, and cards that youd toss at the later stages
Like the 1 gap suited connectors (9s7s) and Kxs etc. Calling with 93o just bc blinds are low simply isnt a good idea...but you are right seeing a lot of flops (assuming you are at least a good post flop player) is very helpful in building your stack

[stussy2k]

One of the biggest problems i find is that in hands where you river 2 pair,and then the villian makes a extremely large, unlogical bet, but the turn and river become cordinated (flush or straight) i think its one of the hardest decisions to make. Alot of times, desperate opponents raise for a bluff, but then when it hits, its extremely devistating.