The majority of scheduled tournaments at the bigger online poker rooms such as Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars have massive field sizes. The Sunday Million at PokerStars for example usually has around 8000 entrants. In these huge tournaments there are some things you should keep in mind to give yourself the best chance to win. This article will look at playing tight early, not worrying about the number of places that cash and staying focused throughout the tournament.

In the early stages of the tournament the blinds will usually be very small relative to the size of your stack. This will cause some players to see a lot more flops than they normally would. Well this strategy may work if you hit the nuts, more often than not you will end up throwing your chips away. A good strategy to employ in the early stages is playing tight and betting your strong hands aggressively. Your focus should be looking for a good opportunity to double up. The field usually cuts itself in half very quickly and you should let this happen without worrying too much about your stack compared to the average stack size. Be patient and wait for your chance to make a move.

Another big mistake people make in large field tournaments is just trying to make the cash. A lot of players will build up a chip stack and then be too afraid of not cashing to risk any chips. You have to remember that the big prizes are in the first few places, usually the final table and you have to play your game to get there. Of course if you happen to be short stack with the bubble only a few places away you can try to wait it out, but don’t start planning for the bubble when you are close to chip leader half way through the tournament. In fact if you have a large stack near the bubble this is the perfect opportunity to build your stack because many players will be afraid to risk their chips at this point in the tournament. You can make small raises and get a lot of free chips, while risking very few. Building up your stack at this point in the tournament will really improve your chances of running deep. When you find yourself starting to tighten up out of fear that you won’t make the cash, just remember that winning one of these tournaments is usually worth more than barely cashing in a 50. Play your game and if you happen to bust out, just tell yourself that it just takes one win to make up for it.

A large field tournament can take up a good portion of your day and it can be a long and gruelling road to the final table. You have to do your best to stay focussed and continue making quality decisions to give yourself a chance to win. You should try to prevent yourself from being distracted during these tournaments as well. Playing a lot of tournaments at once and surfing the internet during your tournament are sure ways to lose focus and put yourself at a disadvantage. These big tournaments are marathons not sprints and you have to be willing to go the whole way if you are going to have a chance to win. Keep the distractions to a minimum and focus on getting as deep as you can in this one big tourney.

So, the three biggest tips to making it deep in tournaments with huge fields are playing tight early, trying to win and not just make the cash and staying focussed throughout the entire gruelling experience. These are simple tips, but they are all very important to playing a successful tournament.

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