Mid Game
The mid game starts when there are less than 50% of the
entrants left. It is very important now to keep an eye on
the stats, there is usually a button on the window you're in
to show you the tournament statistics, if not go to the
tournament lobby window, you will find it there. The stats
you want to keep track of are, the number of players left
(where you rank) and the average chip stack. Knowing these
stats will dictate how you play. If you don't stay close to
the average chip stack you won't make it to the money. When
your stack is below average you need to play aggressive on
group 1 or group 2 cards but a little different than in the
early game, with a reasonable hand you can't afford to just
call the blinds as this will leave the door open for any
everyone else to call. If you're going to call you must
raise to force out the weaker hands. If you get re-raised
you must decide if your hand is strong enough to go all in.
Remember the point is to get chips and being the low stack
means that everyone will be trying to push you out. Don't be
afraid to throw in your stack or defend your blinds with a
group 1 or 2 hand at this point. Meaning if you have a group
3 hand and the small blind or button calls or makes a small
raise, don't be afraid to re-raise. Your hand is strong
enough and they are most likely trying to steal your chips
anyways. There is a plus side of being the low stack. When a
low stack goes all in, there will usually be at least 1
player who calls, it is not uncommon for 2 or 3 players to
call. If you're in that position, make sure you are going
all in with group 1 hands if possible and if you've been
playing tight you should be able to steal a lot blinds
easier.
If you're right on the average this is where you have to
play the best, there is very little room for error. Your
play has to be tight. You want to play only group 1 hands
and semi aggressively. There's no need to all in unless you
can't lose or you need to push people out of the pot. But
remember if you're average stack there are larger stacks at
your table and they probably will call you if they have a
group 1 hand or if they think you're bluffing. Here you want
to slow play in order to entice more chips with out having
to risk your whole stack. You don't want to waste any chips
trying to see flops when you're holding small pocket pairs
of suited connectors (unless they are face cards and it
costs only the blinds to see). You should muck those hands
when faced with a big raise or you are being checked raised.
Slow playing also gives you an opportunity to muck should
the board get ugly for you. If you stay on the average, you
are in a great position to make it to the money. Holding
small pockets or high suited connectors, you want to see
cheap flops whenever possible and possibly raising the
blinds if you're in late position. If you don't hit anything
then muck. Don't play small connectors whether suited or not
and don't call if there is a raise. In the event you do hit
on the flop, you must decide what to do either all in to
scare them all out or slow play them. Either way you have a
chance to lose chips which even if you have a lot you don't
need to risk them especially if your opponent has enough to
damage your stack. As hard as it is, you should not be
playing anything. Even more so if you're around double the
average unless it's AA, KK, AK, AQ (maybe QQ, JJ). You can't
afford to lose any chips because the average will come up
really fast. Antes will start soon if they haven't started
already. The ante is where everyone has to start putting
chips in the pot before the blinds do. The blinds still have
to be paid. If you start playing loose at this point, you
will find it difficult to make it to the money. It is not
uncommon to lay down group 1 hands in this stage of the
tournament. Remember the main goal is to make it to the
money the secondary goal is to make it to the final table
and then win it all. So if you've got enough to make it to
final table why jeopardize your stack when you don't have
to? You will have to if you're in the last position to the
money but even then choose carefully what you play as the
"regular" people will still be reckless trying to
bust out the last people or trying to get chips to stay in.
Just remember, 8 out of 10 times a chip leader will call a
low stack especially if the low stacks stack isn't big
enough to do any damage. You can try to bluff or chase but
you have to be careful once the table realizes you're a
bluffer or chaser, you will get called more frequently.
If you are way above average, like triple the average,
you might want to loosen up just a little. It's ok if the
average starts to go up. Your only concern now is trying to
get more chips to make it to the final table so as long as
you're cautious calling small bets with good hands you
shouldn't lose too much ground you should still make the
money. At this point you don't want to be calling all ins,
you would rather fold unless you have the nuts
(strongest hand). For example, if you have the A high flush
no other flush can beat you and the board can't make a
straight flush or full house, then you have the nuts.
You don't want to get busted now. You would've wasted all
your time and effort. You should try to start stealing
blinds and trying to bust people out if it's not too costly.
Theoretically, if you steal 1 set of blinds per round you
could stop playing any hands at all and not lose chips. In
some cases you may even want the low stack to get chips. The
reason being is that if there are 2 people almost busted out
and they are the last to the money spots, everyone else
close in chips to them are going to be VERY tight, and the
only way to get it moving is to make all the low stacks
similar in chips size and watch the fun. Either way it's
beneficial for you...you either bust someone out and make it
into the money or you have small stacks trying to bust each
other out instead of waiting for the blinds to do it. In
some cases you might even be able to catch them with a good
hand. The only thing you have to worry about is a stack
that's bigger than yours and is in the pot as well or stacks
that are around half the size of your stack. You don't want
to double them up at your expense and put yourself right
back in the battle for rank and position. At this point
larger stacks will either throw their stack at you or slow
play you. So think twice before you call especially if
you're in early position. Remember, you want to slow play as
much as possible. But if you are raised and you've made the
strongest hand you should go over the top and put the guy
all in. If you can't you may want to think about folding
depending on how much you're into the pot already. This is
called pot committed. The theory behind this is if
you've already put in 2 thousand chips, putting in an extra
500 isn't much if you've made a hand that has a chance of
wining. This logic also work in reverse also, expect your
opponent to call if you've got them pot committed. Again, at
this point you don't want to do anything that will put you
back to around average because you'll be scrambling, like
everyone else.
If you find yourself below average and close to the
money, there is a tactic you can use. This tactic is stalling
you want to take up as much time as you can so the other
tables play more hands this may be useful to you if you're
trying to limp in (meaning just squeak into the money). If
you don't need to, use as little time as possible (you
should be mostly folding anyways) so the low stacks don't
get to use your time either.
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