5 Poker Tournament Myths Way Too Many Players Believe

June 6, 2017 by Miikka Anttonen

Everyone seems to have a strong opinion nowadays, and many people present their views as absolute truth. This is particularly common at the poker table.
Poker is a game where only about 1% of all players make money, yet many of the remaining 99% still think they’re good–just unlucky.
And boy, do all these “unlucky” people think they have it all figured out.

It’s tough to spend time at a live poker table without hearing all kinds of weird myths and false truths waiting to be proven wrong. The following 5 are among my favorites.

MTT Myth 1. Aggressive Play Requires a Big Stack

Some players assume that you need a big stack in order to effectively put pressure on your opponents. Similarly, the biggest stack at the table is often assumed to take on the role of ”table captain” and the lesser stacks are expected to let him or her be in charge. This is nonsense.
First of all, each hand is an individual challenge. Poker is not a game of soccer, where you set a game plan ahead of time to execute on the field.
You get dealt two cards; you play the hand to your best ability; repeat.
When deciding on the best course of action during a hand, there are a myriad of factors to consider. And yes, one of them is your stack size. In fact, your stack size is probably the most important single factor.
However – and this is where people get it terribly wrong – that doesn’t mean you should take the black & white approach of big stack=aggressive, short stack=tight.

There are times when you need to play extremely loose as a short stack (in fact, you very often should!). And sometimes the best thing you can do as a big stack is to just play your cards.
Example 1: Nearing the bubble of a tournament. The big stack to your right is opening seemingly every hand. You have 15-20 big blinds. Should your strategy be to:

1) Fold every hand and let your table captain do his thing
2) Attack his reckless opens with abandon and take the dead money

Example 2: Day two of the WSOP Main Event. You have a big stack, and get moved to a new table. The players to your left are Fedor Holz, Doug Polk, and Phil Ivey, who all have less chips than you do. Which approach should you take?

1) Put your table captain hat on and attack their blinds with any two cards
2) Try to play solid poker, and avoid putting yourself in tough spots against superior competition

In both instances, option 2 is far superior.
Should you sometimes try to go after everyone when you have a big stack? Absolutely. But your game plan must always depend on the opposition you’re facing and the situation you’re presented.

If your opponents will let you run them over, it’d be criminal to not try to do the whole table captain thing. But don’t force it, and don’t let others force it.