Players on the final table will be going for the higher pay out rather than build on their stack. Expect players being more careful and each hand tighter than ever before.

During the first few rounds, learn if your opponents are aggressors, tight and willing to wait. Here are some strategies that you can use if you are the chip leader, when you have a short stack, or an average stack.

Chip Leader

It will be less nerve wrecking to find yourself with the tallest stack of chips when you get to the final table. You have to remember though that you still need to play precise excellent poker to win. As the chip leader, you can press on against the medium stacks who will most likely play safe and wait for other opponents to bet it all out and be eliminated. Raise when you think you have a good chance and grab some more chips.

The smaller stacks can be considered vulnerable but dangerous. See if you can play them hard and challenge them with your good hands. They can either push or stay away from trouble and it is up to you how you will handle when they try to steal the blinds. Don’t repop it unnecessarily with Five Deuce hoping to flop a wheel, but do play your King Queen Suited more aggressively, hoping your opponent will lay down his/her Ace Nine.

Average Stack

You need to spend a round observing how players will behave on the table. As a player with a medium stack, you can aim for smaller stacks or aggressive bigger stacks.

Be wary of the smaller stacks which will be trying to steal the blinds. You need to gamble a bit to knock them out of the tournament.

Bigger stacks who will be trying to steal blinds that often are also for the taking. Try to re-raise and most likely they will think twice of gambling with half their stack.

Short Stack

You don’t have much time to think or observe. You might have a choice between folding and going all in for good hands that you will get. Push against the medium stacks since they are more vulnerable to battle it thru. Larger stacks might be more than willing to risk some chips to get you out of the competition.

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Big poker tournaments have been broadcast for years but were not highly publicized until millions of people tuned in to watch the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event. Earlier tournaments did not employ the ‘card cam’, a small camera implanted in the table that allows the viewer to see a player’s cards during a hand. This change completely revolutionized televised poker, as commentators no longer had to blindly guess as to what hands the players were holding. At the same time that the ‘card cam’ technology was implemented, the two players mentioned above won back-to-back tournaments, inspiring thousands to take up the game and buy their way into the WSOP.

Yet, the no limit hold’em main event has a buy-in of $10,000, making it one of the more expensive events to enter. Even though all of the tournaments have grown in popularity, none have expanded as much as the main event. Why don’t amateurs enter into the smaller events, where the buy-in is smaller and the chance of winning greater? It’s because the main event is the pinnacle of poker competition, even if it is in name alone. The winner is named ‘World Champion’ for a year and gets his/her name emblazoned alongside past greats who have won the event. Imagine being able to buy yourself a spot in the Super Bowl and have a chance to make the winning kick at the end of the game; this is what it is like to play in the World Series of Poker Main Event, where the player really does have a chance to win it all. Although the immense swell of poker players has recently subsided, the game will retain its newfound increased popularity as long as amateurs continue to compete – and win – in the biggest tournament in the world.

Aah the terror of No Limit Hold’em.

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Anyway, Farha flips over the straight, Ivey makes runner runner boat. Go figure.

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I mean — if he just played the hand it was supposed to be played against a top pro like Phil Ivey, he would have scooped the pot before the flop (hopefully), or he may have lost against Phil, but without having to feel like he asked for it…

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Found the vid right here at Phil Ivey Fan!