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Lets begin by breaking the multi-table tournament into three periods: Early, Middle and Final Table. Early tournament play would obviously be the very beginning of the tournament, and is characterized by lots and lots of fish and suckers. The middle time period will be after almost all of the fish have busted out, except for a lucky few, and the remaining players are fair to excellent poker players. Excellent players then would represent the final tables, and maybe, just maybe, some fool who is on a hot streak, or a fair player whose having a good day.
Early play
Play ultra-tight early and do not bluff. Let the fish die off, without burning away your chips. Remember, only the top positions pay, and that’s your goal.
The new breed of poker players such as Phil Ivey advocates an alternative strategy of playing more flops. They play a lot of flops early on, and when the flop hits them hard, they seek to clean up a lot of extra chips and build a stack that they can bully with. This style works well if the tournament starts you out with plenty of chips (100 big blinds or more).
Middle play
After you have given the fish a chance to throw away their chips and you are at the table with fair and solid players, then now is the time to loosen up and play your regular game. You're looking to gamble a little and collect enough chips to be a force at the final tables. If you bust out in the middle stages with good cards, then so be it. Better to lose it on a good play, than to make it to the final tables, short stacked and get blinded away to finish just outside of the money.
Final tables
One quickly finds that at the final tables, chip power is greater than card power. Again, the “lock-up phenomenon” is seen, as players have limped to the table with a short stack and are hoping to fold their way to the money. At the final tables, flex your chip strength, put the cripples all-in, play somewhat loose and take risks. Beware of the big stack so they will not cripple you.
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