10 Handed Play
In the early stages of an online poker tournament where the blinds are small in relation to the size of your stack and the tables are filled with 9 or 10 players, it is advisable to not get too heavily involved in any hand unless you have a very strong holding, winning pots early on is'nt as important as not losing lot's of your chips. Typically the size of pot won at a full table at the early blind levels is small, one way to think of it is, winning one pot at the 50/100 blind level is usually the same as taking down 4 or 5 pots at the 10/20 level, your time may be better spent studying your opponents early on to help facilitate a double up once you have a better idea what type of players you are facing.
Playing Premium Cards
If you are dealt premium cards then play them as per normal, but be more willing to throw away a hand under significant pressure at this stage of a tournament than later on; right now the blinds are small, the bubble is far away and there is plenty of time to rebuild, don't be in any hurry early on, let the cards arrive and don't take too many risks in the meantime. Concentration at this point should be focussed on formulating a plan of action, who to bully and who to tread carefully against. If you get the chance to safely knock another player out of the game then take it, otherwise let the other opponents put their chips at risk early on.
Stack Size
With a large sized stack, you can take a few more risks of course, especially if your goal is to win the tournament rather than just finish in the money; with an average sized stack or smaller, cautious play is advised. Sometimes all it takes is a little patience to turn a shortstack into a chip leader, don't make rash moves which could deplete your stack significantly enough to mean a double through does'nt make much of a difference to your situation, save your chips for a worthwhile opportunity at this point in the tournament.
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