One aspect of a poker tournament that players do not always consider is the structure of the tournament. Large $10,000 buy in events usually have excellent structures, with deep stacks of chips, as much as 100 times the opening big blind or more, and rounds of 90 to 120 minutes. Smaller buy in tournaments unfortunately usually have less favorable structures.

You should make an effort to get the best structure possible, both with regard to chip size and round times. Many casinos favor shorter rounds and smaller stacks because this reduces the element of skill, meaning more people have a chance to win, meaning more people will come back to the casino to play. Additionally, the sooner players are knocked out, the sooner they may play cash games where the casino can take a rake and make more money. More successful online poker sites and live casinos are likely to have better structures. Higher buy-in tournaments usually also provide better structures.

If you are playing with fewer chips or shorter rounds than you would like, you will probably have to gamble more. You cannot afford to wait too long for premium hands, as the blinds will knock down your chip stack fairly quickly, and you will soon reach a point where even doubling up will not give you many chips to work with. Your goal in these situations should be to find a spot to double up early, allowing you more real poker play.

On the other hand, if you are playing in a tournament with deep stacks and/or long rounds, you should be in no hurry to get a lot of chips in. In certain situations you will certainly have to go all-in, but pre-flop all-in moves are rarely necessary, and you usually can wait all day for premium hands if you want to. In a long round, big stack tournament, it is possible not to play a hand the entire day and survive, although your chances of winning the tournament in such a situation would be slim.

A good way to think about your goal in a poker tournament is that you are simply trying to amass more chips each round than you had the previous round. Obviously if you do this every round, you will eventually win the tournament. The shorter the rounds are, the more aggressive you will have to be to meet this goal.

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