X-Terminators Poker Crew

Panic, Panic, Panic?.I think PANICKING gets more players in trouble then anything else in tournament play.  The key to tournament survival is to play within you.  I can not tell you how many times during the beginning stages of tournament play I have heard someone say ?I am short stacked and have to make a move soon?.  Yes, there are times and places when you have to make a move, but you need to evaluate when, where, how and against whom you are going to make this move.  Remember that chip preservation is just as important as chip accumulation.  What good is it to throw good many after bad, just because you believe you are short stacked?  You need to safeguard the chips that you currently have, and place them in spots that you have the upper hand.  Before you begin to panic and make bad plays, consider doing some simple math, and find out just where you stand in relation to your opponents.  You might realize that you are not that far behind.     

I read this next sentence a few years ago and it really made sense to me, so I am passing it on to you.  This person wrote: You need to think of your chips as an army of soldiers.  You need to have a strategic plan for your soldiers and utilize them when you have the upper hand.  If a group of your soldiers goes down in a fight, you are not going to march the rest of army into that same area unless you come up with a strategic plan of attack that contains and conquers the enemy.  When you have done the proper evaluation, and you believe that you have come up with a counter attack, then it is time to move the rest of your army in.  This could not be truer.  I think all of us sometime or another has found our self short stacked early on in a tournament.  This alone is not a reason to panic.  Gain your composure and pick your spots and the results will happen. 

This is probably my shortest blog yet, but the point is pretty self explanatory.  The next time you are playing in a tournament and the starting chip amount is 2000 and you are in level one with 40 minute levels and the blinds are 25-25 and you just lost 800 in the first few hands don?t panic.  Remember you still have 48 times the big blind left and if you manage your chip stack properly and pick you spots with strategic planning you will succeed more times then you will fail.  Hope this has helped.  Until next time, see you on the felt. 

Paul ?The Machine? Valencia