The Radiance of Knowing

poker online tournament players who have won substantial pots and built a big poker chip stack are in the comfortable position of being able to wield that stack like a weapon and intimidate other players. The players with small chip stacks are usually fearful of losing the rest of their online poker chips. These players are the ones who wind up being dead money - too fearful to defend their blinds or call a raise. When you have the big stack, you have more options about how to play your game, and to change gears from loose aggressive to tight and back again. Here are a few tactics to deploy when you have a big stack at the table: * Put out a raise against medium stacks whose stacks will be significantly diminished by calling. * Do be cautious of any medium stack that re-raises your bet - that player most likely does have a strong hand. * Do not play weak or speculative starting hands just because you are the big stack. * Do not feel obligated to call a short stack’s all-in shove just because you a big stack. You can erode your own stack this way and help an opponent grow stronger. * Be selectively aggressive - if a hand is worth calling, then you should probably raise, especially from late position. * Be cautious about going up against other big stacks that are almost as large as yours, especially when they cold call your bets. This is a quick route to becoming the short stack if you are not holding a big hand.