Playing the big stack

Alright it seems like recently every time I get a huge lead in the tournament or on a table I seem to lose it slowly. Besides the basic "Don't just call, raise people make them commit large portions of their stack to play against you" to push around the rest of the lower stacked table, can you give any advice on how to play the big stack?

When I get a big stack, I do my best to protect it. Especially when I get it early in the tournament. I generally tighten up and play very conservatively. Really the best move is to pick on the really short stacks and leave the healthy chip stack alone as much as possible. The ideal situation is when you are in late position, maybe one or two spots before the button, and the shortest stack is in the big blind. You can bet enough that will make him go all in if he calls, and unless he happened to get a monster pocket he's got a tough decision to make, even with a decent hand he has to decide if he wants to make a stand on that hand or wait for a better position.

The most successful big stack players that I've seen raise almost every hand 3 or 4 or 5 times the big blind. Most hands they pick up the blinds and when they get called they generally have someone all in against them. I've seen them get called when they are holding really crappy hands and still end up knocking people out because they happened to hit the board.

I've tried to use this strategy a few times and have had absolutely no success with it. I end up getting called way too often and watch my chips dwindle away, and I'm not nearly as lucky as some of these guys in that even when I have a decent hand I end up missing the board anyway.

One thing that I really need to work on is when I try to buy blinds when I'm in a dominating chip position and I get called. I have trouble laying it down, I tend to throw a big bet in on the flop and try to scare them out and when I get called again, I tend to want to keep pushing it on the turn and river. This gets me into more trouble then anything else when I have a big chip stack.

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When I'm big stackand on the button, I will usually raise the blinds if no one raises before. In early possition if I have a premimum hand I will make a significant raise to go up against only good hands. Pocket pairs will also be raised a fair ammount and I will call all in bets with even medium pairs pre-flop, if the stack I'm up against has less than half my stack. When in the blind, I tend to call any modest raise to see a flop and defend them especially when the blind are high. When flops come up with possible trips, straights and flushes, I will bet first to see if I can bluff my oppenent out of a pot, when no one bets before me, or will reraise a small bet to see if he's bluffing. I try to avoid confrontations with larger stacks unless I have a real strong hand and pick on the small stacks. Its fun when your in that strong possition and nobody wants to play against you and they fold just because your in a hand.

I just wait for the right hand so the high stacked doubled stacks me. But I noticed a lot of the high stacke people like to bully the short stacked or the whole table so just have patience and wait for the right moment don't let it get to you.

When I get a big stack I generally widen my selection of starting hands, I won't be afraid to throw in some extra money on a suited connector, I will also be willing to play Kx suited more often than not, although I usually stay away from all-ins. I play smart though, I don't try an call down everyone all the time, but I will be more willing to call hands and to raise and all that. Put all the others on tilt.

While in a tournament keeping the big stack is something which is a lot harder than it appears. The hard part about being the big stack is that most people see they have a lot of chips and think that means to call much more hands than they really should be calling. Garbage hands should rarely never be called unless in certain situations. And the key to the big stack isnt calling but raising. I personally prefer to get to the flop with one other oppenent preferrably in position. If he checks to me I will bet almost 90% of the time. and he will more than likely fold. If he calls and I sense he is slowplaying something then I will get away with it(which is something I have trouble with and will fire bets on turn and river).If u hit the flop it is even better because they may think ur just pushing ur chips around and reraise u.

One important thing to remember is ur opponent will hit on the flop only about 33% of the time. And I guarentee u they will not want to mess with the big stack with no hand. So a great money makin play is to raise preflop and come out firing on the flop.

Let's assume this is a NL holdem tourney situation. First you gotta define "big stack." I'm gonna assume that you are somewhere between 2 to 3½times over the next largest stack at your table. It seemsthat I do things a little different from most people. I work hard to play tight/aggressive through the early part and most of the rest of the tourney. I will adjust my play as the tourney progresses but I am constantly trying to advertise and otherwise mislead people into reading me wrong. My tight/aggressive style means I care less about pushing loosely for small pots and more about getting pushed into while in pots where I am way ahead.
In our big stack situation, I will occasionally do a little pushing when I pretty much know I can steal, which ain't that often. Everybody else says they concentrate on the small stacks and avoid big stack confrontations, not me. When some big chips pop into my table, I have a new target. NOW I'm gonna slap some small stacks around simply to advertise to the other big guy that I'm loosey loose. I will even push some crap towards him just to see how he reacts. If he folds, then crap.. not what I want. I want him to re-raise me. Now I think a while (heh) and finally fold. Bam, now I'm a target to him which is exactly what I want. We're gonna joust just enough to keep him edgey and happy that he's pushing me (off junk cards lol.) I'm counting on that big hand that sucks him into over-pushing and then like a total bastard, I'm gonna double up.
I agree that there is a lot of money you can pick up by bullying the smaller guys but even if you bust one out, how much are you gonna win? A third of what you've already got? This sort of play always got me into that same slow death that you spoke of. I don't wanna hit cards on a minor payoff, I wanna slightly tilt some over confident sucker into doubling me up when I hit. Consequently, when I am beneath some big pushy guy, I see a big sign that reads "double up ahead." Please fake me out with bad cards, you can afford the loss right?

One notable exception to this is gonna be when you are approaching the bubble. Firsty off, I really want to know how many chips I need at different tourney stages in order to enter the next stage with at least a comfortable size stack. If I need to double up here, I'm not gonna push too much. If I am really big here, I'm gonna start popping middle size stacks. The smalll stacks are ready to go all-in and suck out, not who I wanna be up against. The middle stacks are playing tight, looking for really good flops to make a big move. You can really get in their faces and pick up some nice size blinds pre-flop.

My final tip is if you are gonna slap some small stacks, keep up with how much you win when doing so. Use your winnings to figure out how much to push with later. I don't feel nearly as bad about loosing say 40% of the money that I just stole off the last two guys as opposed to actually coughing up money that I brought with me to that table. It may just be in my head but I feel like I'm still ahead. Although it gets mentioned in books, people vastly underate how much their mental state affects their play. You should feel good and confident that you are always one step ahead of where everyone else thinks you are, regardless of stack size.