On a recent trip to Atlantic City, a friend of mine used a nice showing at a cash game to fuel his buy-in for a tournament. I was at an adjacent table and was able to check his progress from time to time.
Only about five tables were in play. The structure had a slow blind ascension and provided adequate starting chips. I plodded along and played some rather tight poker, as did many of the folks at my table.
Even from a distance, I could tell that my buddy's table had a much different feel. Overstuffed with hyper-aggressive youngsters, the chips were moving around the felt quickly. Within the first 10 hands they had lost a player, and all-in was announced regularly.
I envied my buddy, who I figured would be able to use that aggression to his advantage in accumulating chips. It looked as if he would do just that when a gunslinger moved all-in on him. My buddy knew that he had the youngster covered in chips. He called instantly with pocket kings and dominated his young opponent's tens.
Four hearts on the board brought the opposition a flush, and my buddy's stack was cut in half. Just a few moments later I hear my friend move all-in with a bold voice tone. He got no callers. I sighed in relief. Just a few hands later he once again boldly announced all-in. This time he was called and was forced to expose his weak KJ suited. He lost the hand and made his exit, among the first half dozen or so who lost all their chips.
When we spoke after the tournament, I assumed that he must have been tilting from the flush that bested his kings and he essentially steamed away his chips when he went all-in with K-J.
My buddy thought it was an appropriate strategic move. He saw hyper-aggressive players at the table accumulating sizable stacks for such an early juncture of the tournament. He figured it was time to make a move and gain back chips that would enable him to compete. I explained to him that his analysis was off-track, and probably the downfall of his tournament.
In this age of super-fast tournament structures, especially online, players are growing more accustomed to an all-in fest right from the start. Televised poker tournaments only heighten that thinking process because they show highly edited action that makes the viewer assume the action is quick and furious.
My friend had plenty of time to recoup his chips and get back into contention. We were still early in a manageable blind structure. A few more levels remained until antes became part of the equation, and he had plenty of hands to be played before the blinds jumped to the intense levels.
My friend made a common mistake. He measured his own chip stack against that of the chip leader. With the leader's wild style, that stack could swing up or down greatly in any given hand. The better measure for my friend would have been his stack in comparison to the blinds and antes. Did he still have enough to play? In this case, he did. It was too early for a desperation all-in attempt at a lucky double-up.
Don't get wrapped into the sit and go culture that is consuming poker right now. Don't get into panic mode too early. Take advantage of good tournament structures and play your game.
