Stack evening pattern in small tourneys

[madjek]

Something I've noticed in SNG's and small tourneys, is that when I (or someone else) have a lot of luck early and build a big stack, I can never keep it going. No matter how I play, tight or agg. I used to hear the pros say when you have a big stack you gotta keep the pressure on, so I'd do that, (and I'm talking like 5 players left in single table sng), and it seems like once a small stack calls , they would win even if I had better hand. A few times I'd be big stacked with big chip lead with 5 players left and find myself going out on bubble. So I started playing tight, only getting involved with big starting hands, trying to preserve my stack till after bubble, then my big hands would get beat. My pt. is I rarely see someone build a stack and just cont. to wipe everyone out, seems like stacks always even out somewhat at the bubble. Is it just me?

[Peteyweestro]

Bro you are thinking same as me but i realize it's probably just a big online coincidence but anyways it does seem like i used to get real mad when a game would start and i didn't get any cards and i would hover around the starting point while others seemed to hit everything theyb tried but then those same people would start to hit a bad streak and crash and burn while the people who struggled at first do better in the mid to late rounds, sorta suspicious, nah j/k but is interesting

[Arjonius]

It's a question of balance. You can open wider when you have a large stack, but at the same time, you want to avoid getting drawn into large pots with mediocre hands just because you already put chips into the pot.

[Poker Orifice]

There are definitely benefits to having a large stack in a SNG in the later stages.. (closing in on Bubble) but there's just wayyy more to a STT/SNG then playing our hands... ie. we need to look for good spots to leverage our bigstack (If we have a big stack that is)... ie. SS fold.. med. stacks to our left..we can apply maximum pressure here in this kind of spot. (they really can't be calling a shove in many cases without KK+ (it is Important to know if your opponents are ICM Knowledgeable/aware or not.. & if they are... if they believe you are also ICM Knowledgeable).. OR If it is reversed, we might not want to open w/o a hand we can call with.. cuz we'll be $'d in & sometimes it's better to give that shorty a walk & put pressure on thre med. stacks. (< this is just some small examples.. there are many diff. situations/scenarios in SNG play.
SNG/STT is alot different from playing a cash table or an MTT.... I see ALOT of players making alot of mistakes in SNG play, playing it similiarly to how they'd play on cash tables (focusing on the hand in play... believing 'winning hands' = winning the game, not taking into account stuff like 'stack perservation" (so we have fold equity", faling to play shove/fold game at high blinds on shallow stacks, raise/folding pre on a stack that they should never be raise/folding on... trying to make minraise steals on SS in BB (often from SB).. instead of knowing when they should be shoving due to effective stack sizes,.. AND... a biggy.. NOT KNOWING ICM & how it affects BUBBLE PLAY.

[jessica30]

It's a question of balance. You can open wider when you have a large stack, but at the same time, you want to avoid getting drawn into large pots with mediocre hands just because you already put chips into the pot.

I thin you're right. I will put it in my mind the nest tine I play poker online.