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Stack depth: the number that decides everything

Before you look at your cards, look at your stack. Not the dollar amount — the number of big blinds it represents. Divide your chips by the big blind and you get a single number that decides more about how you should play than the two cards you are holding.

Here is why this matters so much more in a tournament than in a cash game. In a cash game your stack stays roughly the same depth all night; if you lose chips you can buy more. In a tournament the blinds keep rising on a schedule, so even if you never lose a chip, your stack gets shorter in real terms every twenty minutes. A stack that was 100 big blinds at the start is 25 big blinds three levels later without you doing anything at all.

The three brackets

Over 30 big blinds — play your normal game. You have room to call a raise, see a flop, and still have chips behind to make decisions on the turn and river. Everything in the rest of this guide applies exactly as written.

Between 10 and 30 big blinds — raise or fold. Never call. This is the bracket most players get wrong. If you call a raise with 20 big blinds, you have committed a quarter of your stack and you still have to play the flop out of position with no room to maneuver. Calling here is the worst of both worlds: you have spent chips without taking control of the pot. So the rule is simple and slightly uncomfortable. If the hand is good enough to play, raise it. If it is not, fold it. There is no third option.

Under 10 big blinds — all in or fold. At this depth a raise commits most of your stack anyway, so raising a small amount just invites a call from someone who now gets to see all five cards against you cheaply. Moving all in at least takes away their ability to outplay you after the flop. Go with the first reasonable hand you get — any pair, any ace, any two big cards, or a decent suited connector. Waiting for a premium hand at this depth is how players blind away to nothing.

Why beginners lose here

Someone who reads a solid poker guide and follows it carefully will often play beautifully for the first hour of a tournament and then quietly disappear. What happened is almost always this: the blinds tripled, their stack quietly dropped from 60 big blinds to 12, and they kept playing the same careful, patient, fold-a-lot game that was correct at 60. That game is not correct at 12. Patience is a cheap virtue when you have chips and an expensive one when you do not.

Check your big blind count every time the blinds go up. It takes three seconds and it is the single most valuable habit in tournament poker.