At the WSOP Main Event, the chip leader following the first day has NEVER won the event. Now who knows how they played or if they all suffered tremendous bad beats, but quite often while playing poker you'll wonder how someone can lose a huge chip lead or perhaps you're guilty of such a crime.

It happens, sometimes undeservedly or sometimes just because someone was playing plain dumb.   Tightening up is a safe way to make it through tournaments. You don't have to turn into a stone, however when you have the big chip stack, it's always smart to start playing a little tighter.

On the flip side if you're the low stack, it's probably a good idea to tighten up as well, and stop playing your low connecting cards or cards that wont give you a monster. You're often pretty much in «All-in or fold mode» if you're the reduced stack.

Tightening up usually pertains to tournament games but when you yourself have lost a large portion of your bankroll in cash games then it might probably be a great time to tighten and get some for sure victories. Waiting on the «Nuts» can be extremely boring and tiring but sometimes it's the best thing to do. Alternatively, if you've won a lot of money in cash games already it would probably be a great time to play as many hands as possible to win some big pots.  

Don't misquote the pro's if they say «I come to win and take first, not to play for second, » no player ever won a big tournament with hundreds of players in the field without a little bit of securing. A good rule for yourself is to promise yourself that you will avoid going out on top pair at all costs.

More players head out thinking they have the best hand with top pair than anything else. All sorts of things, if you feel any doubt you don't have the very best hand, then you definitely should fold before you get yourself right into a very bad situation.   There is really no indicate playing high-risk hands when you yourself have the chip lead. It might help you sure, Aktifpoker but it could hurt you a lot worse.

When your playing tight you truly do not wish to be playing cards like King/Nine or Queen/Eight and definitely not Ace/five or any such thing worse than Ace/Ten. You're usually dominated if you have cards like this and playing these cards put you at a very high-risk of losing a lot of your chip stack.   You have all the time in the world. Just settle-back, relax and enjoy the poker ride.

When you're tightening up, you should really only play in hands where you have good position too. Being on the button or close to last to act is always the best thing and playing low connecting cards is always a very important thing when you are on the button, even if you are tightening up, just as long as you don't have to pay to high of a cost to participate.