Speed It Up When You Have To 

Playing in tournaments is obviously not like regular casino play; you are going at it for a pre-determined number of hands, and everyone starts with the same bankroll. We have suggested that patience is a very good thing, and that players should not get too anxious to go crazy with their bets.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that in a game where the bet spread is $5 to $100, you're going to put $5 out there on every hand. Remember that you are in a short-run situation. If one or more of your opponents goes on a nice run of luck with large bets, and gets too far out in front, you may put yourself in a position where you don't have enough time to really catch up.

The best approach might be to do what you might when you pull out onto the highway; that is, to go with the flow of the traffic. Except in this case you may want to lag just a bit behind. Or maybe it's like a race horse who stays just off the pace in order to be positioned to make a move coming out of the final turn. Have we offered enough metaphors for you?

use your instinct to increase or decrease wagers, depending on what some of your opponents do. And it is advisable to watch them closely, keeping in mind that even in a game where you must beat the house to achieve a "plus" bottom line rather than a "minus" bottom line, you are really playing against the others at the table and must defeat THEM to achieve the ultimate objective, which is to advance. So don't put your head down and proceed just the way you would in a regular casino setting, like a horse with blinders on.

And that concludes the metaphors.