Frustrated with tournaments

[gizeh68]

Hi,

I'm frustrated right now with my tournament play. IMO, my cash game right now is fairly good because I'm patient. As long as I play tight and aggressive, I can do well most of the time. But I know that it takes more than patience to win tournaments because you can't always wait for good opportunities (such as when the odds are in your favor).

I know that you have to strike a balance between patience and being manic in order to be successful in tournaments. I'm not asking for the answer, because I don't think you can boil it down to a simple sentence. However, what I want to know is, how do you guys deal with that intangible?

Most of the time I'm at either extreme. i'm either too patient in tournaments, such that I do well for most of it but get "blinded out" near the end, which makes me so frustrated that I then play the next few tourneys way too loose, so I'm always behind because I'm constantly chasing.

Thanks.

[fracas]

Read Harrington on Hold 'em, particularly Vol. II, for how to approach late-tourny play (or any time you're too short-stacked to take a more normal line on a hand).

In short, you'll need to recognize situations where it's right to get your money all in pre-flop or on the flop: situations where your opponents are likely to make mistakes because they can't get a read on your holding from one street of betting.