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[Cablelessray]

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I choose win flips, but the trick is to only go into coinflips with smaller stacks...

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i actually think this is not accurate. knowing when to have to take the flip is important, and usually you need to take the flip (knowing 100% it's a flip) when it's for all your chips. when you have 1.5x the average stack you don't need to flip for the average stack amount. i think taking the flips are more important early and late as well. (early cause you improve your odds of FTing if you are a good tourney player) (later cause you have to get it in in more situations, sometimes a call for a known flip is good for your tournament equity/playing for first style)

[MaLiik]

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i actually think this is not accurate. knowing when to have to take the flip is important, and usually you need to take the flip (knowing 100% it's a flip) when it's for all your chips. when you have 1.5x the average stack you don't need to flip for the average stack amount. i think taking the flips are more important early and late as well. (early cause you improve your odds of FTing if you are a good tourney player) (later cause you have to get it in in more situations, sometimes a call for a known flip is good for your tournament equity/playing for first style)

[/ QUOTE ]I agree on taking flips early, but in the later stages I prefer to take the flips against small stacks and playing against the bigger. Having 10BB does however not offer much room for playing pots.

[fuzz66]

both

[loosemmjan]

Like all things in poker....

It depends on the situation.

[myxomatosized]

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In order to be a great tournament player, one must...
Do many things. this poll is crap.

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Agree. Winning coin flips doesn't make you a great tourney player, and neither does avoiding them. But I can say that, in order to be a great tourney player, one must know that neither of the poll choices is a good answer.

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qft. this poll did suck.

the point is obviously there's more to being a great tourney player than winning and/or avoiding coinflips. it is true, however that in order to win a tournament, you usually have to win a few coin flips on the way. just look at greg raymer in 04... he practically mad a career of winning coin flips (i'm not saying this does/doesn't make him a great player.)

on the other hand when you consider someone with a consistantly strong tournament track record like chris fergusen, it seems like he had a style where he'd rather avoid coinflips if at all possible early on. on the other hand, a great player will know when it's right situation to take a coinflip for your tournament life.

this poll was a bit rhetorical i guess. obviously winning coin flips does not make you a great poker player. i was just trying to spur some discussion on the issue of when it's right to take a coinflip for your tournament life.

for example, i believe it's almost always right to put the pressure on with AK before the flop becasue of the added fold equit you get. who wants to call all in with 6's, even though they would be slightly ahead if they did? on the other hand, sometimes you just want to see a flop with AK. like when you're medium stacked and your opponent has been known to be a bit of a skeptic and a calling station.