The old notion of passing up marginal +ev spots in tournaments...

[r3vbr]

I think this idea is flawed.

The reasoning of the saying is the following: you pass up marginal spots because you can get it in with a bigger edge, and thus increase your chances of winning the tournament. And therefore several strategy differences between cashgame and mtt, where cashgame players you have a lot more checkraising allin with overcards or semibluffing allin with draws, people usually tell me it's wrong to do that in tournaments.

Well, suppose you are playing a live WSOP main event. Then in that case the theory stands, and it's correct to avoid gambles because since you are a big favourite you can play smallball etc etc.
What people fail to remember is that you win at poker by the hour. What matters most is not how many final tables you make, or if you cash or dont cash. It's your HOURLY RATE at the end of the month. By playing an MTT exactly as if it was a cashgame, you ensure that you always make the best +ev play on that particular hand, and therefore earn the maximum on the longrun. Of course you will have much more variance in your results, but isnt that exactly what you need to win tournaments?

That said, there really is no difference between playing MTT poker and cash poker except for the shorter stacks at the end, the antes, and minor considerations when reaching and at the money (these have a very low impact on actual decisions imo)