There are two types of strategies you can go for in tournament poker – you can act as though any hand could be your last in which you’re going after the win or the loss, or you can play whats known as tournament survival strategy. In tournament survival your goal is simply to outlast your opponents so you can move your way up the payment ladder.

Now in survival strategy each and every opponent that is knocked out before you improves your winnings. If you are looking solely to cash this is the best strategy to use. The bubble (the time between not being paid and being paid) is the most difficult for this strategy as you are hoping that someone at either your table or another table is knocked out before you are. You are forced to play incredibly tight poker, and the only thing that keeps you alive is a blind steal here and there. But you really don’t want to push too hard to steal blinds either, as you may be caught with your hand in the cookie jar.

Tournament survival strategy needs to be turned on if you’re low in chips in the tournament. The opposite of this of course would be to play Harrington tournament strategy based off of your Tournament M Value. According to Harrington you want to push at a certain point depending on your stack to give you a shot in the tournament. In survival strategy, you want to not push as often, as you are hoping others go out before you. With M value, you are still attempting to either take the tournament or go out.

So, if you can time your moves just right in survival poker you’ll continue to work your way up the ladder. With either strategy you are attempting to give yourself a shot at winning the tournament. Survival incorporates a more tight strategy in which you let the cards dictate your moves.