But simply dreaming and fantasizing about winning lots of money isn’t going to help a player prepare for finishing well in a major tournament. Instead, a person needs to prepare in other ways which will more directly benefit them when it comes time to start increasing the chips stack. Here are 10 tips that will help a person get ready for that big upcoming tournament.

1. Exercise discipline at all times.
A lot of the people who bow out of a tourney early are the ones who can’t get a grip on their betting habits. These are the types that just can’t handle sitting there for long periods of time without throwing chips on the table. That’s why patience is such a virtue in a major tournament because there will be points where a person won’t play a hand for over half an hour. And remember, big tournaments are won over the long haul, not on the first day.

2. Stay aggressive.
Now this might sound contradictory to being disciplined but it’s not. Players certainly want to avoid situations that can knock them out of the tournament but, at the same time, they also can’t let others bully them at the table. This means attempting to take control of hands by being the first person to raise and also re-raising others when given the chance.

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3. Always study other players.
Each table you sit at in a tournament will field different players. And this means that you’ll also have to study a new set of players each time you move on as it is vital to tourney success. The things to look out for is stuff like how a person handles certain situations such as limping (showing the tendency to only call bets) into pots every time or taking second rate cards to the river.

4. Be mindful of position.
This is something that a lot of beginning tournament players ignore and it’s definitely a mistake. The later the position a person is in at the table, the more time they have to react to raises and re-raises. An early position player who chooses to limp in with a middle pair may have wasted a bet once the hand is raised or even re-raised. On the other hand, late position gives them a chance to see if any raises are going to be thrown out before making a decision.

5. Pay attention to everyone’s stack.
The purpose of doing this is to help you get a better read on the motivations for other players making certain moves at the table. For instance, say a conservative player has the biggest stack at the table and has just raised the big blind in early position. Now they’re obviously not desperate for chips and don’t normally make this type of play unless they have some great hole cards. It would be best to get out of a hand judging from their stack size and playing tendencies.

6. Don’t talk to others while involved in a hand during a live tournament.
Just as you should like to gather information about other players at the table, they like to get information about you too. And some of them may try to get it by talking to you while you’re still involved in hands. If this happens, just ignore them until the hand is over with.

7. Fold when necessary.
Some players get so caught up in being aggressive that they will simply refuse to wilt to any raises from opponents regardless of the consequences. And this can be a huge mistake is a player definitely has them beat. Sometimes it’s just better to accept a lost bet and fold if one is almost assured they are beat.

8. Don’t base your play off of rigid odds.
Odds and probabilities definitely have their place in poker but more often than not, this place is in cash games. Basing all of one’s plays off of certain odds in a major tournament is not a good decision because a person’s day is over as soon as they are busted out. And even if plays look right according to the odds, it’s tough to survive to the later stages playing this way for a whole tournament.

9. Play according to situations.
Rather than using odds, a better strategy is to look for specific situations. And these situations will typically arise when a person has studied their opponents at the table and determined how to play each one.

10. Disregard the money aspect of tournaments.
Players who sit around worrying about buy-ins and big cashes are normally the ones whose heads aren’t fully in the game. That’s why it’s best for players to totally forget about the money in tournaments and just play. This way one can stay focused on the game and play more aggressively.