Many players understand the concepts involved in building a large chip stack during a tournament. What they don't understand, however, is how to use their chips effectively once they've gotten them. Once they've accumulated a lot of chips, many players want to control the action, but they haven't thought through how to take command of the table.

When I'm the big stack in a tournament, being the bully is always my first consideration. I want to eliminate players, continue to build my stack, and avoid dangerous situations. If I can create a scenario where I'm the table captain - meaning I dictate the size of the pots - the rest of the action becomes easier to read. I can frequently steal the blinds and antes, and if someone else re-raises, it's pretty easy to put them on a hand because I know they can only play back at me with really strong cards.

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Every Hold 'em strategy guide talks about the importance of positional advantage. The standard thinking is that the player who acts last has more information than his opponents, so he'll have a better sense of where he stands in a hand and can, therefore, make better decisions. There's no doubt that this is true, but it's important to understand that the power that comes with position is often granted to the late-position player by the early-position player.

To see what I mean, consider a pretty typical No-Limit hold 'em hand. Say that I'm in the big blind with 7s-8s - a nice, flop-worthy hand. The player on the button raises to three times the big blind and I decide to call. Many players would check the flop under almost any circumstances. But, by checking, you give control to the late-position player. He can bet whether or not he has a hand, putting you in a tough spot if you don't get a piece of the flop. In a hand like this, I believe it's best to look at the flop and ask, "Is it likely that these cards helped my opponent?" Once I have an answer to that question, I can decide how to proceed.

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This week starts the largest, richest tournament in poker history - the Main Event of the World Series of Poker*. For anyone who makes it deep in the tournament, there will be several long, exhausting days of poker. So, going in rested is extremely important. Beyond that, however, there are ways to approach different portions of the event that could help you develop and maintain a healthy stack. In the early stages of a large tournament like the Main Event, chances are you'll be seated with nine players who are complete strangers to you. Most of them will probably not be all that strong. Also, at this point in the event, you'll have a lot of chips compared to the size of the blinds. In these portions of the tournament, you should try to slowly build your stack. You don't need to double up quickly and you don't want to commit a lot of chips to the pot unless you're pretty certain you know where you stand.

This is not to say that you should be tight pre-flop. Actually, when playing against weak opponents while holding lots of chips, you should try to see more flops as cheaply as you can. You can limp, call raises or even raise with a wide variety of hands, and then proceed from there. Most of the time, you won't hit the flop very hard, but in those hands where you're forced to fold, you won't have lost much. When you do manage to catch a hand, you'll pick up a lot of chips from players who don't make very good decisions much of the time. You can use your skill advantage to balance your wins and losses, and slowly build your stack.

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