There has been plenty of literature published regarding playing the big stack in a poker tournament and quite a lot of it that is completely wrong. Many say that you should not take unnecessary risks to obtain a big stack nor would you do so once you have managed to get one as you have time to wait compared to the smaller stack but the people who write such things obvious do not play Texas Holdem tournaments very often and I bet they certainly do not win them either!

Having a big stack does give you more freedom in how you can approach the game but when all is said and done you still have to play a game based on effective stacks of those seated at your table. For example, if you have a 100 big blind stack but everyone else at your table has stacks no larger than 20 big blinds then you should not be opening much wider than you would be at 20 big blinds otherwise you will find yourself being three-bet all-in too often whilst you are holding weak hands.

Also, the stage of the poker tournament you are at has a massive bearing to the importance of a big stack of chips. If you manage to double up early on in a tournament or even triple up then having a big stack here is actually quite pointless and changes very little. This is because everyone else will be reasonably deep-stacked and there will be no antes in play at this point.

Once the tournament reaches the middle to late stages having a big stack is more important, especially if the antes have now kicked in. Here you should look to loosen up but again not by too much otherwise you will basically bleed chips. Be aware if stacks of 15-25BB start to three-bet your, especially all-in if you have 75-100 big blind as they will usually have very strong hands as they should be very weary of attacking such a substantial stack.

Having a big stack around the bubble is one of the greatest things ever in poker. You can and should be much more creative and be opening a massive range of hands to put your opponents under the most pressure possible. Against medium sized stacks you should be looking to three-bet them into submission or call them in position and make hell for them post flop.

Remember, having a big stack means you do not have to take any substantial risks that the smaller stacks will have to in order to stay alive but you should not use it as an excuse to start playing like a maniac. By all means play looser but be aware of the effective stacks at all times.