Blinds going up

Nesehorn156 · Jan 29, 2026

One of the toughest parts of tournament poker for me is adjusting once the blinds start increasing quickly. Early on, it’s easy to play patiently, but later the pressure from shrinking stacks changes everything. I’ve noticed that waiting too long can leave you with very limited options. At the same time, pushing too hard can lead to unnecessary risks. I’m trying to get better at finding that balance as the tournament progresses. How do you usually adjust your play when the blinds start to dominate the stacks?

rsparente · Jan 30, 2026

It depends on stack size, but main adjustment is tightening up further. And sometimes going all in. Even though survival matters, surviving to loose at bubble is worse, you waste time and patience for nothing. But fight smarty, your opponents also want to get to the money and some of them love hero calling, specially in low stakes games.

Fallenglory · Jan 30, 2026

Nesehorn156 said:
One of the toughest parts of tournament poker for me is adjusting once the blinds start increasing quickly. Early on, it’s easy to play patiently, but later the pressure from shrinking stacks changes everything. I’ve noticed that waiting too long can leave you with very limited options. At the same time, pushing too hard can lead to unnecessary risks. I’m trying to get better at finding that balance as the tournament progresses. How do you usually adjust your play when the blinds start to dominate the stacks?

When you cover others and you are in a bubble you can bully others. Otherwise tight agressive play is best, if blinds are high you will have to defend those too.

Newzooozooo · Jan 30, 2026

Nesehorn156 said:
One of the toughest parts of tournament poker for me is adjusting once the blinds start increasing quickly. Early on, it’s easy to play patiently, but later the pressure from shrinking stacks changes everything. I’ve noticed that waiting too long can leave you with very limited options. At the same time, pushing too hard can lead to unnecessary risks. I’m trying to get better at finding that balance as the tournament progresses. How do you usually adjust your play when the blinds start to dominate the stacks?

I play when my cards and my position allow me to take such a risk. I don't take risks without good reason, and that's my main rule. The stage of the tournament and the size of the stack are important, of course, but all these factors must be assessed together in each specific situation. The more experienced you become, the easier it is to assess risks.

eetenor · Feb 2, 2026

Nesehorn156 said:
One of the toughest parts of tournament poker for me is adjusting once the blinds start increasing quickly. Early on, it’s easy to play patiently, but later the pressure from shrinking stacks changes everything. I’ve noticed that waiting too long can leave you with very limited options. At the same time, pushing too hard can lead to unnecessary risks. I’m trying to get better at finding that balance as the tournament progresses. How do you usually adjust your play when the blinds start to dominate the stacks?

The free version of GTO Wizard MTT study preflop ranges really helps you to understand how to adjust to different stack sizes. You can set up multiple preflop scenarios and it will indicate proper reactions.

Simple example we are down to 35bb in the CO UTG opens how do we change our actions from 100bb stack
At 100bb we play suited connectors 76 65 etc
At 35 bb we play 98s and nothing below

By using The Wiz we can start to build a proper shorter stack strategy.
You can see where hands increase raising frequency
Q9s 100bb R Freq 22% vs 35bb 52% R Freq

burba · Feb 2, 2026

You should maybe watch some streamers. ..
But if you are <10BB you mostly are looking for premium hands to shove and to double up.

KeyPatience · Feb 2, 2026

Nesehorn156 said:
One of the toughest parts of tournament poker for me is adjusting once the blinds start increasing quickly. Early on, it’s easy to play patiently, but later the pressure from shrinking stacks changes everything. I’ve noticed that waiting too long can leave you with very limited options. At the same time, pushing too hard can lead to unnecessary risks. I’m trying to get better at finding that balance as the tournament progresses. How do you usually adjust your play when the blinds start to dominate the stacks?

Ignore the blinds / your stack and stay in the present moment by playing one hand a time to the best of its ability!
I personally have cashed out in tournaments even after getting down to 0.1 BB!

eberetta1 · Feb 2, 2026

If you still have a chip and a chair, you still have a chance to cash.

SPANKYSN · Feb 3, 2026

Nesehorn156 said:
One of the toughest parts of tournament poker for me is adjusting once the blinds start increasing quickly. Early on, it’s easy to play patiently, but later the pressure from shrinking stacks changes everything. I’ve noticed that waiting too long can leave you with very limited options. At the same time, pushing too hard can lead to unnecessary risks. I’m trying to get better at finding that balance as the tournament progresses. How do you usually adjust your play when the blinds start to dominate the stacks?

This reminds me of the Mike Tyson quote, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” The key is adapting to the current circumstances…you cannot afford to fritter away chips early, but once your stack gets too low, you have to adjust your starting hands to take more risks.

fundiver199 · Feb 3, 2026

As stacks get shorter, you looking to get the chips in preflop or on the flop more often, or get out of the way and preserve your remaining chips for the next hand. To win tournaments you need to be willing to die. After all the point of a tournament is to bust everyone but the winner, so busting is ok and normal. Perhaps this section of the CC course can help:

kunkgreen · Feb 10, 2026

You received excellent insights.

Although with GTOWizard, in free mode, you don't have access to other situations like ICM for example, it's still possible to model the entire pre-flop in chip ev with various depths.

When we are very short (<10bb) we will almost always be looking for a double-up, and we will rarely have many hands played.

nelomec · Feb 12, 2026

Nesehorn156 said:
One of the toughest parts of tournament poker for me is adjusting once the blinds start increasing quickly. Early on, it’s easy to play patiently, but later the pressure from shrinking stacks changes everything. I’ve noticed that waiting too long can leave you with very limited options. At the same time, pushing too hard can lead to unnecessary risks. I’m trying to get better at finding that balance as the tournament progresses. How do you usually adjust your play when the blinds start to dominate the stacks?

It's really frustrating, I've sometimes had the same problem, but I've discovered that the secret lies in the intermediate stage. The more aggressively I play in this stage, the more chances I've had to reach the ITM (In-The-Movement) stage smoothly.

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Blinds going up

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