So we all have one time or another entered a freeroll, a sit and go, or a tournament, only to find that sooner or later not very far into the tournament, our stack has dropped significantly. Often times we will ask ourselves, how in the world did this happen?  The biggest factor here would be limping in and calling so many hands pre flop, and draws post flop. Probably the best advice I have ever received regarding improving my poker tournament skills would be this: just because blinds are so small compared to your stack, this does not mean that you should call a lot of hands pre flop. I can understand if your stack is 1500, and the big blind is 20, how tempting it can be to limp with that K-10 or 8-9. But say you limp in with 10 mediocre hands and don't hit on the flop. This brings your stack down to 1300, and says you get an all in hand and double up. If you had folded all those mediocre hands, your stack would now be at 3000 rather than 2600. That’s a difference of 20 big blinds.

The main point I am trying to get across is to tighten up your starting hands in the beginning of the tournament. You will begin to see a big difference in the amount of poker chips you stack, for the better, if you try this. Even if you think this won’t work, enter a poker freeroll and give it a shot, what have you got to lose? Try only playing the top 10 hands, and if you call pre flop with Q-Q and the flop has an ace and a king on it with 3 other people, chances are your beat. Another quick tip would to be to not call draws, as if you don’t hit then really you are beat.

Overall, winning at poker takes time, if you do not get some good hands just wait it out and they will come, and remember, stay tight in the beginning.