From Hardcore Poker- Logan,
In the early rounds of multi table tournaments you want to stick to a very tight aggressive strategy. You should play only the top hands such as pocket pairs and AK, AQ, etc. You also need to be careful not to get all in post flop with only one pair. When the chip stacks are so big compared to the blinds, alot of players will call with anything and hope to hit a monster flop. If you can get all in preflop with AA or KK, this is a great situation, but you want to avoid races until the later stages of the tournament when they are unavoidable. Alot of players play almost anything in the early rounds because chip stacks are so huge compared to blinds. Some players will get lucky and flop a flush when they play hands like 9 7 suited, but since the odds are approx 118-1 of flopping a flush, most of the time you will be just throwing your money away. Too many times players with flop a straight draw or flush draw and throw away too many chips trying to hit their draw. When you miss, you are losing too many valuable chips, which will leave you short stacked. You want to keep your stack size as big as possible and hope to double up when you hit a set or get a premium hand like AA or KK. The most important thing in the early rounds is survive them and only play top hands which will give you a chance to double up.
During the middle rounds of a multi table tournament, reading your opponents becomes more important. In the early rounds, sticking to a very tight, aggressive strategy should get you through to the middle rounds. During the middle rounds, you want to be able to use the reads you have on your opponents more and play a wider variety of hands. If the players in the blinds are weak, you should try to steal the blinds, even if you don't have good cards. If you always notice a certain player calling pre-flop with anything, but you know they will fold if you put in a re-raise, then go ahead and attack them. You don't want to be a total kamikaze in the middle rounds, but you should loosen up your starting hand requirements and use reads that you have gained to your advantage.
How you play the middle rounds will also depend on your stack size at this point. If you are short stacked, you will have to push all in before you get blinded down too far. Try to find a good spot to push all in. You don't want to re-raise all in with a marginal hand when there are already callers. If you can't find a good hand, try to move all in when the pot is unopened and there are not many players to act behind you.
If you are a medium stack, you should use your reads to make good plays. Be aggressive against weak players and small stacks. Be more cautious against larger stacks or very aggressive players. Try to stick to a fairly tight aggressive strategy, at the same time mixing your play up to keep opponents guessing. Often too many medium stacks think they don't have enough chips and will end up going all in with marginal hands. Be patient, and remember that a medium stack is usually only one double up away from becomming a large stack.
If you are a large stack, use your stack to bully smaller stacks when you have good position or you know your oppenents are very tight/weak. Don't raise too many pots with marginal cards, just because you are the big stack. Too much of this and you will quickly lose your stack. Be aware of small stacks whose only move is all in due to their stack size. You don't want to double them up by calling their all in with bad cards.
The key to the final rounds of a multi table tournament are reads and selective aggression. Once you reach the final table of a multi table tournament you will not be seeing any new opponents. Hopefully by this stage you will have played with many of these opponents earlier in the tournament and have a good read on them. It is very important to trust your reads and use them in making your decisions.
Usually the person who ends up winning a multi table tournament is someone who is aggressive and willing to take some chances. This means that you will have to loosen up a little. If you are on the button and their are no callers, you should raise it up to try and take down the blinds. Some multi table tournaments require that players also post antes in the final rounds. In this case, aggression is even more important as their will be alot of money in the pot pre-flop. When you are in position, you can play a much wider variety of hands aggressively. This should help you accumulate some extra chips. If you notice a tight or weak opponent, play very aggressively against them. The only players you want to avoid aggressive play against are those who are themselves very aggressive. These players may be better to trap. Don't try to bully them with marginal hands as they will be likely to play back at you.
You will also need to decide whether your goal is to try to win the tournament even if it means you may bust our early at the final table, or whether your goal is to play it safer and try to last as long as possible. If your goal is to win the tournament, you will need to be willing to gamble with hands such as middle pairs or hands like AQ, AJ. In order to win the tournament you will have to win some races and get lucky a few times. If you goal is just to hang on as long as possible, then you will want to stick to a very tight aggressive strategy where you only play the best hands or play good hands when you are in position.
As more players are eliminated, the value of your starting hands will go up. While A7is not a good starting hand in early position when you have 10 players left, it is very good when you are five handed. You will need to play more hands as the table becomes smaller. Usually the player who wins will be one who plays aggressively, but is also able to read their opponents well.
When you are down to 2 or three handed, it is all pre flop play and reading your opponents. The blinds will probably be very high compared to your stack and you can't afford to make loose calls preflop. You need to read your oppponents well and either fold or play your hand very aggressively.
