As part of my WSOP warm-up, I've been getting some coaching and strategic guidance from a friend of mine, (who I won't out without his permission, in case I've misinterpreted his advice) who is the best poker player I know who doesn't have a bracelet.

I sought out his help because I deeply respect his game, and I feel like I've gotten as far as I'm going to get on my own studying books, playing games and analyzing my hand histories. To do well in the WSOP, I need to have some sort of strategic plan that takes into account the size of the fields, anticipated level of play, and tournament structure in the various preliminary events I'll enter before the Main Event.

We worked out some strategy for the 1000 and 1500 events, based upon one fact, and one assumption:

• Fact: All players will start out with relatively small Ms.
• Assumption: A large portion of the field will lack experience for large-field MTTs, or if they have it, it'll be limited to online MTTs.

Based upon those two factors, we concluded that making it deep in the preliminary events will require an outrageous amount of luck, because it's going to be pushmonkey poker after about level three, if I can't pick up some pots early on. We also concluded that I'm going to have to get used to throwing away a lot of hands that I'd play in a regular tournament, because there just aren't enough chips relative to the blinds to make a lot of moves (unless I triple up early. Yeah.)

To get a sense for the way I'll have to play in the preliminary events, I played some cheap-o Turbo MTTs over the weekend. I chose those tourneys because they're easy on the bankroll, and the blinds go up so fast, I have to practice the same ultra-tight-then-push-and-pray strategy that I'll use in the 1K events, based upon the ratio of stacks to blinds.

It was the weirdest thing in the world to consciously throw away hands I'd normally limp with to see a cheap flop, like suited connectors or one-gappers for a raise at level one, or hands I'd normally try to steal with, because it makes more sense to stay alive and have chips to use folding equity later on when the blinds are higher. For example, if I find a hand down to KT in late position and I'm first to open, I usually come in for a raise. But in one of these tourneys, I'm likely to get called by at least one of the blinds if they're soooooted or have an ace, or connecting cards, or just want to see a flop, and unless I hit my hand, I'm unlikely to push them off even bottom pair. It makes more sense, from a strategic point of view, to let that hand go at level one or two, rather than risk putting extra chips at risk on the steal, and then risk them again after the flop when I'm likely to be up against a fairly wide range of hands.

It seems counter-intuitive, but I'd rather wait until I can risk all my chips on a middle pair, or take a flip with a big ace to double up, than risk lots of chips early on and possibly cripple myself so I really can't get a lot of chips when I have a decent hand (well, better than a weak ace or a weak king.)

I played in the 45 player 6.50 Turbo MTTs at PokerStars, and I used this strategy pretty effectively. I made it to 10th in one of them, and went out in the 20s in another one when A4o paired the 4 and sucked out on my AQd.

If you have a friend whose game you respect, I highly suggest getting together with him or her and talking about your game plan, whether you're playing in a big live tourney, or not. Often, two minds are better than one, especially when it comes to objectively analyzing your game and developing a strategy that works for you.

I actually have an afterthought here, based upon some of your comments: this may not be the best way to approach these events, which is why I'm trying it out right now. One of the fundamental facts that guides this strategerey is how small all the starting Ms are, and how quickly it will become Big Stack Poker; unless and until I chip up, I'm not going to have access to all the bullets in my poker gun. The goal with this approach is to get there.

Obviously, I'm willing to take some hands to war earlier on than I'd normally would because my M will start out at a place where I'd be making those moves later in a tournament. If I chip up early on, and my M gets over 20, then I am, as Harrington says, "a fully functional poker player" and I'll be able to use squeeze plays, steal more blinds, defend my own blinds, and maybe consider some semi-bluffs. But to get to that point, I'm going to have to stay away from draws, leave weak aces alone, and throw away sooooooooted cards that I may play in other circumstances. And of course, this is all dependent upon the texture of my tables and what cards come my way. On day one of the PCA, Greg Raymer took me aside and told me to apply some pressure as soon as I could, because most of the players, as online qualifiers, would be much more passive and tight in a live tourney. Unfortunately for me, I drew both Evlyn Ng and Twin Caracas at my first table, and they made that move long before I could, but the underlying advice is still solid, and is a useful bullet to have in your balanced strategy gun.

Of course, I could be completely wrong, and I'm sure there are other players out there who are smarter and better players than I am, who will help me refine where I've made mistakes with my interpretation of this approach. I don't claim to be an expert, or even a great player, so as I said when I started this series of posts: this is mostly for me to puzzle out my ideas and record insights I stumble upon as I review and prepare for the WSOP. I deeply appreciate all the advice and contrary opinions in comments; you're helping me think, and become a better player.