In a prior article, I wrote about the importance of having a plan before you begin play in a tournament. This may sound like common sense to many players, but how many actually think about a plan prior to playing? Not many! That's why you see a lot of the same tournament players advancing round after round in a lot of tournaments (they are the ones with a plan).

Here's an example of what I mean. I recently returned from playing in the $300,000 World Championship of Blackjack event at the Grand Casino in Tunica, Mississippi. I have played in this event since it started three years ago. Since I had previous knowledge of this tournament action, I set my plan to start my betting with mid-sized, $400 wagers for the first ten hands (the tournament minimum/maximum betting limits was $100 to $2,500). This strategy worked well and I didn't have to make any adjustments to my plan. In fact, I breezed through the first round as the chip leader and advanced to the second round.

The second round calls for a different plan as it most often does. The reason is because you are now playing against competitors who have knowledge of the first round action, and a good idea of what it takes to advance. I was anticipating an aggressive style of play in the second round and decided I would take the low road with $100.00 bets for the first 15 hands. This way I would be able to adjust my bets with 10 hands to go. I was correct in my guess - most players came out swinging with big bets (the average bet for the first 15 hands was $600.00).

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