There are many factors that come into play when you are playing multi table tournaments and one huge factor is how many chips/blinds you have.  It would be nice if you were able to just sit around waiting for big hands without worrying about the blinds deteriorating your chips away; but in the game of No Limit Hold'em that's just not the case.  If a player just sits on his chips and doesn't make any moves late in tournaments then in the long run the blinds will take your stack and your tournament life.  I am going to discuss how important picking up blinds are along the way while also discussing situations from the small blind or big blind.

When the tournament is getting to the late stages and chips are becoming more and more important; this is where I start being a little more active especially around the poker blinds.  My goal in the late stages of poker is to win a pot every orbit so that I keep my stack above water.  If I can win a pot every round by stealing the poker blind in different situations then I am keeping my stack a float as we move through the tournament but if I were to lay low and not play any hands then I would eventually see people saying GG in the chat box.   When trying to make a play at the blinds, I think of a couple different things first.  I look at my chip stack, my position, and the players on the table, my hand, and the level of the blinds.  If you're are sitting on the button with a player in the big blind who is playing tight and doesn't know how to play back at a  raise then I would raise it up almost every hand in hopes of taking the blinds when that particular player is sitting with the big blind.  Check your stack and your position before you try and steal the blinds just for the sake of stealing blinds.  Let the situations come to you but don't let the situations pass you by otherwise you won't have chips left to play.

Now I am going to discuss a couple situations when playing from either the small or the big blind.  My poker strategy here is to play cautious unless the time is right.  Playing from either blind can be a tough task to say the least.  You are already price in with having a blind in the pot so you feel obligated to play the hand for that reason alone and that could hurt you in the long run.  If you are continuously cold calling a raise from either blind position then you are setting yourself up for disaster and most of the time this is exactly how the hand plays out.

Ok, Player A raises from the cut-off position and I am in the big blind with a random hand and I flat call.  With that random hand, it's just fact that I will miss the flop more than two thirds of the time so already it's not a winning play.  With missing the flop I will proceed to check and Player A will continuation bet after the flop and unless I have a read on Player A then my only option is to fold my way to the next hand.  I see this too often and I would bet that is how it goes down at least 87% of the time (not an exact percentage).  Your best bet when playing from the blinds is to wait until you have a strong hand otherwise you will be playing out of position with an inferior hand.