Size Doesn't Matter by Joseph Hachem

When I walked into the poker room for the first day of the World Series Main Event in 2005, and I saw 2,000 people sitting there, I freaked out a little bit. I thought, oh my God, what am I doing here? How am I going to get through this?

But then I realized that all I had to do was beat my table, and not worry about what's going on around me. The rest will take care of itself, as long as I focus strictly on the other eight players at my table. I didn't let the size of the field affect my play. And whether you're talking about the World Series, or any other big tournament with a massive number of entrants, the most important thing is not to be overwhelmed by the size of the field.

The second most important thing is not to try to win the tournament too early. The only time that you want to try and win a big tournament is when there are three players left. Prior to that, all you want to do is accumulate chips while other people are being busted. In 2005, I only busted three or four people the whole tournament. I knew I couldn't win the tournament when there were nine players left, or when there were 27 left. I think a lot of people make that mistake, they accumulate chips and they start thinking, now I'm the captain of the table, I'm going to bust everybody and win the tournament. You only have to bust one person. You only have to bust the guy who comes in second.

At my final table, I never got the chip lead until we were four-handed. Some of the other guys had huge chip leads and were trying to win the tournament then and there. That's certainly what happened to Andrew Black. Andrew's an incredibly talented player, but he's admitted to me that his biggest weakness is not being able to change gears at the right time. He would have probably gone on to win that tournament if he hadn't kept pushing so hard. The one key hand that was a killer was, of course, the 10-9 hand. Andrew had 10-9, the flop came 9-6-5, Steve Dannenmann moved all in, and Andrew called. And Steve was trailing with A-6, but hit an ace on the river to win. It was a great call and great read by Andrew, and he got lucky, but I wouldn't be too keen on chucking my money in there with top pair, no kicker, for three-quarters of my chip stack. You have to realize there will be better, safer opportunities to build your stack up later.

I had the same strategy all throughout the tournament, because the World Series Main Event is the best tournament on earth as far as giving you plenty of time to play. I never felt that I needed to play fast. I took advantage of weakness when I saw it, and the rest of the time, I just waited for a good hand, outplayed people when I thought I could, and laid down hands when I thought I didn't have to risk the chips at that point. And so many other people are panicking around you; they're dropping off like flies. Big tournaments are a patience game. Little tournaments, you have to move fast-get chips or get the hell out of there. But in big tournaments, you have to be patient and pick your spots.

But the most important thing is, as I always recommend, that people have fun. If you're not going to have fun, don't come. Stay home. Even with the amount of stress I'm going to be under this year, trying to win the title, I'm still going to make sure I enjoy it, regardless of the outcome.