Absinence failed.

Was sadly ill twice during recent week (prolly coz i didnt let myself fully recover the 1st time)
which meant that i played a little on VC. Had a few marginal results on some low stakes final tables but then the usual happened. I wont bore you with the details. Recently iv been re-reading and revisiting old sites and little bibles of tournament play. A few noteworthy points have jumped out at me in recent weeks. In the early stages of a tournament esp on Tribeca where the stacks are never really deep, it is imperative that you use this time to evaluate your opponents at every stage. This is a valuable use of your time and helps break up the monotony of waiting for a hand. Multi-tabling isnt ever a good idea if you have set your sites on 1st prize as you miss out on the little weaknesses that your opponents reveal. I have gone over hands misplayed and hands poorly played and in soe instances the fact that i didnt break opponenets when i should have has effectively ruined my chances of a big score. When you get that opportunity to cripple another player, you simply MUST take your chance and maximise.
Take these 2 hands for example.
Im in Seat 5 and get dealt A10s. 1 LP limper and the SB folds. Blinds are 100/200 in the summer phase of a tournie. Flop comes AAK. I bet 2/3 pot (dont wanna allow a free broadway card to hit, want someone else to play back at me). Stack sizes between particiapants are similar. He calls. Now i know this player is good, so he must have the case Ace- FOR CERTAIN. SB folds. Turn comes a 6. This doesnt matter i dont think, as im putting him on a AXs where X is a possible str8 card 2-5. I bet again and this time he min raises my raise. I get scared of the house and call. River comes 7s and i check, he bets small, I call. The point is, because we were depp in a tournie, i didnt wanna risk going broke, but here i s a prime opportunity to rip him apart, he had A4s and i shoulda doubled through and gone on to win....instead i come 6th. Which means jack shit.
I really want to work on making the perfect decision from now on.
Another point i want to get across is its often not sensible to play rocky in the 1st few levels. These levels are where the easy chips are available from the weak players who raise with KQs UTG. Where i have real position, i now like to play the mid suited connectors from the last 2, with a re-raise against a weak player preflop (allows you to thin the field and evaluate his hand). When the blinds are still small and i have a few spare chips, this is the best use for them. Id rather use these "spare" chips early to allow weak player to make mistakes agasints me in pots where i have position.
So the new formula in tournaments where the table contains the right mix involves identifying weak players, playing them HU when you can put them on a hand of 2 high cards and having position. Once the loose geese have been shot with the 12 bore, you have gained a few things. You will get paid in those formative early hands where you are striving to build your chips because you have advertised your gambling tendencies. Then you stick it in 5th and go back to trying to outrock the rocks.
But iv noticed something. The big boys that win regualrly dont wait for premium. They gamble early and get chips which enable them to survive later when they can afford to get their AA busted by 66....and they dont lose the plot. Id rather gamble early nowadays on the internet, there are plenty of juicy cash games if i crash out early and it saves me the torment when later on i get my premiums busted by some big-stacked moron who's been running all over the table with shit.

New era nowadays, a lot of Mcevoy, Cloutier etc's advice doesnt apply. In the new poker world where you have a lot of educated 20-somethings vying for top spot, you need chips in the formative hands 40-70 where chips stacks begin to get defined.
Waiting to get aces busted isnt good for morale.

Gl all and lets hope England can finally gel. Either that or shoot eriksson for his ability to take the piss out of us......and still get paid.