Tom Marchese: Don't Worry About Stack At the Table in Main Event

The World Series of Poker $10,000 World Championship Main Event welcomed back players for Day 2A/B from the first two starting flights. A total of 2,219 players returned and among them is Poker Central Ambassador Thomas Marchese who finished in 14th place in the 2016 Main Event for $427,930.

It was the first time Marchese cashed in the event after a few years of crushing big buy-in events. Which begged the question if he changed his approach?

“No, I didn’t change but I’m always kind of burnt out at the end of the summer, so I’m more all or nothing in the earlier days than I should be,” Marchese said. “Last year I ran hot on Day 2 and got some chips. I remained focused the rest of the way and was fortunate to go as far as I did.”

Qui Nguyen and Marchese on Day 7 of the 2016 Main Event. (Photo: PokerPhotoArchive.com)
The two-hour levels in the structure of the Main Event, plus the 50,000-starting stack, is designed to give players the maximum amount of play. The average stack has 75 big blinds following the first break of the day – which is deeper than almost every comparable tournament.

“You should never really worry at the table,” he said. “You should be focused on playing your best game. You never want to fold away, but if you have ten big blinds – yeah, you’re short, but you just have a different strategy than if you have 50 or 100 big blinds.”

“It’s key to not look at the average and play the best you can.”