Average Stack overrated???

I pay more attention to blind levels and the actual stack sizes at my table more than anything.

I keep an eye on avg stack, but I feel good if at any point i'm one double up from the avg stack. I agree that putting too much focus on avg stack can be distracting.

yeah, it tends to get to ya when uve been ahead of average for an hour then go card dead for about 15 min and fall below average. Best to not even check and just worry bout the blinds ... imo

average stack doesnt really do much, i do like to look at it so i can guage the tournament structure. if average stack is 20BB i would make note not to play that tourney, because i like a deeper stack game

Average stack is not what to play off of. U were right.. 10-12 times the BB is correct as the average. The average is taken on the amount of players playing and divided by the amount of chips in play... thats how you do averages for a GRADE.. not poker. Unless ur looking for a grade on ur poker playing abilities... i would not use the sites average.

If you are playing your best game then you are accumulating chips as fast as you possibly can already. The only time I pay attention to stack size is around the bubble. I want to make sure I make the money so i may tighten up my game when i get close. Otherwise I don't watch the leaderboard or average stack size.

Relation to the binds/antes is definitey more/most important.

But if you're looing to take a serious score in a tournament you want to be roughly idk 5/6 of the average or more.

If you're playing to last/cash hovering at 20xBB is fine, but you arent going to take a top 3 spot that way.

I agree that average stack means very little early on in a tournament. As things move on and its getting closer to the money , I do pay more attention to it....

The average stack is a bit of a bad measure, like people say bb is more important. Especially when you consider you can have 4 guys in a tourney over 50k and nobody else near 20k which really bumps up an average.

poker is over rated

A rare steak is over-rated.

I pay attention to the average stack, but only because I'm anal retentive about that sort of thing. I think it's much more important to pay attention to your own table, your stack relative to the blinds, and where the big stacks are in relation to your position, and how much clout you have against them. If they're looking at 10x your stack, they may not care about calling you with nothing, but if you can hurt them, they ought to be more careful...things like that!

You're absolutely correct. While it's okay to pay attention to the average stack, I think that many people feel the need to push more to maintain the average stack and that's where you begin to play too loose and end up doing more harm then good a lot of times.

As long as you pay attention to how many BBs you should be fine.

overall chip average is overrated. i never make my move till im about out LOL! i play my table average or a little under. it is hard to stay focused if you get below say 15 BB.

Thanks people. Last night, again i was way below average until about 20 to go. Ended up 7th after losing Ace 9 to Ace 8 (of course his 8 on the river - why cant it jusrt come on the flop and end the pain quick!). Things change so quickly once the blinds and antes are large.

So, stay calm if your below avg stack and that patience ,I think, might help some.