It really depends on the type of game and the buy-in amount that you're playing.
Most times players who pick up huge stacks early on tend to lose their chips later in the tourney.
Early in a tournament it's easy to amass chip stacks as players are playing looser and in the lower buy-ins many of the players are just plain bad in the beginning. They're pushing with very mariginal hands etc. As the tournament progresses most of the players left are decent players, the pots get bigger thus forcing more action, the shorter stacks are gambling more and if you run into a few bad beats then your once huge chipstack is now gone.
Of course it's difficult to know exactly what anybody is doing wrong or right in a huge MTT but I would say luck becomes a greater factor despite skill.
Case in point, I finished in a MTT recently in 31st place. I went up against one of the big stacks (I had a decent amount of chips as well). I hit my flush but the other player hit his/her set. We're all in on the turn and even he admitted that he made a bad call. As it turns out he hit is fullhouse on the river and I'm out.  |