1. Teach yourself how to relax.

To get in the money at a live tourney will usually take at least 7-8 hours of solid poker play, and that can be exhausting and stressful. Some poker players learn a relaxation technique, and it can help to cut down on the stress and tiredness. Another benefit of being able to totally relax yourself at the tables is the image you project: cool and unemotional - basically a couldn't give a f*ck what happens kind of attitude. Tends to be intimidating to the other players when you just sit there impassively.

2. Get focused.

Five or ten minutes before the tourney is due to start is the time to gear yourself up. You will already have a strategy in mind, and perhaps a tactic or two to try out, but you will need to concentrate on what you are doing - so start counting the things arouind you: count the roulette tables, the slots, the drinks on a table, the lights on the ceiling etc - anything there is lots of. Don't need to be accurate but do need to be quick - so just estimate or multiply to get a rough figure, then quickly move on to counting something else. It just helps to put your mind in the right place at the right time.

3. Know how to do a deal.

Unlike most online tournaments, live games are hardly ever played down to the last man standing - a deal is usually done at the final table. You need to know how much you should be getting depending on your chip count. This is very important, as you want to get at least a fair share, and more if you can swing it. This depends on how keen everyone else is to do a deal - the keener they are, the more you can insist on. There's a simple formula for calculating your true chip value when you are in the money, which entails dividing your chips into the total amount of chips to give a percentage of the whole amount (after taking account of the minimum you would each win anyway). Sylvester Suzuki wrote a book on tournament structure (Poker Tournament Strategies) which discusses chip value, and I would recommend it for serious tournament players.