Chips are tickets
In a cash game a chip is a dollar — you can pocket it and leave. In a tournament you buy in once, and from then on chips are TICKETS: they climb a prize ladder, and the ladder pays the survivors, not the chip-hoarders. Two structural forces follow. The blinds RISE on a schedule, so your stack is melting ice — measure it in big blinds and watch the clock, not the money. And you cannot leave: survival has real cash value, which means some folds are buys, not surrenders. Every tournament skill grows from this one tension: accumulate chips, but remember they're only tickets.