Large field tournaments can be intimidating. Sometimes thousands of players need to bust before the money bubble approaches. It just feels so far away. It can be tough to wrap your head around what it’s really going to take to make it deep into the tournament and potentially to a final table.

In order to make the ambitious $20,000,000 guarantee of the $5,300 MILLIONS Online tournament partypoker will need roughly 4000 runners. It’s a massive Main Event, one where the prize pool is far-and-away the largest in online poker history.

So whether you have won a satellite into the tournament from the centrolls or value-added qualifiers, or are simply taking your shot on winning the $2.5 million first place prize, here are a couple suggestions from top-tier tournament pros on how to deal with those big tournament fields.

With over $22 million in live cashes, partypoker ambassador Jason Koon is more than familiar with jumping into large field tournaments. He’s no stranger to taking down big-time online MTTs, having secured a SCOOP title and winning a Sunday Warm-up that had over 3,500 runners.

“I think that people put a lot more emphasis on trying to walk on water and do something magical to go through these giants fields and the truth of it is that you have to run good to win one of these tournaments. You’re going to have to win tons of flips, you’re occasionally going to have to suck out of fade a big suck out,” Koon said.

There’s no doubt, the winner of the MILLIONS Online is going to have to harness some luck. But there’s some skill, and research that can be employed to help boost your chances.

The UK’s Jonathan ‘proudflop’ Proudfoot, currently the #12-ranked online player in the world, already picked up his seat to the MILLIONS Online via a qualifier. A true online grinder, he feels like scaling down the field to thinking about your own table is a good way to go, and getting some intel doesn’t hurt either.

“The single most vital tool for any large field online tournament is Sharkscope. If you’re not using Sharkscope and searching players in these events you’re losing so much value,” Proudfoot said. “Being able to adjust your play based on your opponents is that I would deep the most important attribute in this tournament type.”

Koon also has some more specific ideas of a proper mindset for fighting through the large fields.

“I think if you go into the tournament ready to grind out the slow levels when you are really card dead that’s a great state of mind. But don’t go in there thinking ‘I’m looking to fold kings today’ or whatever there’s just going to be spots where you have to get it all-in pre-flop and if you’re beat, that’s just the way the game works,” Koon said.

He reminds people to play their best poker but even though it’s a big event, not to be too precious about it.

“Don’t play overly passive. Just understand that even if you’re the best player in the world it’s going to take a miracle to win a 4000 person tournament. Do your best to be detached from the idea that if you win the tournament it’s going to be a life-changing amount of money and focus more on what your hand-for-hand options are. Then hopefully you’re the person who gets lucky enough to run deep.”

Proudfoot shared a couple other off-the-felt preparations that players can take to heart, to set themselves up for a long day of clicking buttons and sweating the flips.

“Food prepping is probably the most important,” Proudfoot said. “Just making all your meals before you begin playing, so you’re not going hungry during the long grind. I make sure I’m always relaxed and chilled before playing. A nice shower just before starting is always a good technique. I also always look over a few hands and specific thinking I’m working on before starting as well…of, and a few decent playlists never hurt either.”

The partypoker $20M GTD MILLIONS Online takes place from November 25 through December 5. There are five starting flights and a $2.5 million guaranteed first place prize.