Backing into the money

Played in a $11 45 seat SNG at Stars last night and I have to say it was the worst run of cards I ever saw. I think I played about 5-6 hands during the whole event and only had 3 real hands all night. By carefully avoiding confrontations and stealing when I could, I limped into the final table as shortstack. It was obvious that I wasn't going to win this one as the hands still weren't coming so I chose to try to make it into the money. The tourney paid down to 7th so I just steered clear of challenges and let other folks duke it out. Was able to steal 2 pots (the blinds which was 600/1200 by then) by raising hard from the small blind when all had folded to me. Anyway the strategy worked and I ended up 6th and cashed for $30. Many folks will probably say that playing to place rather than win is a wimpy strategy; however, I cleared $21 which allows me to play 2 more of these - just hoping the cards run a little warmer. Dorkus and I were in chat during this game and I was entering the hands I was getting so he can testify just how cold it was for me. Think I played this one very well and it was the first time I ever played to place...

Well played Dave.

I dont care what players say about playing to win, when you are one or two places from the money you are a bit more cautuis, I think its human nature. Of course premium hand like AA, KK etc have to be played but even though i always play to win, I do fold reasonable hands UTG and in early position.

I think its common sense

Well done on the win Dave, but I feel that you are correct in the way you played this, sometimes you just have to play for the money spots.

The 45 player sit and go at pokerstars however are easy(ish) to get into the money but i find them extremly difficult to win, once it gets to 4-5 players left it gets extremly difficult to progress. Another 2 more shots for free though !! Well done,

I would suggest that you play a 5 dollar or even 1 dollar sng. The reason that you are scared and back into money is because you are a little out of your bankroll range. Dont be ashamed to play 1 dollar or 5 dollar sngs. I know friends (and me included) who have dropped hundreds of dollars and had to resort to playing 5 dollar sngs to build our bankroll back up.

Hey, sometimes 5th is the best you can get with the cards dealt to you. I don't always look at where I finished as a good night of poker. If I made the right reads I feel good, not if I won or not (it just makes it better if you win). You can make the right calls and finish no where near the money and other times get lucky and suck out some really bad call on your part to help win the tournament. Which is the better night, the night you got lucky and won or the night you made all the right reads and the cards did not fall in your favor so you went home early?

Sounds like you had a good night for the cards dealt to you, well done.

Backing into the money isn't really a "whimpy" strategy I just think it is a bad strategy. Tournaments ESPECIALLY small ones are all about WINS! I would rather take 3 bubbles and a win as opposed to 4 "places". That is just me though. Play snug and when the money approaches start firing to put yourself in position to WIN.

Ahh, but when the cards are cold there is not much you can do. I had cold cards in a tourney at PokerHost last night. The tourney was paying 20 places, and there were 23 people left. I was short stacked - about maybe 19th or 20th in chips. I was planning to just back in the money (okay - I know some of you guys talk about going for the win) since my luck had been so bad. Fortunately, I hit a premium hand, went all in and picked up some chips - enough to get me in the money. Then, although I had few chips, I waited until decent hands came. Then ... all in, all in, all in ... three times in a row. Ended up finishing 6th, which was a miracle in itself. So ... I would definitely not go all in in the scenario presented. I would wait for the others to knock themselves out, then take my chances with the cards.

I similarly had a long run of cold cards in my last tournament - fortunately it was a freeroll, so I didn't lose anything on it... literally half an hour went by without a decent hand... I ended up having to play looser to not just get eaten up by the blinds.
I think the right way of looking at it is making the best of things. If you have a fraction of the chips anyone else has, then it is possible to work your way up again, just unlikely. If you're only a couple of places from the money and well away from the blinds, then with a severe short-stack it makes sense to sit tight for a premium hand. If you have only a slight chip deficit, then you should continue to play more aggressively. It's a question of risk vs. reward.
Besides, if you then play tight for a while, when you do play your table image will be stronger, and you'll be more likely to steal, so you may not harm you chance of doing better than placing anyway.

I must say that I do this sometimes Dave. If I am close to the "BUBBLE" (within 10-20 players) I will do this if I am short stacked! I am talking bigger tournaments though, 400-500 players. I do another thing though I play slow!! I will use all the alloted time I can, just to money! Now this is when I am real short stacked and I'm close to money. If I use the full 20- seconds of my time and the other 5 tables are playing faster, then someones going to go out. I have done this with much success for not getting good cards!

was playing $10 SnG last night

4 of us left, me in the bubble seat, short stacked but not desperately so

decided to take a back seat and hang tight

after a good number of folded hands, player to my right asks 'what you waiting for?'

'one of you three to bust out' i replied

'aint gonna happen' he says

the VERY next hand the same player calls an all-in and busts out

'what you laffing about?' my wife asked

Side Note: When you start to reach the money cut-off stage(in this case when there are 8 left and the tourney pays the top 7)make sure you have your priorities straight.As the other players begin to play even tighter,in order to last until the final 7 players, that making money isn't your objective at this point. You are here to finish in the top 3 and make big money.

One phenomenon you will observe is that when there are people near the bubble and the top 7 pay off, other players will be sure to play tighter to ensure "they make money". This is the time to be sure to steal every blind you can steal.If no one is going to put up a fight, then make sure you grab all this "free money!". So what if you are eliminated on the bubble? So what if you finished 8,9 or even 10th when this particular event only pays 7 spots.Does 7th change your life at all? If it does, then do what everyone else does and play supertight. Just be warned there will be people picking up your blinds every round.

The tourney i played last week was very unusual at the bubble stage actually. Raises and re-raises between the big stacks, it was amazing, as soon as we reached the bubble i decided now was the time, myself and 2 other guys at the table just turned ultra aggressive. It worked for me, my stack changed from average to 2nd chip leader, at the expense of someone who was sitting there comfortable with a decent stack.

The two baby stacks at the table eventually finished in 4th and 5th simply by not playing any hands.