I'm gonna play the fifty fifty tournament on fulltilt Monday.

$55+5 buyin and first place gets over $18,000. I've played this tourney a few times last week, and EVERY TIME I PLAYED I got in the money . But unfortunetly, every time I play I place barely in the money and only win $90 to $200. I think my play deterriorates towards the end of the tourney because I get mentally and physically tired. I remember last week I was 4th in chips (the tournament starts with around 800-1000 players) but once I got past the bubble I made some mistakes and poor decisions and it costed me the tourney. What can I do to remain focused and alert for the entire 7 or 8 hours?

The longest tournament I was ever in was a simple 5 dollar, 5000 people tournament on pokerstars. I just laid in my bed watching football for the first hour, folding every hand except the best ones. Then I drank a Rockstar, a type of energy drink, and cranked up my favorite music, and I was good to go for a few more hours.

The problem with me is when i get deep into the tourney's i play too conservative just to climb the ladder. I know i need to play the same poker that got me there

First in the fifty fifty is only like 9500 not 18000. I think you need to find a strategy and stick with it if you find yourself making bad decisions, not to mention you should always take advantage of your breaks so play doesn't get monotonous. Sometimes you can only make it so far in a MTT too. Keep that in mind.