need help getting over the hump

I play about four to five MTTs per day, ranging in cost from $1 to $11. Some are regular tourneys with few entrants, some with many, some are rebuys with small and big fields, some are bounty tourneys, some are 7-card stud. In 80% of them I last into the third hour. In 20% of them I cash, and in about 5% I make final table. My problem is that I can never mange to get past about 5th or 6th place on final table, so that I end up winning very little money after putting in a ton of work to get into a position where I can win. Can people suggest to me what I can do in order to improve my performance so that I can reach that elusive top 3? If I haven't provided enough information, I'm happy to answer any clarifying questions.

Your First Final Table

That is a great place to start. Also just remain play your game and just play as best as you can. I also suggest if you final table a tourney try to focus most of the attention on this one do not open a new tourney while you are on a final table.

I read the first page of that thread. Thank you very much! It's been very helpful in finding some holes in my final table game. Now, to repair them!

Yeah I had this issue for a while. If I didn't get knocked out 12th, then it would be 6th. Figured out I was really struggling shorthanded. My ITM was running almost 20%, but I was losing money. Had to be honest and confess I didn't know what to do when the table got short handed. Got a 6-max coach and spent a couple months playing that. Made a world of difference when the table got down to 6 - I could now adjust.

One thing that I have to step up considerably on those final two tables is awareness of my own table image. Everyone else is now finding it easier to track the other players and their awareness of what you are doing escalates. If I arrive at final table and there are players that I have no info on then I am more prone to avoid them until I can get a read. If there is a guy who was with me most of the way and is super tight and all of a sudden shoves, I'll more than likely get out of the way. But as I said, I now also have to assign my image to each of these players - what do they think I am doing? Do they think I am tight? Did I get a chance to prove that to each of them? Especially what do the two guys to my left think? Will I have plenty of opportunity to steal their blinds or will they assume that's all I am trying to do? Do they think I play ATC on the button?
You get shorthanded and playing the player becomes a bigger factor than in the early stages.

My next step (sometime before the year is out) will be to study HU strategies and play that for a while.

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