the last 100 people in a tournement and how to play

Hi,

I am playing poker for 1/2 year now and maybe you guys have some tips for the end game.
I reach the last 100 people in a tournement often (ranging from 800 to 10.000 people in pokerstars and full tilt). I play thight agr. but i often reach a point where i am forced to go all inn because of the low stack, high blinds i have. And 9 outta 10 times i got my ass kicked bij the bigger stacks (maybe i shouls play more agr. in the middle of the game?)

That is the mistake a lot of people make. When blinds are getting high and especially when the bubble is close everyone tightens up. That is the perfect time to start stealing and building your stack that way. I am not saying go crazy, you have to be careful about it but do not allow yourself to get blinded away.

Need help here. You are referring to the "bubble". When the bubble is close assuming there are 1500 players?

Its not really about how many people started, but rather how many will get paid.

If the tournament pays the top x players, people start thinking about getting paid, as the tournament gets closer to that number.

i.e. In a tournament that pays say the top 90 players, the player who finishes 91st place is 'the bubble.' As you get slowly closer to 90 players remaining, you will see the atmosphere change. There will be those who tighten up, and only play big pairs hoping to pass the bubble; and there will be those who capitalize on the tight players by playing a little more aggressively, and taking blinds when they have position, or a slightly better than average hand.

Once players are in the money, the overall mood tends to loosen back up again, and people begin defending their blinds a little more vigorously. (Depending on the payout structure, there is also a similar phenomenon when the tournament approaches the final table--since that is usually where the real money is).

One thing you have to do is pay attention to who is tightening up and who is stealing on the bubble. The tight players are desperately trying to squeak into the money and there are others taking advantage of them. Steal from the tight players, and resteal from the loose players.

Keep in mind, if the tight players play back at you, watch out, because they really have a hand. But the blind thieves have a much wider range and you should play back at them, esp. from the BB vs. Button/Co stealers.

Thank you very much califantasy and baudib1 for your help!I truly appreciate it. It seems that reaching this critical point you have to choose the right strategy to defeat your opponents depending on their individual play style.

well so far it worked got 35 at the 100K freeroll at full tilt (3600).
had a nice hand 10 10 so went all in but lost at the river.
I think this freeroll is extremly hard to win because only top 3 get a ticket for the 100K tournament!

Second that. For us TAG players getting blinded out is a huge problem going deep into a tournament. If you wait too far then your all-in's don't mean too much because you have such a small stack. Making a more aggressive play/blinde-ante-steal when your M's are in the 10-15 range will instill more fear in your opponents. It is something I am working on.

I have been watching from the rail a certain player who plays in the $75 buy-in 45 person tourney at FT. She is very, very succesfull at it and is always at the top of the MTT leaderboard. She plays really tight in the beginning 12-15% of her hands, but when the blinds start to catch-up, it is like she switches to another gear and does the all-ins and starts to steal like a thief!! That's when I realized that playing TAG is not enough. Ever since then i have been trying to work up the courage to steal with less than premium hands in less than premium positions. I have been trying to steal from medium sized stacks when I am on the button or one off the button. I just swallow hard (no jokes or innuendos please) and go for it.

This is something I've been working on. You have to pay attention to every hand thats being played. This means not watching TV or surfing the internet while you're playing.

Eventually you'll start to notice who to attack. And it wont matter what your cards are. You just have to pull the trigger.

Stealing from the button gets repopped a lot more often than the people stealing from the cut off it seems. Use that with your tight image and it will take down pots easier.

Pick on people's big blinds that are folding continuously. You can raise from middle/late middle on them easier than stealing off of big stacks or aggressive players that may be in the blinds when you're the button, because they dont have any money in the pot to defend.

Yes you take more of a chance of people running into hands, but it also doesnt look as suspicious as constantly attacking from the button.