Late-Stage Tournament (MTT) Bullying

You'll often find me playing in one of the large entry MTTs on PokerStars (usually 1500-3000 entrants); more often than not I end up in the money and lately I've been making it to the much later stages of the tourney (Top 100, Top 50 and Top 20). (For the record I haven't made final table yet in one of these ultra-large MTTs).

My strategy early is to stick to quality hands and try to double up. I rarely go all-in before I see the flop because I hate coin flips and will only do that if I have AA or KK--that's it. I won't even jump all-in with AK. So I'm playing fairly tight. In the middle stages I don't shift my strategy that much except that I become more aggressive picking up the blinds and antes pre-flop.

I'm having trouble finding my footing in the later stages of the tourney (I'd say as soon as I hit the Top 100). I find that guys are much more aggressive and uncooperative about blind-stealing. I'm also seeing a LOT more bluffing going on. Guys going all-in with two diamond cards when the board is filled with hearts kind of thing. And generally there's a lot more pre-flop raising with garbage in an attempt to steal the blinds/antes.

So I need some advice & pointers on the best way to 1) not only avoid all the bullying that's going on but 2) to find the best strategy to make it to the final table. I feel that in the late stages, sticking to premium hands and playing tight poker has many downsides because of the size of blinds/antes.

Any strategy guides on late-stage MTTs is much appreciated.

Well I certanly look for advantages in mylate tournament play.
It of course depnds on numerous factors such as chip stack,position,table image etc etc...
I usually tend to pick my spots carfully in late stages and change my style quite often.
If the table is tight play loose,if loose play tight,and wait for your spots.
If I have a good amount of chips I will tend to tighten up a bit and again choose my spots to bully.

Bully back at your opponents! If you are noticing that a certain player is raising with those dumbass hands, then come over the top of him if no one else is behind you and, unless he doesn't want to stay in the tournament for long, he will possibly fold. By just sitting around and waiting for premium hands, you run the risk of having no chips by the time you get it.

If you have a big stack and can afford to lose a little, push people around. If you have some middle stacked limpers, raise it up a bit and a lot of the time they will fold, because they don't want to drop down to a short stack if they lose, because they aren't in huge danger right now. Short stacks might call/go all-in on you when you raise into them because they need something to happen, and large stacks might call just because it won't hurt their stack too much and if they hit, might be a payday... Try bullying the middle stacks the most.

The end of a tournament is not about technique. Throw that out the window. It's about survival, pushing back and re-stealing your stolen money. People are playing less than premium hands aggressively, as they should. When you get a better than marginal hand, either go waaay over the top or shove it in.

Whoever has a bigger stick and hits the hardest is the one that survives. Try to pick on the medium stacks with stealing. Attack the big stacks when you have a real hand. That's about as much technique as you need to know.

Oh yeah, to see this in action....rail the later stages of the $75 buy-in 45 person tourney's. The last two tables is about stealing. re-stealing. pushing and shoving.

Lastly, hopefully by the end of the tournament you will have observed your opponents and know something about how they play. This is really important. Some players you can bully with ATC, some you need to wait until you have something.

Good luck.

I have trouble in late play. I am not sure if I let my opponents take advantage of me too much. I guess I get too scared, but there is no way that there cards can be that good all of the time.