Need help flipping my game at mid tournament !!!

I currently play a lot of free rolls and naturally play pretty tight in the starting stages, this means I normally get to the last 100 or so in a 6000 player free roll.

I like to keep an eye on the tournament average chip count as I play and I find that when I get to the last 100 or so I am short on chips due to playing pretty tight.

I know I need to flip to a more aggressive game at a certain point but how do I know when is a good point and how can I be aggressive without going all-in loads and looking like a moron.


Any help with this would be great.

Thanks.

When I play STT this is my strat. Never try to steal blinds in the begginning. Try to steal blinds in LP when the big blind is 6% of the starting stack. At that point I get more and more aggressive in earlier and earlier position as the blinds rise. But since you are playing in a MTT where the table's going to be full in these stages, you need to keep your starting hand range still relatively tight.

Don't think of it as an "on or off" or "night and day" type of change. Don't make it that drastic. DON'T ABANDON THE GAME THAT GOT YOU THIS FAR!!! You still need to play smart and relatively tight until well into the final table when it gets shorthanded. You just need to be a little more aggresive and start mixing in some blind steals and re-steals. I personally think re-steals are more important than straight blind steals-because they get you more chips and its slightly less obvious. These moves are basically just to keep your chip count up so that you still have chips when you actually pick up a hand. I also chase less. If you pay attention alot of hands don't go past the flop and most of the ones that do either end in check-check or an all-in. There are reasons for this. By the sounds of it you do pretty decent in these you just need to tweak some things. Don't get discouraged when you bust yourself stealing the first few times, you are just going to have to learn to pick your spots. When you pick a spot though GO FOR IT. Ever heard the saying "In order to survive you must be willing to die"? In these late stages the blinds and antes are so big that you HAVE TO BE ACTIVE! Like I said it sounds like you do good in these so I think you'll figure it out, just play around with different things and see what works and what doesn't. Just don't be afraid to go broke. NEVER PLAY SCARED - PLAY SMART!!!!! Hope this helps. Good Luck

u mean play small ball poker ?

I believe he means.... instead of just trying to steal the blinds... look to 're-steal'... steal the raise from the guy trying to steal the blinds (ie. a guy in late position has been regularly raising it up from CO or BTN almost every time it's been folded to him... put in a raise of ~3-4x his bet as a 're-steal'... or if your stack is between ~14-23bb's... just shove it ALLIN to 're-steal'.. chances are he won't be looking you up).

You an pick up alot more chips from a 're-steal' then just a steal (obviously). Some tables it's difficult to find oppurtunities to steal the blinds.

To OP... personally I will very rarely look at what the average stack is and all that..... it's not really too relevant to how I'm going to play my cards. What is far more important is - the size of my stack compared to the size of the blinds & antes as this is what will greatly influence my play. To me it matters little if I am slightly below or slightly above average... my stack is a tool I use on the table and it's size directly affects the type of hands I can play in certain situations.

Best advice I think I can give ya... Read Harrington On Holdem Vol.2 - EndGame Play (but read Vol.1 first as there will be alot of reference to principles that were discussed in Vol.1). In it you will find lots of info. on inflection pts., mulitiple inflection pts., bubble play, the value of "M", etc. etc.
Read the book and you'll be ahead of the field in the micro stakes anyways.... in mid. to higher buyins you'll find that the large majority of winning Tournament players have read the HOH series (sometimes quite a long time ago).

I think you have to be constantly observing what the other people on the table are doing and how you're being perceived. The range of stack sizes relative to each other vs. the blinds are also hugely important.

It's kind of difficult in these freeroll MTT to establish a table image because you're constantly being moved around and its hard to get a read on players. Still, once you have figured out who can be pushed around- play those players agressively once you have position on 'em.

i look for a few things before i turn on the heat. the 1st is the size of my stack relative to the big blind if its <15BBs its time to play push/fold poker. another thing i look for is if there is a walk. that is if th big blind just picks up the pot because no one entered the pot. this is when i start to steal ever time i can from LP. also i look for someone taking the pot down with a min raise. these all point to the fact people are tightening up towards the bubble and a clear sign to start to loosen up.

Omg I just typed a whole message and hit the wrong button..lol.Anyways here is the point ....always use ur gut as your primary weapon and as you get past the 500k hand mark you will know that the stats and odds are just a portrait of what should be.My gut has rewarded me with my first cash from fulltilt of $500,not much to some but a much needed ahhhhh for me.gl and keep your chin up

If your M gets under 5 you have to play many hands.
Look at your opponents and try to steal some blinds using your image if possible.
If you do not get any hands then you have to gamble with any 2 cards...