NL Hold'em Tournament END game strategy

I think I am a decent player and after playing for many months online, I have come to the fabulous realization that bankroll management is a must. My next realization is that I may need to improve my endgame. The two almost go hand-in-hand. Playing in lower buy-in MTT's is allowing me to play a bit looser and I have been cashing because of this. However, when the tournament is whittled down to the final table, and final few, I seem to get gobbled up by big raises and blinds.

Does anyone care to share their experiences at the final table and winning strategies you employed?

Thanks!

Make sure all the good players are knocked out of the tourney before the final table

In reality, stay aggressive. Put the other players to decisions for their tourney life. Try as hard as you can not to put your tournament life at risk without a strong holding. And just run good. And dont run bad.

Once you reach the final table unless you are top stack by a good margin you can't wait to long for just the premium hands 'cause the blinds are large and come around fast....but a little paitence will go a long way here ...don't feel bad to fold.... pay attention and gather quick info on the other players that you have not seen before final "T"... whos passive/aggressive/loose or tight etc. where are you in posistion to them and the button...when in posistion with better than average cards put some pressure on the blinds/players behind you to call....if you've got top cards after the flop keep the pressure up to make the others choice's much harder to try and out draw you....if your short stacked the best you can do is get your chips in with premium cards and hope they hold up.

I've only made about 15 final tables. I've won 4 out of those 15 times and seconds and third twice. If its a freeroll patience will pay off in my experience because people like to make moves after reading that you should steal 3 times every 2 rounds. Well if they steal the blinds a couple times and then get involved with someone with a hand they often end up loosing all those steals (hopefully to you if you been patient).

In cash Tourneys patience also goes a long way. But if it gets folded to you on the button or cutoff and you're holding an ace or king high, fire a bullet if you've noticed the blinds are medium stacks trying to move up the payroll.

I dont mess with big stacks or small stacks because they will call. Only fire blanks at medium stacks. Fire real bullets at the big and small stacks who will gamble and be aggressive with you.

Those are not really my thoughts though-they come from Sklansky aqnd Harrington mostly. Ive watched great footage of Jon Turner stealing the blinds and getting called by a small stack when he was holding 92 on the button. What that told me is: if you wanna win you have to learn to fire with nothing sometimes. I try and keep a math check on myself to see if it is worse in the long run being aggressive or being patient.

Hope this helps. Im also writing a thread on Harrington on Holdem workbook and would appreciate anybodies comments there as well. Thanks

in most small buy in MTTs the money is in the top 3 spots, so i woud play too frisky and risk my stack if it is big enough. However having said that, u should be making smaller preflop raises (2.5BB) with ur strong hands but also using ur position (BTN & CO) to steal the blinds urself with marginal hands that u would probably dump to a reraise (JT, QT 98s etc.)

Dont change your game to much at the end. Keep doing what you did to get there. You need to open up your starting hand selection and put the pressure on the others. You need to pick and choose who you want to be in a hand with. Put the pressure on short stacks and those who are close to you in chips. These are the ones who will tighten up and try to break the bubble or move up on the payout structure. Dont get invoved in a huge pot with the big stacks unless you have a premium hand or the nuts.

I agree with all ther posts above. However another view that could be taken for when your the short stack at the table is to tighten right up and pick spots with premium cards. Because the cash increases so dramatically at the final table by tightening up and playing few hands you will often see a few people crashing out before you are forced to make that tournament move for your life significantly boosting how much you cash for.

Use your position!! The way i have improved my MTT strategy!!

And discipline as well. Which i still lack now a little bit.

Playing 1 table and heads up sng's will prepare you somewhat for final table play. If you are short stacked then you have to steal before your stack gets so small that you have no fold equity. If you are bigger stack you have to sit back a bit and pick people off with your better hands and not raise weak cards because the shortstacks will be looking to double up if they are any good.

I wrote some stuff about final table play a few weeks ago. I hope you find it helpful.