very unique 1 table tourney situation, didnt know how to play it

O.K., Im playing a single table tourney. I am the chip leader. I have been very aggressive stealing the blinds. There are five players left. The two players to my left are on life support. Blinds were 75 150. They both had around 700-900. So here is the problem. I was stealing the blinds like crazy. But when I realized that they had almost no chips left, I laid off stealing their blinds thinking that they had to make a move. I did not want to raise with hands like 82, 74, 63, thinking that one of them was going to go all in. Neither of them did for around three rounds leaving them with almost nothing. So I finally raise one of them with the best hand and he calls me and wins. My question is, did I do the right thing by laying off of the gas pedal or did I screw up? Has anyone else had this experience. For a side note, one of the guys I laid off of took me out one out of the money. Also another side note, almost every tournament I play, at some point I am the chip leader, and almost never cash. I dont know if I am the unlukiest guy in the world, but I never win coin flips when it counts. Should I lay off until I am in the money? The problem I have with that is, I was not the chip leader by laying off. Confused, any insights would be appreciated. Thanks guys.

you still should have done some pushing to get what chips you can. At this point they will come to a point where they will shove with ATC, but as long as you have 2 live cards you still have a chance at winning the hand. It sounds like you reach a point in tourneys where you become ultratight trying to make the money, then soon you find yourself just trying to survive to make the money. Dont let off the gas, keep playing your game that got you to being the chip leader

Learn about ICM. Proper push/folding decisions in STT are entirely ICM based.

With those blinds being 1/5 or so of there stack I would continue to push..If you raise the bb twice he is down from 900..too 600 and at worst all in ur 35-50 chance agianst a random hand..I would continue stay agressive on the button with 75-90 percent of my hands

Hi, welcome to Cardschat.

The answer is it's impossible to really give a decent answer.

You're far better off posting some hands of marginal folds that you made in the tourney and asking for feedback on them directly rather than asking such a general question.

totally agree with Belgo u need to study endgame strategy and gain an

understanding of I.C.M. independent chip model this will take u out of the Stn

go wilderness and plug a big leak in your stngo game GL and study your end

game plenty of good links and posts regarding this issue so have a look around.

Your early and mid game strategy works a lot of times because everyone is tight to get into the money. The problem is that you've built up such a LAG image that anyone who wants to double up probably waits until you try stealing in late stages. You then probably go on tilt as your BR dwindles or you panic and tighten up too much when other players start catching up in chips.

My recommendation to you (if your are not planning to change your early/mid game strategy) is to continue your aggressive strategy but when you see some of the short stack blinds get to 2-5 BB only steal with above average hands. Nothing worse than Qx or JT offsuit.

When I see somebody stealing, then I look to trap them. If you are obviously stealing, then get knocked out short of the money, I suspect that good players are setting you up, and you keep falling for it.

I agree with chipsa. Sounds like you're pretty LAG early and mid stages of sngs.

Against you I would play fairly tight cause you obviously are just trying to steal blinds with rag hands. My guess is most of the time, you are raising PF with bad hands and are finally getting called down when the blinds are big enough to damage to any size stack. Thus, you really only have to lose one race situation to put your stack in danager from the blinds. ( I hope that makes sense)

My question was, when I have two players directly behind me with less than five big blinds, should I push with questionable hands. My thinking was that they would move all in with any two cards, which is what they should have done. I couldnt believe that they made no move for three rounds of blinds. The reason I did not move in with bad hands was because I thought they were going to play it right and move all in. By the way, all of you who posted they were waiting for you to raise and make a move, really, these supposed good players you guys were talking about were about to be eliminated. It is one thing to take a stand when you have some chips, but these guys were on life support. Any good player would have made a move much sooner. I dont know what all you guys are talking about. I had a two to one chip lead over the next player, but I lost every coin flip, like always. The only thing I was wondering was if I should have kept raising their blinds and not have worried if they were going to push all in, even with the horrible hands I was getting. I appreciate all of your guys input. Thanks a lot.

After reading all of the responses again, I agree with pokerdude. I laid off when I should have kept my foot on the gas and it cost me.

You said it yourself.
How did you become the chip leader?!?!
Just keep on playing like this. And if you realize that they are starting to make moves you can lay down some hands. But also those hands can win the pot and eliminate another player.... You probably got 2 live cards...

So let me get this straight... basically you're upset because you got called down with a weaker hand in a coinflip situation and they won? .... the problem here is your LAG table image, when you steal all the time you're not going to get respect when it counts