Moving up the Ladder or going for the win

Just wanted to know what everyones stratagies are deep in a mtt.

Recently found myself 4 1/2 hours into a MTT 9 players left (from 135) was 7th in chips with approx 7 Big Blinds and on the button. folded round to me with pocket 6's so I auto pushed. called by the large stack in the small blind (who hit the river with 1 of his 2 overcards) and BB folded with a lower stack than me. Giving that there were 3 players with smaller stacks than me would you have avoided this situation and tried to progress up the winnings ladder or played in the same way in an attempted to win the thing.

BTW walked away with $11 from a $4 buy in so feel a bit peed at struggling through that far and that long for not much gain, although haven't enjoyed a game of poker that much in a long time.

I am one for going for the win and regardless if there were a couple of people slightly under you, they could make their move the next round and be ahead of you. I agree that you needed to make a move with that hand, but pushing may have been much. Probably should have raised it up to maybe 3x BB and then pushed on the flop since no overcards flopped. Good job cashing though.

There's not too much you can do at the final table with the blinds that high. I'd say that it wasn't a bad move, you could have easily of stolen the blinds or won the hand and been up in chips. Sometimes that's just the way it goes. Maybe a raise would have been sufficient, but at 3x the big blinds you'd be pot committed anyway!

I feel its usually the correct play to go for the win, the payout structures escalate quite quickly as you progress

The example you gave it sounds like you just got unlucky , presumably you made your move based on both your cards and how your felt opponents would play, you always have to take chances when the stacks are small versus the blinds at least you had a race it's a sickner when you play the calculated steal and run into a monster held by the tightest player on the table

I play multi-table SNG's with say 45-90 entrants and 6-9 spots paying, you can play for an hour and a half using your patience and judgement building a stack playing the opposition as well as your own cards, then you can have 20 minutes of shove and fold poker where every decision you make is for multiple buy ins with small stacks looking to double up and the big stacks seeing huge pot odds even with rag hands,

I think the whole argument of playing to win vs playing to cash is bogus. Chris Ferguson put it better than I could.

Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker - Poker Tips: Tips From the Pros: 6th August 2008

A lot of people who say they are "playing to win" are actually just gambling, and are decreasing their chances of both cashing and going deep.

here's the hand history-

** Hand # 1034653689 starting - 2008-08-19 03:09:17
** $4 High Stack NLHE Freezeout[1682197]:Table 9 [Multi Table Hold 'em] (6000.00|12000.00 NL - MTT) real money
kidder65 sitting in seat 1 with 22770.08
magn7 sitting in seat 2 with 22280.00
Mr_C_eM sitting in seat 3 with 41247.92
rubble sitting in seat 4 with 106396.03
IANMONT sitting in seat 5 with 65900.00
2cowboys sitting in seat 6 with 64819.68
Weave1 sitting in seat 8 with 166373.58
Fatstu70 sitting in seat 9 with 32202.40[Dealer]
fatman1266 sitting in seat 10 with 129010.31
fatman1266 posted the small blind - 3000.00
kidder65 posted the big blind - 6000.00
** Dealing cards to Fatstu70: 6h, 6d
magn7 folded
Mr_C_eM folded
rubble folded
IANMONT folded
2cowboys folded
Weave1 folded
Fatstu70 went all-in - 32202.40
fatman1266 called - 32202.40
kidder65 folded
fatman1266 shows: As, 10h
** Dealing the flop: Kc, 3s, 9s
** Dealing the turn: 7c
** Dealing the river: Ad
fatman1266 wins 70404.80 from the main pot

I've actually only got 5 BB and 2 stacks lower than me. Table was extremely tight and picking up the blinds would of been fine.

I'm not doubting the push, as I am ideally looking for a chance to double up. I was just wondering if I could/should of been more patient and maybe waited for 1 or 2 more players to drop out and probably double my winnings.

If there were 3 players with smaller stacks than me I would not have made the play you made (just my own personal judgement, I dont think there is a right and wrong here).
I suppose an alternative play would be to just raise say 1 bet, then see the flop, then depending on overcards, go all in?