Something basic I noticed in tournament play.

I was playing a tourney.
At one point, the blinds got huge.
Let's say $3k/$6k when most stacks were under $20k.
You were going out very soon, one way or another.

Everyone was very tight, and folding except whoever was SB and BB.
Sometimes, SB would call..

Was this an opportunity to start betting?
With a marginal hand, I bet 4x the BB and got the $9k ante, which is no joke. I knew they would fold.

I remember once you're at 20BB, it's time to start shoving with anything decent. Here people were at like 2 or 3BB and were folding over and over.

This was being played wrong?

I always open up more in when I notice the table is getting tighter. Just trying to steal the blinds and antes and fold to aggression cause in this situation usually this means someone has a hand. Remember tournament poker is about survival. If you don't steal pots you will bleed out chips every orbit. A tight table is perfect to steal the pots.

You are correct. It is always good to take advantage where you see it. Betting with even a marginal hand when you are pretty sure everyone will fold to get the min-cash is a good move for the long-term, bigger cash results oriented players.

yup they were all playing it wrong- too tight
20bb is a bit much to be shoving, think 10bb is more the shove/fold point

Yep, that's when everybody is trying to hang on just long enough to cash. I often get caught with a small stack at this point and instead of gambling to increase my chips, I usually start folding just so I can at least get my buy-in back.
The thing about being short stacked at this point of the tournament is that often a large stack will force me to go all-in if I try to play my hand, so if I'm not holding the creamiest of premium starting hands then I usually won't chance it, unless it is obvious that I can't make it to the cash by checking, then, unless my gut just says 'no', in my desperation I'll play just about any ace or king regardless of the kicker.

That sounds like the perfect time to start betting and taking some free chips.

Yeah steal those easy chips but Shoving 20bb is not something I've heard before... 10 sounds good yes

All weak MTT's player makes the same mistake playing wery tight when the blinds are high, trying to gain some cash. One of the basic rule of a good Mtt player is to steal a lot when the blinds are huge.

Thanks for the feedback, and I'm glad my instinct was right.
Sounds like you have to be ok to bust near the end.

Ok, thanks, shoving at 10BB is the threshhold.
Yea, everyone was under 10BB and were playing tight.