Best way to handle late stages of tournament?

[Gian Totaro]

How to face a final phase of an online tournament? Either freeroll or paid.
Remaining at least 27 players. I think it is the most difficult part of the tournament, there will always be those who play the best or not...
You have to see every detail that happens, prize jumps, obviously patience, and sometimes you have to take risks depending on how many BB you have, etc. And I forgot something, in this part of the tournament you also have to identify each player at the table, to be able to take advantage at any time.

 

[amonlima]

Generally speaking, this part of the tournament is where players are tighter, and this is where we should be playing more aggressively. Like, opening the open range a little more, for example, there is a lot of push/fold in this phase of the tournament.

 

[YLAN]

At the last stages of the tournament, after playing for several hours, I am tired & rambunctious. I need to be more patient and keep my cool.

 

[rhoudini]

Hey Gian Totaro, how are you doing?
I find it really difficult too, but at least for me, the most difficult thing is being patient, as our friend YLAN said.
But that's the time when we need to be patient and try to find the best spots.
We need to play tight (but not scared!), because the value of each chip matters in this stage of the tournament.
If you are the big stack, things get a lot easier. If you are short stack, sadly there is not much to do. But do not be anxious to shove. At this point, if you have passed to much time in the table, you have a good clue of your opponents.
In micro and freerolls, it is very unlikely that your opponents are bluffing, therefore try to play by value when facing a raise, for example.
Remember: if you have an average stack, this is the time when position is more important than ever! Stealing blinds will be crucial in this phase.