one short of the money AGAIN... PLEASE HELP

[snapfc01]

i'm pretty new to online poker... have a decent amount of live experience however... read about 10 books by now... mostly all the big ones... just started playing on stars in $11 sngs and finsih in 4th or 5th probably 60% of the time... i am winning enough to win money however if i could move from getting 4th to 3rd it'd be a huge improvement... any ideas?
PLEASE HELP lol

[snowmen]

You should describe us how is your playing method at this sng's , style of playing , etc to determine where you are failing. Good luck

[snapfc01]

throughout the early rounds i'm quiet... i play my big hands by try avoid losing much while the blinds are so low... not afraid to bet/raise the pot... just not doing it with mid pair or anything... often double my stack by the 5th round. however it seems like everyone starts knocking out the little guys and they double up to catch up to me quickly. then it often comes down to 4 or 5 players close to even chips and i often find myself being the next to go. i try to get more aggressive once we are down to 5... i'll start raising with most aces in good position or hands like kq sometimes kj. that help you at all?

[snowmen]

Tight your early game , use your reads in the last rounds and try to steal some blinds. Blind defense is very important too , but do not drive crazy just defending with trash. Good luck

[gvibes]

Also, post some bubble hands. There must be some hands where you are puzzled as to what line to take?

[lorinda]

i try to get more aggressive once we are down to 5...

Use your position, stack size and blind size to determine when to take off, not how many players are left.

Lori

[snapfc01]

sorry... i didn't clearly explain that... i take into consideration blind size, chip stack , and position... just generally speaking around when 5 players are left i get more aggressive. i do take into consideration the players left too however. for example if there are 8 left when the blinds get high and i'm a 2/1 chip leader i'm not gonna start pushing Ax b/c there is much more likely an AK or pp out there then when there are only 5 left... is this wrong thinking?

[snowmen]

When you are shorthanded , hands like Ax are good but only with position , do not overplay them and use them to steal and defend blinds if you feel weakness .Good luck