Tired of Second!

[PolishSwatTeam]

I've been playing in a lot of 2-3 table tournaments and I'm having no trouble making it to the final 3 or 4 but from there its a coin toss for me. I don't know how to play when there's only a couple people in the game. I tell myself "just hold off and fold a lot and make the most you can without risking much" and I usually finish top 3 sometimes first if I can catch a couple good all-ins. But is that the best way to play? It doesn't seem logical to fold so much when i could quite possibly have the best hand pre-flop. I want to be able to build my stack before heads up. Whats the best way to do this so I can have an advantage when I go heads up?

[OhBoy!]

Go back and read your post, you seem to contradict yourself at certain points. For example, you state that you're aware that folding isn't the BEST way to win a tournament when it gets short-handed and you're correct. However, you still fold because you want to make the most as possible? These are two different goals that allow for two different approaches to the game.

If you want to win and it gets down to short handed, you got to take risks with or without hands. Sometimes, the key to surviving is stealing blinds so that you don't get too low in chips where all you have left is one BB. Then it's gonna be a battle for you. Pick your spots and be aggressive. You can't wait for AA and KK in a short-handed game, you won't win. And if you do, well, you won't win like that often. Play the player.

Now, if you want to squeeze up the ladder, then folding may be your best friend. I personally don't agree with this approach but I guess every situation depends. Like if it's down to the bubble and I'm 2nd lowest in chips or even the lowest, I might just be content to fold all hands besides premiums just so I can get my money back and possibly make a little profit so that I don't feel like I 'wasted' 2-3 hrs of play.

To each his own...

[PolishSwatTeam]

[ QUOTE ]
"just hold off and fold a lot and make the most you can without risking much"

[/ QUOTE ]
the key is without risking too much. I play very tight when it comes to the last couple people expecially if I am not chip lead. I tend to play better when I am mid stack. But my strategies are all over the place. sometimes I'll experiment and play aggressive and soemtimes I'll play both tight here and loose there and it all depends. I'll look back and see how I should have been playing and I can't seem to figure which would benefit me more.

[Sam T.]

Not to sound like a jerk, but I love opponents who play like this. People are terrified of busting out just getting their buy-in back, and I guess they're thinking they just need to hang on for ten more minutes, and someone will give them more money. By the time you get to the end-game, the blinds are just huge, so if I steal 2-3 times, I've gone from small-stack to big-stack.

Once in the money, my rule of thumb in 2-table SnGs is to go for first, and settle for fourth. The pay-out is steep enough that the greater percentage of firsts you get by being aggressive make up for the fourth place bust outs.

Good luck.

[Isura]

Yes, it is a good idea to play fairly tight when on the bubble, but that's also what your opponents are thinking. This is the time to loosen up from button (and even CO sometimes) and raise it up. 2-3x BB is usually good enough against the scared players who are holding onto their precious 8BB. You'll find that plenty of time you'll sneak your way back, and all of a sudden hit a monster and are the chip leader. If you wait for the monster though and don't get though blinds, when you double up you'll still be desperately short-stacked.

[Mez]

Agree entirely, I'm very aware of how aggressive my opponents are when we're down to 3-4. Recently, I played a SNG and I was short stack with 4 players, but still raising 30% of my hands preflop because all of the others had tightened up. You end up running them over - you actually focus much more on their cards when they do call. Get aggressive. Best way that I found is to read comments on this forum.

[PolishSwatTeam]

ok, so if I play aggressive everyone is gonna see that. Now they might start folding at first but then decide to either play over-aggressive on my 9-10o, or Slow play me and end up costin me lots. Now if they re-raise my bet, with a moderate hand like J-10o, do I just call and hope I hit something on the flop? or do I bite my tongue and fold? Folding would indicate to everyone that I can be bullied. Should I wait to raise when I am BB, SB, UTG, or Button when there are just callers (no raisers?)

[kuro]

You've got to get much more aggressive on the bubble. Remember that when you're short handed with big blinds that your starting hand requirements for raising / pushing/ and calling pushs goes way down. Sometimes you're going to get it all-in with the worst hand but that's ok. You've got to remember that you're trying to maximize your profit over a series of tourneys where first place pays a disproportionately high amount rather than fold your way into third or second in this particular tourney.