[woodguy]

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So is it fair to say the value of position is like an upside down parabola during the tournament.... from early stages through the middle stages and finally during the final stages?

I am not discounting importance of position but I am asking whether there's a theoretical shift in its importance throughout the tournament?

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I think I know what you are getting at, but I think this is caused more by stack size, than stage of the tourney.

It just so happens that the stacks are quite shallow at the end of most online tourneys, so having the ability to "make the first bluff" after the flop becomes more important, because you are often making your opponent make a decision for his "tourney life", while you are only betting a portion of your own stack.

This happens in turbo sats too, often far from the when the seats gets handed out, due to how quickly everyone gets shallow.

If you look at a typical party tourney, at 20 tables often most everyone has less than 20BB's with 20 players left, but once it gets down to 10, the stacks get deeper, and regular positional advatages is normal, due to the fact that a lot players have enough chips to make multiple decisions on multiple streets.

Conversely, if you look at a Paradise tourney, the big stack at the FT often only has 12BB's and everyone else is 4-8. With everyone basicallly having one move (all in) most positional advantage is gone due to everyone basically having only one decision.

This highlights the need to stay aware of the stacks of your opponents.

A good example is if the BB has 8 BB's left and I have something like ATo on the button with 15BB's.

I'm probably raising all in here, so that the BB has to make one decision, and take away his ability to do a "stop & go" on me and force me to fold a missed flop, or make a tough call.

Your post brings up good points, and I think it can be summed up with that fact that, especially when stacks are shallow, you want to make sure you are the one putting in the "last raise", as often that is who wins the pot.

Regards,
Woodguy