Final Table Advice

[SixgunSam]

Thanks in large part to the advice on this forum, I've been making final tables more frequently, but my game seems to go out the window when I get there.

Friday night, 10 NLH touney on stars, I get to the final table with the second biggest chip stack and bust out in 6th. This morning, I get to the final table of the $50 NLH tourney in 6th position and bust out in 8th.

What should be my mindset here? At this point, every hand seems like a do or die. I either lock up and play too tightly or I get involved in a marginal hand and wind up risking way too much. Should I tighten up, loosen up or what? How hard should I be defending my blinds? I'm not even sure what answer I'm looking for here, but if some of the successful tourney players could give me any advice on how they approach the final table -- general or specific, I would apperciate it.

[AceKQJT]

Well, here's my 2 cents:

First off, I don't do much calling at the final table. I'm either folding or raising (unless I think I am trapping). How MUCH raising or folding depends a lot on my stack size and how tight the other players at the table are playing. Some final tables are all-in fests, and I tend to stay out of the way except for premium hands. Other final tables are full of guys who just want to make it another notch or 2 up the ladder. On these tables, I'll open raise with any 2 paints, any PP, and A-x (where x > 7). I try to steal the blinds 2 or 3 times a round.

Of course, if you are short stacked, you can't afford to steal a lot, so you'll have to play pretty tight, and put all your chips in when you open.

I guess the answer to your question is gonna have to be ambiguous:

You are going to have to read the table, and adjust your play to how tight and how aggressive the table is playing. You'll also need to be very conscious of who is in the blinds, and how they are playing.

Keep in mind that the table may start very tight and passive, yet become loose and aggressive as time goes on. You need to be able to change your style to take advantage of the table dynamics. It just takes practice.

--Casey

[SixgunSam]

Thank you very much for the response.

I seem to get in trouble more often than not when I am defending my blinds. I will resteal every so often if I think they aren't that strong, but more than once this has come back to bite me. You've got 20k in the blinds, and a stack of 120k, you look down and see J9off and need to call 40k more to see a flop. Those are the tricky parts that confound me. Im in with a marginal hand out of position, but then again I can't just yield my blinds, can I? Do I re-raise all-in? Do I call and see a flop? Do I fold? After analyzing my last few final tables, I think that playing out of the blinds is my big leak, so maybe I should ask for advice on that.

[kingele]

in these situations, as the BB, you need a fairly good hand to call a raise of that size since it is a large chunk of your stack and if you miss the flop and check, the opponent is sure to bet. I would fold and wait until the button so I can be the one doing the stealing.

[JeanieJ]

It seems to me you are having trouble changing from full table to short handed. A lot of players tend to loosen up when they reach the final table. If you are fairly well off in stack size, defending your blind isn't nearly as important with marginal hands.

Reading the table of course is always important. If the table is loose you play the oposite, play tight. If it's tight then you can loosen up your hands a little more, As someone else stated.

My basic strategy at the final table is to let the other players knock each other out. I haven't been at very many tight final tables, so I sit back and let them go at it. Eventually there will only be a few players left and you can change gears. Once the table gets down to 4 or less I tend to try a few trickier moves than earlier. Raising on the button, stealing blinds, Raising face cards etc.

You'll get it down. No worries

[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]Jeanie [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

[AceKQJT]

With a decent stack, I'll fold marginal hands to a 3x raise, even if I think the guy is making a move. Position is very important at the final table (not that it isn't important all the time, but perhaps more so at the final tabl).

Fold to the steals a few times, then steal when you have position.

--Casey

Note: If it's 3 handed, I probably push the J-9o.