Hand Selection/Betting in Later Rounds

[asics]

I'm a newbie and played in my first MT tournament last night on UB ($5 + .50) and have a question re hand selection and betting strategy in later rounds. When the blinds increased to 150/300 I had around 5-6K in chips (I believe around 25th place). I kept playing relatively tight and the blinds began to take a toll. When the blinds increased to 200/400 I went all in with QQ and was taken down by AA. Question: In the later rounds with a moderate stack, should you begin playing the "trouble hands," (e.g., KTo in MP) more frequently even if it's still a full table? I didn't, it seemed others were, and the blinds were starting to kill me. Also, if you play these hands, do you generally limp or is it better to play them aggressively if you are first in? Thanks for the help.

[ZootMurph]

Disclaimer: I'm a long way from being an expert.

That being said, I think you have to play more hands, and you have to play them more aggressively. Limping is the worst thing to do in the later rounds and near the money. Additionally, you have to concentrate more on making reads on players. When you get to or near the money, you have to have a read on every player at your table... that will help you make the plays you need to make to win.

So, making reads and playing every hand you decide to play like you have a pocket pair preflop are the keys to pushing through, in my opinion.

I'd love to hear more from the successful MTT players, though.

[Bernas]

When you get to that point I think you should aggresively go after the blinds. Sometimes that means raising with KTo in middle position (usually only if first in). When you raise, don't just hit minimum raise. I like to raise by 2.5 to 3 x the Big Blind. If you pick up enough of these here and there they really add up.

The problem comes when someone reraises you. A lot of the times you would be better to cut your losses and fold in this situation because it usually means the person is holding a high pair. Unless you have a read on the person that tells you otherwise.

Just my opinion.