[Terry]

Tournament play isn't about BJ strategy, it's about bet sizing.

My suggestions for this short tournament:

For the first five or six hands try to bet contrarily to the others if you can. If they all start off big, bet small, if they all bet small, you go big. If their bets are all over the place, you bet small and hope the big bettors bust out quickly. If the big bettors take a big lead and then start betting small, you just have to gamble and try to pass them.

When insurance is available, tend to take odd amounts, don't just automatically put out half your bet. If you have bet 100, bet maybe 35 or any unusual amount on insurance; it makes it harder for the opponents who are trying to think about your stack in relation to theirs.

By the time you get down to five hands to go, you want to be either in first place or busted. When approaching that point, do your best to make bets that will put you in first place. Keep in mind that that doesn't always mean betting big – if you have 300 and everybody else has 400 and they all bet 200, you will be in the lead if you bet 5 and everybody loses ... if everybody wins, you can almost catch up by betting it all on the next hand.

You will see people make bets on the last hand that give them a lock; sometimes they lock themselves out. Think about what happens if we all win and what happens if we all lose; that will be the case most of the time and you can often make bets that keep you in the lead either way.

There are a lot more subtleties, but the general idea is get in the lead and stay there or to go broke trying. In such a short tournament, that will often mean busting out very early; finding yourself in 3rd or 4th place going into the last hand should be an extremely rare occurrence.

Looking back at your post – since the top three stacks among the tables also go to the final table, keep on eye on that, too. You're on the right track by having an idea of how much it generally takes to get one of those spots ... still, some days will be different and a quick jump up to take a look around might give the opportunity to get a lock on one of those spots by passing up a gamble to win your table, specifically, those times when the other two dealers have run hot and none of the players on those other tables has many chips left but your dealer has been busting a lot and second or third place on your table will be enough to lock in the money seat.

So, the general rules: Get in first place, then bet basically the same amount as everybody else to maintain your relative position. If you're not in first place, try to get there by betting contrary to the others. Think about your bet sizes; try to make bets that work if you all lose OR if you all win. If all else fails and/or the adrenaline kicks in and you just plain can't think and it's late in the tourney, bet big.

Have fun.