Theory: Metagame on the final table

[Sat0ri]

I have recently had numerous 3rd/4th places in MTTs which is beggining to frustrate me to no end as I just miss the big money. I have been dwealing on that issue and why that repeatedly happens and found the possible cause:

My playstyle is somewhere in beteen LAG and psychopatic maniac, this usualy get me a pretty big stack by the time we reach final table but people are also very well aware of how I play by then. I can usualy adjust and switch gears when this happens, but as the final table gets short handed the optimal playstyle is quite loose. The problem is with my image people play back at me at that point a lot.

I am sure the more aggresive tournament players have faced this problem, so how do you deal with it?

ps: I generaly play 55 or 109 PP tourneys if that makes any difference

[nath]

Start being the restealer, not the stealer. Start picking off people who play back at you or 3-bet them even without premium hands. Or just plain TIGHTEN UP FOR A WHILE.

[Holdemphile]

Unless you can spot some obvious mistakes you are making in specific hands, I think you should chalk 3rd and 4th place finishes up to bad luck. You are facing considerably better competition at the FT than in the rest of the tourney, and there's alot of luck involved. Don't get so down on yourself.

Are you tangling with other big stacks with less than premium hands?

Holdemphile

[Sat0ri]

Nath, I really appreciate your advice, your posts have been a great learning tool for me, but I find one fundamental problem here:

While I play smallball, on the level on which I play I don't get pegged smallballer, I get pegged: "this guy plays crap" my big bets on later streets suffer from lack of credibility when they shouldn't. Usualy I take great advantage of this fact getting a lot of value from really good hands, this is one of the main advantages of the style.

But unfortunatly ones I am pegged that way the big bluffs like 3 bets or resteals with crap are a reciepe for disaster since people will be calling light.

On the other hand waiting for premium hands while 5-6 handed with M<10 is horribly weak so that doesn't seem too good of an option either.

[nath]

You might still be playing too many hands. Check out the final table of the 109r I posted. I open a lot of hands, fold to signs of aggression, but I'm also willing to make more marginal calls in some spots-- just enough to keep heat off me but also without exposing myself to too much risk at any one time.