How to play with 10BB near the end of a tourney

[hunkyrabbit]

Last night I got the closest so far to my first final table in a large MTT. I reached 15th in the stars $5+R out of 1600 players to win $270. Not too bad, but seeing that I got knocked out by a coinflip (expected) and that if I held in for just a few more places, my payday would have been significantly more.. 8k for 1st place . I want a top 3 finish soooo bad!!

The major dificulty that I'm having in the closing stages of large MTT's is playing the huge blinds and my lack of experience playing with a 10-15BB stack. What is the best strategy to take at these stages and how do you ajust your game play accordingly?


The strategy I am currently taking at these closing stages is to play an extremly tight/extremly aggresive game. Often going all-in with any premium hand.. AA-JJ, AK,AQ. The problem is I often find myself being outdrawn and losing to a coinflip decission. For example, if I were holding JJ in late position with no callers I would push only to find BB calling with AQ.. Naturally. Am I reducing my chances of winning such a hand by forcing an all-in and allowing the AQ to see all 5 cards? If I were to raise 3BB in this situation and if the BB just called, and if no ace would flop I would probabbly win the hand there. But what to do if an Ace, kind or queen flops and the BB bets out all-in? Fold and lose over 1/3 of my stack, even if i susspect a bluff? Another example. I am holding Ak in late position and raise 3xBB, BB calls. Flop shows broken board 9 high. BB checks. I do? Well this happened recently and I pushed, BB called with 79s, wins the pot and knocks me out. This is why I have chosen to push pre-flop with any major holding. I don't think this is the best play and would much rather play my 'normal' game, but with the blinds being so huge at this stage I dont know what else to do.

It would be great to hear from any regular final-table players and find out how you adjust your play at the closing stages of tournaments.