Joined: May '12
Location: Slovenia
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 35
So, I have a general idea of final table play.
I made FT 3 times in the past 2 hours, I once finished 3rd and 5th twice. So I get the general idea of the play up to about 4-5 players, but then my strategy gets screwed, since the whole three times, it was just open shoving pre-flop. So I'm wondering, what are the general hand ranges at this stage of the game, and what are the cards you should open shove with? I'm thinking any K8+ suited, any Ace, things like that ...
Joined: Mar '12
Location: Netherlands
Age: 51 (M)
Posts: 617
better stay thight if the tables thight...
better get loose if you see others are loose...
in my opinion , best is to be thighter then the rest of table, let em kill each other...at that stage i just want to reach HU ..for 1rst prize...and trust me ,even if you are 1/5 down in chips HU
you can still win,,,depends on your HU-game and some good cards do help a lot ...
Joined: May '08
Location: Germany
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 6786
Of cause it is a push fest, if the blinds are high and the stacks are low. There is simply no more room to play poker anymore. Push lighter, and even open up your calling range a bit.
Joined: Jan '11
Location: Romania
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 48
it depends on how the rest of the players play. if they play tight you play loose agresive and steal blinds, if they try to steal blinds every hand you play tight and when you get a premium card (two face cards or a pair you go all in. in this stage u made in the money and you play to win the tournament
Joined: Feb '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 5712
As usual youbhave to give much consideration to what is going on around you. Analize what the others are doing and counter their styles to give you an edge. Luck plays a big part here. thenother night i was in finalmthree and itvwas a real shove fest so when i got AK s it looked like a pretty good hand....as it was we ended up all in toghether and lost to 94o. You have to be brave and acceptndefeat when it comes but glory innthe victory when you get it.
Joined: May '08
Location: Netherlands
Age: 53 (M)
Posts: 6197
Posted by uhhcallmi: better stay thight if the tables thight...
better get loose if you see others are loose...
Eurmmm...., i have no idea where you got this information but its totally crap.
When table is loose then play tight, when table is tight you play loose, very simple.
When blinds are really high i try to be the most loose player on the FT. Its not bad when blinds are enormous to play like a maniac. Remember that the maniac mostly is first out or win the MTT.
Joined: Aug '12
Location: Slovakia
Age: 36 (M)
Posts: 688
depends on your stack and blinds.. If you have like 50 BB there is no reason to "panic" and playing K8 suitted just because your opponents are doing it... Wait for better cards and then call his K10 off suit or something like that And ofcourse its still about odds...
Joined: May '08
Location: Lithuania
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 10090
a lot depends on what limits you are playing (the higher the buy-in, generally the better the players), what structure tournament has: is it hyper/turbo or regular one...how big is your stack compared to other player/ blinds and how your opponents play- are they aggressive, or maybe they are passive: so i guess there is no "one correct strategy"- you have to adapt to the situation imo
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Portugal
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 4827
I concentrate more about position and chip rank than about the cards, it will all depend on your situation when you get to a final table of an MTT. If you get there leading, or in 2nd or 3rd, you better keep more tight, letting others dye for themselves. On the other side, if you get there in 7th, 8th or 9th, you have to run to get more chips, so you should take in consideration position in every hand, and be more loose aggressive, risking more with not-that-good hands to take pots before showdown. We all know anything can happen and there are always exceptions to the rules, but, hey, that’s part of the game!
Joined: Nov '11
Location: Romania
Age: 34 (M)
Posts: 754
in my opinion, you need to play with strong hands only, and to watch them how they play, so you can bluff sometimes, to take some cheaps. But mostly play strong hands and not hands only because you have an A , K ... like 6 , 7 , 8...
Joined: Mar '12
Location: Netherlands
Age: 51 (M)
Posts: 617
doomdy has given me bad response ,telling me i give wrong info on this mather..
probably he is right..a weakness of mine is that i sometimes say something but exctualy if in that situation i play different...
however i am pretty content with my final table strategy...how i aproach it ..what hands i play and how thight or loose i am in certain situations...
so ,sorry if the info is incorrect ,how to play on final table...
all i can say is ,that i am pretty thight ,but willing to put all my chips in at any situation.... of course ,if i shove i make sure i have something nice...
Joined: Jun '10
Location: Belgium
Age: 51 (M)
Posts: 1457
Posted by qzmag: in my opinion, you need to play with strong hands only, and to watch them how they play, so you can bluff sometimes, to take some cheaps. But mostly play strong hands and not hands only because you have an A , K ... like 6 , 7 , 8...
Well if you only play strong hands when you are left with 3 other players , the blinds will kill you.
The others will raise with less strong hands and are gonne steal the blinds. If you re only play strong hands you re loosing stack.
And for your opponents it will be easy to see you are folding that much thah if you raise they can assume what you ll have .
There are many things to consider when playing the final table, but the one thats most important is the size of your stack in relation to the blinds. If you are the shortstack you have nothing to lose by going all in from late position with any two cards. However, bear in mind if players have lower stacks than you, its more profitable to wait and let them bust out first.
Where many players screw up is having hands like AK in early position, and shove the lot in pre flop. Unless you are shortstacked this can be fatal because you will get called with low pairs and you are then drawing. Only open shove with AK if you are in late position OR your stack is so low you have no option.
I totally disagree that if the table is loose you should play loose, and if its tight play tight. This is completely wrong IMO. If its loose then tighten up. There is more value to be gained by letting others KO each other as I found out once. Four players left in, I had JJ. Player UTG shoved, the second player called, I folded and the BB called. Had I called I would have lost the hand and finished 4th. As it was, I folded, the bigstack won the hand, and I ended up £600 better off by folding. Consideration should be given to what you stand to gain by folding as opposed to what you stand to lose if you call and don't win.
Secondly, you need to consider the payout structure. If you double up, will you gain a far greater prize than if you sit and let others get KOd. This is never more important than in big MTTs on Pstars where the jumps in prize money get bigger and bigger each KO. If doubling up quickly means you could find yourself £400 better off, you have to weigh up whether you are gaining value. Why risk everything if all you will win is an extra $20. However an extra $500 is well worth considering.
I have a couple of rules that I use when playing final tables and they serve me pretty well
1) Never call a bigger stack with a pair lower than JJ unless you are down to less than 7 BBs.
2) Raise every button if you have 20+ BBs.
3) Call a shortstack with any pocket pair or any ace with a kicker higher than an 8
4) Flat call with AK if the player before you has raised and you have more than 20 BB. If you have less than 20 go all in.
5) If you get to less than 10 BBs then shove from late position, cross your fingers and pray....
And ofcourse its still about odds...
