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The Three Stage Theory Of Online Tournament Play - Part 3
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The final part of our article on dividing up a poker tournament into three stages deals with late play, when you are already in the money but looking for much more. This is a time to capitalize when many of those around you are satisfied. If you maintain your hunger and your focus here it will make all the difference to your bottom line.
Late Play is defined as being "in the money". Perhaps you have reached the last 50 players in a multi-table event, or you are in the final 3 of a single table sit-and-go tournament. Now your style of play must change again, for the third time, to take advantage of this situation. Remember that there are players who are happy just to have reached this point. A lot of players are just hanging on, either literally in terms of short stacks, or mentally in terms of maintaining focus.
This is very true of online poker tournaments especially. Their concentration and focus will be poor. They are vulnerable to attack. Successful late play revolves around attacking players that have fewer chips than you do. Do not challenge opponents who have more chips than you, unless you are unequivocally certain that you have the best hand. If there is any doubt in your mind you must fold. If you hold AQ suited, and the tournament chip leader puts you all-in you must fold. Does he hold JJ or 10s? Possibly, but it does not pay you to find out. You should never be willing to draw against someone who has the power to eliminate you. You can only challenge those who are weaker than you.
You also need to know that it is not your responsibility to remove every other player in the tournament. This is especially true if you are a chip leader. Let the weak knock each other out. Let other players take unnecessary risks. Your job is to protect your stack, to grow that stack by pressurizing weaker players, and to stay in the tournament until it is heads-up. When you get down to the final 2 you must understand that either player is usually a maximum of 3 hands away from winning the event, regardless of the difference in chip count when the heads-up stage begins. What this means for you is that it is pointless to take huge risks prior to this stage in order to accumulate chips. You can take risks to eliminate opponents who have fewer chips than you do, but otherwise you have to focus on staying in the tournament.
There are substantial differences between coming third and coming first in a sit and go online poker tournament: 10% of the prize pool as opposed to 50% of that prize pool. Finishing 3rd will tide you over and it is a profitable result, but you need to make that transition and cash in 2nd or 1st, which means playing solid until you are heads-up and then getting super-aggressive at the death. Heads up there are no bad starting hands, only bad flops. Remember that, and you'll finish first a lot more times than you finish second.
Related Poker Articles And News Items:
> Calling All Ins With Small Pairs - The Folly!
> Online Poker Tournament Strategy - The Absent Opponent
> Evaluating Starting Hands In Tournament Poker
> Poker Tournament Bankrolls
> The Three Stage Theory Of Online Tournament Play - Part 2
> The Three Stage Theory Of Online Tournament Play - Part 1
> Refining The Gap Concept For Online Tournaments
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