Late Game
The late game starts when you make it into the money. If
you're near the bottom of the rankings you should play this
stage like the early game or the mid game. If you're high on
the ranking, you should play only group 1 cards and
conservatively. Your stack should be able to last close to
the final table. Remember, at this stage any chips you lose
will put you further away from the higher money spots and
those chips will be used against you. You should be playing
almost nothing, you only need to try to steal 1 set of
blinds per round, remember there's ante's to contend with so
you are constantly losing chips so you need to keep up. The
average at this point doesn't matter as you're in the money.
You only need to watch how many people are left until the
prize money increases so focus more on your opponents play
styles. If you are average in chips don't squander your
chips as the blinds and ante's are really high. Stick to
group 1 hands and AK AQ. Even JJ is not that strong and
unless you have position you have to play aggressive. Don't
be afraid to call a low stack's all in if you have a group 1
or even group 2 hand if it's cheap meaning less than half
your stack. The chance is worth it since a jump in one
position in the ranking can means more money. The basic rule
at this stage is that all large stacks will bully the low
stack on the table, especially if you're 1 to 3 blinds away
from being blind killed (put all in by the blinds).
They will raise your blind with nothing depending on the
ratio between your stack and theirs. If you're holding face
cards or an ace with anything else, you will have to all in them and hope for the best, at
this point it won't matter as the blinds will put you all in
soon anyways. If you're mid stack don't be too eager to call
or steal blinds, your chips are precious. Of course there is
an exception to the rule, like if they're sitting out or if
they've been folding every hand. If they call, you may be in
trouble.
Remember, sometimes being low stack is not all bad
especially if you're in the money and on a conservative
table or if the stacks are roughly double yours, nobody
wants to lose half their stack to double you up. You need to
be aggressive on these tables. Be careful of the overall
chip leader though. This theory is the same as in the late,
mid game where the low stack doubles up and puts pressure on
the mid stacks and the game opens up. If you're chip leader
on your table, recognize this and adjust your game
accordingly. Let me point this out again, being the chip
leader by a large enough margin and putting the lowest stack
all in is beneficial to the chip leader. They either win (by
the low stack folding) or if the low stack calls and gets
busted out. If the low stack wins, they double up and put
pressure on the other mid-stacks. Yes, your chips will be
used against you later but the moving up in position gets
you closer to the bigger money if not already putting you in
a higher paying rank so it's worth it. Always, be on top of
the chip stacks on your table as one mistake can get you
busted out or blind killed.
Once you get to the final table it will usually turn ugly
and many people will start to play bingo thinking it's all
luck from this point on. Just keep playing tight,
conservative and let the bingo players battle it out. That's
not of importance, as an increase in ranking equals an
increase in dollars. There usually is not much blind
stealing at this stage so raises will usually mean a good
hand unless it's a desperation move. At the final table you
should try to notice each players style and adjust your play
accordingly, single out the tight players so you have
someone to steal blinds from. If you're dead last, everyone
is gunning for you so whatever you choose to play, play it
aggressive because usually at least one person will call so
make sure your hand is a good one to begin with. If you find
yourself in this position, think back to the one or two
hands that you had a feeling you should or
shouldn't have played and don't make that mistake again but
don't fret over it, it happens to everyone. Almost all sites
has a function to make notes on a player, make sure you use
them to mark the loose players, the bluffers and the tight
players just in case you run into them again. An important
point to remember while on the final table to think about
your chips as, just that, chips, not as money. For example,
in the beginning of the tournament when the blinds are
50/100 and you have AK, you go all in for 1500 chips that is
15 times the big blind. So in the later round (final table)
when the blinds are 5K/10K, you shouldn't be hesitant on
making a 150K play.
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