In the last week alone, I've made 3 final tables, only to finish 9th, 9th, and (you guessed it), 9th! Not to mention I have a 10th. Each time I've made it with an average stack but somehow seem not to be able to get my act together. I am SO frustrated with myself after finishing 9th in the Stars $11R $20K tourney, especially since there is HUGE money to be won in that tourney. I bluffed an unimproved AK against a big stack who was slowplaying his 2s full after calling a big PF raise by me with 22. I have a tough time being patient at the final table, although before that I have a great time controlling myself and going for calculated steals. The reason why this is such a big problem for me is that all the money is to be made in the Top 3 - I am consistently finishing 7th, 8th, or 9th.

What can I do to help solve this problem? Anyone experience a similar problem? I know it may come from my inexperience, as I have only started playing MTTs seriously for the past 2 months online.

I have made 3 final tables out of my last 12 MTTs and finished 1st, 1st and 4th ($ 5.5 and $ 11 buy ins). I don’t have a big experience with final tables (I have made about 20 final tables in MTTs) but when I make it to the final table I almost never finish outside top 6. When I finish 6th-9/10th it is usually because I don’t catch any cards or because I make a stupid bluff with an unimproved AK/AT.

The only tournament book I have read is “Championship NL & PL hold’em” and it has some good points. Cloutier doesn’t recommend that you bet an unimproved AK on flop:
“The Ace-King is the most misplayed hand in no-limit poker. (...) If you’ve raised the pot going in, your opponent(s) has some kind of hand or he wouldn’t have called you. He didn’t have a raising hand or he would have reraised before the flop, so you can put him on anything from queens on down in the pairs (or maybe an A-Q or A-J), but it is more likely that he holds a pair.”

This is general for all stages of the tournament but I think it also applies at the final table. Of course in online tournaments some players will call raises with KQ and A9. But usually they have a small pair and if they think the flop missed you, they will call you down with a pair of 6s or 7s (that is my final table experience). The pot is big on flop and they don’t want to give it up and fold what they hope is the best hand.

I have changed my final table strategy so I sometimes limp with AK or AQ because I don’t want to make a big bet on flop with an unimproved hand, which I sometimes will despite Cloutier’s advice. When I limp I don’t get to pick up the blinds but it gives me an opportunity to win a big pot if one of the blinds have Ax or Kx and doesn’t put me on AK because I didn’t raise before the flop.

Cloutier also writes:
“A very easy scenario at the final table is to let everybody knock everybody else out, and then you knock out the final player. That’s the best strategy, unless some hands come along. So, you just play premium hands.”

I don’t know if this is any help and most of it is obvious. And you can’t just sit and wait for premium hands unless you have a big stack. I just try to play patient, don’t bluff too much (perhaps one or two steals) and I don’t play aggressive until we get down to 3-5 players.