Tournament Strategy: Part I, noted some of the major overall strategic differences between playing in tournaments and playing in live money games. At any given time in a tournament your strategy is primarily dependent on your relative stack size, which may be designated as “comfortable” (blinds are less than 10% of your chips), “survival mode” (you have chips for two blinds or less), or “struggling”, somewhere in-between comfortable and survival modes. Let us now assume that somehow you have fought your way through to the final table, which is now assembled consisting of eleven (hungry looking) players, two thirds of whom are “comfortable” or better (including yourself).

Play at the final tournament table usually starts out with some degree of new tightness and conservatism. In most local tournaments this is probably due to the fact that many players feel in awe of being at the final table. If it is true that most of the players at the final table are experiencing some temporary resolve to play only good cards, then the first several hands may well present a good opportunity for you to steal. I am certainly not advocating that you call in with less than an adequate hand. But if you do happen to get involved in one of the first few hands (perhaps because of the blinds), keep your sensors open for weakness. I have had excellent results with strong sounding raises on fourth and even fifth street. If you are “comfortable”, getting caught bluffing in front of this new audience at a price of one or two bets (before the stakes get higher) is no disaster, and may well bring a quick return the next time you catch a good hand.

Although most tournament strategy is based on aggressively going all out for first place, there are a number of exceptions, such as “survival mode” at the final table where existence (even if you only have one chip left) might well get rewarded with one of the lower prize money slots. It is often correct to fold even good hands in order to avoid confrontation and to try to outlast larger chip holders who get themselves involved and destroyed. For this same reason, players who are above survival mode should adjust their final table strategies to avoid confrontations, if possible, until all the stragglers have blinded out.

To illustrate this, let us say that during the first round or so at the final table you manage to win a small or medium pot while losing just a few blinds and flop seeing bets. In other words, you have managed to hold your own, whereas two or three stragglers have been knocked out, and two or three other losers are now struggling or in survival mode. Let us assume that this particular tournament pays money to the first five placers. If there are now eight players left, and three are in bad shape, it is clearly correct for you and the other four comfortable

players to sit back and avoid disaster. This knowledge may help you intimidate one of these peers. But all-in-all, during this “money stage” of the tournament, it is usually safer to sit back conservatively and hope that time and the blinds will take their toll. It is not that unusual (especially with inexperienced players) for three or four players to exit in one big hand, thus propelling you into the money.

Once the final table has been reduced to just a few players (hopefully all in the money), raising and calling strategies should loosen considerably. A tight player adhering to a full table strategy is a huge underdog to a loose raiser and bettor. Note that raising before the flop in shorthanded Omaha with any large pair, is somewhat analogous (but better) to raising on any ace in holdem. In one-on-one play, aces and kings often assume holdem like importance. One helpful hint is that it is usually easier to win with nothing (and bet it) than with something not-so-good (hoping for a check).

Finally, you should keep in perspective the enormous amount of luck involved in the final showdown like situations (but only if all finalists know enough to bet and raise agressively). Whenever you have a fair share of the remaining chips, it is advisable to try to negotiate a favorable settlement. My rule of thumb for a favorable settlement is to get your “pro rata” share of the money whenever you have more than the average amount of chips (eg. say with three players you have 50% of the chips - it is favorable to get 50% of the available money. It would be better to fight than to settle for 25% of the money with 25% of the chips).