Small Stakes Final Tables

From my somewhat limited experience, there are three types of players at the final table of a small stakes MTT:

• The Nit: Keeps looking at the lobby to see how much each pay jump is while folding until he gets AA or KK.
• The Spewtard: Read somewhere that being aggressive at the final table is good - thinks that means raising every time it gets to him but folding when faced with resistance.
• Me: Good player who Raises The Nit and 3-Bets The Spewtard

I played the $10,000 Guaranteed w/Rebuys last night and scooped 5th place for about $550.

The hands down worst player at the table ran like a Kenyan in the Boston marathon, picking up big pair after big pair and holding every time.

The Spewtard was two spots to my right which meant I easily stayed afloat by defending my BB and 3-Betting his late position raises. I only had to fold once to a 4 bet shove from the SB after I had 3-bet on the button, and he showed Aces (surprise, surprise).

Unfortunately it was not meant to be, because our UTG Kenyan min-raised and I 3-Bet for about 2.5x more with KhKd. He flatted and the flop came Jack high, all spades. He checked, I jammed, and he time banked (lol) before calling with AdKs and proceeded to hit his flush on the river.

So it goes.

There's so much dead money in these tournaments that if you can reach the final 12 or so and have 10+ BB's you're almost guaranteed to stand a chance at winning the whole thing. That sounds like an obvious statement, but it's one that holds a lot less truth in higher stakes MTT's.

Just pay very close attention once you get there. There will be at least two or three players folding every hand to make the pay jumps and you'd better take advantage of that or else I will.