Playing in the final game of a pot builder/deep stack tourney

[ElementZ]

Been playing in a Pot Builder tournament for the last 9 weeks and we are headed to the 10th and final week this weekened, with the weekend after (22nd) being the BIG game.

It has been very well run thus far. We have been getting 14-16 players on average and play 2 games every Saturday. The buy in is $20+5 with the $20 from each player going to the main pot and the $5 from each player going into the final game pot. As it stands right now, we should have near $1500 going into the Final Game next week with the top 3 getting paid unless their is a chop of some sort.

So I have done reasonably well, I have only played in 11 of the 18 games and cashed 9 out of 11 times and am 3rd in points.

So far the strategy advice. We usually start with 10,000 in chips, and for every point we get during the pot builder, that adds 1000 chips to our stack for the final game. As of now, I have 28 points but will probably finish ahead by a few more points. If everything remains equal, I will have about 40k in chips to start and 2 players will probably have a little more and the rest of the players will have a little less or a lot less.

I have included the blind structure below. I have played solid for the last 2 and a half months and I don't want to blow it in the final game. What is an effective strategy with everyong having a good sized stack. Should I try and make a lot of risky moves since if I lose a huge pot, it wont really hurt me, or should I play tight and wait for everyone else to make outrageous bluffs and gradually lose their chips.

Level 1 Small Blind Big Blind Ante Time
1) $25 $50 NA 20
2) $50 $100 NA 20
3) $100 $200 NA 20
4) $200 $400 NA 20
4) $300 $600 NA 20
6) $400 $800 NA 20
7) $500 $1000 NA 20
Level 2 Small Blind Big Blind Ante Time
8) $600 $1200 $50 25
9) $700 $1400 $50 25
10) $800 $1600 $50 25
11) $1000 $2000 $50 25
12) $1200 $2400 $50 25
13) $1400 $2800 $50 25
Level 3 Small Blind Big Blind Ante Time
14) $1500 $3000 $100 30
15) $1800 $3600 $100 30
16) $2000 $4000 $100 30
17) $2200 $4400 $100 30
18) $2400 $4800 $100 30
19) $2400 $5000 $100 30
Level 4 Small Blind Big Blind Ante Time
20) $3000 $6000 $200 45
21) $3500 $7000 $200 45
22) $4000 $8000 $200 45
23) $4500 $9000 $200 45
24) $5000 $10000 $200 45
25) $6000 $12000 $200 45
Level 5 Small Blind Big Blind Ante Time
26) $7000 $14000 $500 45
27) $8000 $16000 $500 45
28) $9000 $18000 $500 45
29) $10000 $20000 $500 45
30) $12000 $24000 $500 45
31) $15000 $30000 $500 45

3 minute breaks between blinds
10 minute breaks between each level
45 minute dinner break between level 2-3

[ElementZ]

Due to a few people unable to make it, looks like we will have 11 people for the final game with payouts to the top 3. Final week was tonight and I chopped both games for a $180 bucks and 3rd overall in points. Looks like I will be starting with 45k in chips. Chip leader will have about 53k and low stack will have about 15k.

Played real solid tonight. Hope I can carry that over to the final game next week.

[pedagogue]

This will be interesting....i suck at closing out in the above scenario, so I'd like to hear people's tips.

-p

[ElementZ]

Well the game was last night and I am $575 richer. Me and another guy chopped after about 90 minutes heads up and about 8 hours of play. Blinds were 2000-4000 when we decided to chop and I had a chip lead of about 200k - 150k. I took a bit of the extra money due to my chip lead and I also made $25 for a bounty for taking out the chip leader going into the game.

I played solid with excellent plays. For the first few hours, I wasn't making any progress, kept hovering anywhere from 35k-50k in chips until one big hand came up. I had KQs clubs and the flop came with Txx with 2 clubs. I bet my flush draw and got reraised the minimum by the only other player in the hand and called. Turn was the Ace of clubs which gave me the nuts so I checked, villian bet and it was my turn to reraise (much more than the minimum) and he called. River was a rag and I bet out and villan folded. That put me as chip leader at my table. Before the tables merged, I raised with KQ on the button to 3k with the blinds being 500-1000 and got reraised allin from the short stack who only had about 8k. I called and first two cards were Queens.

Final table with 8 players remaining. I went in as chip leader and had some decent hands with well made plays to increase my stack. When we were down to 6 players, there 3 good sized stacks, me being the largest, and 3 somewhat small stacks. Blinds are 1k-2k and I raise to 7k with AQ. I get called by the same villan as earlier who probably has the 3rd most in chips. Flop comes KJx. I bet out 7k and again, villan reraises me with the minimum so I call. Turn comes my beautiful 10. I check and he bets 14k. I ponder it for a moment and reraise to 40k and he instapushes for about 75k more and I call. He flipped KQ and needed the Ace for a split and he didnt hit. Now I was sitting pretty with over 50% of the chips in play with 5 players left.

I eliminated the 5th player when she went all in with 44 and I called with AA. Eliminated the 4th player for the bounty with my AK vs AJ. 3rd player didnt last long and now we were heads up.

I was about a 2-1 chip lead and he talked about a chop and I declined. Very first hand there were fireworks. I had K6s diamonds raised on the button, he called. Flop came 578 with 2 diamonds. I bet out and he went all in. I went into the tank and counted a possible 18 outs. (9 flush, 6 straight, 3 top pair). I wasn't sure about the K giving me top pair so I didn't put to much emphasis on that. I eventuall called after a few minutes hoping to end it right there. To my suprise, he pushed with J5. So now, I really have a whopping 21 outs. Any 4,6,9,K or a diamond wins me the pot and the game. Alas, the turn and river were blanks and now the roles were reversed. Heads up wasn't that great as we were both getting rotten hands and there were a lot of bluffs. I worked my way back up to the lead when we both discussed the chop.

All in all, I had a blast. I played very good poker. Never made any bad decisions or bad calls. Pretty much played most hands in position that paid off. Craziest thing was in the 8 hour session, I had only 3 pocket pairs. 44, 77 and AA. I must have had AK and AQ 20 times