Stuck in 3rd place....

[Maroon]

Hi all.

As a new player I need some help.  I'm having trouble making it past 3rd place in online STT & MTT & live MTT.  I made it to the final 3 in my first live tourney only to make a really silly mistake that put me out after playing tight/aggressive all night.  If I do get heads up I seem to be ok but really seem to be stuck stategy wise when down to 3.  Is it best to sit tight in 3rd and let someone else risk it or make a play to win there and then?  I've tried various things and still seem to be stuck.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

[tikay]

I'm hardly the guy to answer this, but....3 handed, forget your usual starting hand requirements. In fact, ignore your starting hands, get aggressive with anything, juat play flops & bet out when it looks OK. Bluffing and stealing at this stage of a tourney is 90% of the game.

[wsopin07]

You must have chips before you get to the final 3, but you must gamble, it is something that you will need alot of time and experience at, you can not wait, I prefer to have my chips all in if I want to play the hand at all, but my table image will be very lose at this point so I know I WILL GET CALLERS. hAVE YOU READ DC heads up articles??? I do not waste good hands short handed by having a tight image!!!!!!!

[Maroon]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm very aggressive when heads up but tried both tight/aggressive and loose/aggressive when down to 3 with little difference.  I will try the loose/aggressive approach and give it more time.  Only been playing a couple of months so no real patern to go on yet.

Thanks again. 

[tikay]

WSOPin06 mentions DC's articles on Heads-Up.

blonde have a whole section set aside for Dave's instructional musings. Here's a typical one....


http://www.blondepoker.com/PokerStoriesheads.htm

[snoopy1239]

Let that magic button turn your rags into monsters.