I always do well in the early stages. i play "good" poker and i am often rewarded for it live. The issue i am having is final table. i always keep missing bubble. either due to bascailyl folding until a good hand or getting blinded out. they say its variance but if i dont make profit why would i keep sinking cash?
This is actually a very common issue for tournament players. Many people play well early, but struggle once stacks get shorter and the bubble approaches. The strategy changes a lot in those stages — you can’t just wait for premium hands because the blinds will eat your stack.
Late stages require more aggression and a good understanding of push/fold spots, stack pressure, and ICM. Sometimes the correct play is to shove with hands that feel uncomfortable if you’re used to deeper stack poker.
It might help to study short-stack strategy and bubble play specifically. If you’re consistently reaching that stage, it’s a good sign — it means your early game is working. The next step is learning how to convert those runs into deeper finishes.
Late stages require more aggression and a good understanding of push/fold spots, stack pressure, and ICM. Sometimes the correct play is to shove with hands that feel uncomfortable if you’re used to deeper stack poker.
It might help to study short-stack strategy and bubble play specifically. If you’re consistently reaching that stage, it’s a good sign — it means your early game is working. The next step is learning how to convert those runs into deeper finishes.
That happens a lot, you know it's normal, but in these cases we have to be self-critical. We're failing somewhere, but the question is, where? Maybe we need to take a few more risks, refine our intuition, read other players better, be a little more patient, study a little more... in short, there are many things, and we have to try to see what we can improve to get better and move forward.