Kompany said:
I usually try to calm down a few moments, because the adrenaline rush of having made it here sometimes can lead to bad decisions early on... Then it's a shootout.
Good point that I also try to incorporate with my approach. Making a final table does feel special, because it's very difficult to do, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with feeling a sense of accomplishment - we SHOULD reward ourselves, even if it's a mental one like a back pat. But, the job's not done yet, so once you're there, like Kompany said, calm down, put those feelings aside and just focus on making good decisions.
Recreationalplayer said:
All decisions now consider ICM implications and ranges reflect my stack size vs opponents.
100% because if you do have a big stack and you know your opponents will give in to pressure, then you're costing yourself
equity by not pursuing it. Of course it's not always going to work because your opponents will have a hand to push back against.
Conversely, if you're a short stack, you're in a more defensive position, where you're trying to find spots to put your stack in to double up. Even though you'd rather be the one with the chips, you STILL have the ability to apply pressure to those who may be more about stack preservation.
Jkj19886 said:
All depends on tournament b/c some the blinds just make it a crap shoot and other tournaments you can have a stack and play aggressive ever so often.
Excellent point - some final tables, everyone has 15 big blinds or less (and many of those could be super short), so there's more push/folding happening here. Other final tables, you may be more deep stacked, in which case you don't need to be shoving and applying that kind of pressure on your opponents. Both are equally challenging though, and it takes making good decisions, and a little bit of luck going your way to win.
Basically, I just observe the table and see if I can pick up some tendencies or patterns in other players and try and use that to my advantage. I also try to be self-aware and not fall into patterns that others can pick up on me. That goes back to Collin's response early in the thread, "be willing to change gears".