If you are like me, then you play  a lot of a multi-table sit and go tournaments online.  They are really great in terms of keeping your time spent in tournaments confined to segments, that don't intrude on as much of your time as the open multi-table tournaments. There have been many times when I wanted to play a tournament by only had maybe three hours maximum.  In that sense, I look to the 90 seat or 180 seat sit and go tournaments that you can find at poker stars and full tilt poker.

It's in these tournaments that I've also noticed something else about the final table.  That is of course when make the final table.  The thing is I in the habit of profiling my opponents all the way through every tournament I play, so when I do make the final table.  I know what kind of players I come up against.  Oddly though, once you do get to the final table, you may find like I do, is that the majority of your opponents put on their best TAG suit and step up to the game.

I even find this when leading up to the final table, a good number of your opponents actually had different profiles ranging from gambler, to elephant, to eagle.  So why all of a sudden, when the final table convenes do players change their colors? Is it mostly because the TAG players are the ones who have survived throughout the tournament or do players get serious enough about the game that they actually changed their profiles to adapt to game conditions?

I think it's a combination of both really.  Last final table I was at there was one rock and eight TAG players.  Even though was only a $4, 180 players sit and go tournament, by the time I got to the final table, my opponents were playing like professionals.  Virtually all the pots were heads up, there was pre-flop raising.  There was post-flop aggression, and there were sensible critical game plays that led to four living or re-raising with very few hands going to the river.

I liken this to what Dan Harrington refers to in his no limit hold them series, in that a player must change his style of play.  Based on the conditions of the tournament, no matter what his natural or comfortable playing zone really is. It's the same way in the sit and go tournaments, you generally have to become tight aggressive when the blinds become so astronomical that there's just no more room to play around, like you might've been leading up to the final table.

And don't forget even though these are low buy-in tournaments, a lot of the players at final tables at these levels never been to a final table before, and although the winnings modest, they could be rather significant to your opponents poker bankroll. So be surprised.  Next time you get to the final table that most of your opponents are strong TAG players, and they seem to know exactly what they're doing.