Another one for the clever people......

[Wakou]

Some time ago I posted a question here about the likelihood or not of qualifying from an MTT given certain chips/blinds/player#/qually places. I received an excellent answer, although I hardly understood a word. (DiceMan, I think). Could I once again avail myself of your superior brain power and ask the following.

10 seat sng, 1500 each, flat payout 2 places.
10 seat sng, 1500 each, flat payout 3 places.

How many chips do I need before I stop "playing"

In the first example, there are 15000 chips in play, payout will go to the two players sharing them. How much would I need to GUARANTEE a place? Obviously 7500 at the end but for 2nd place?

Second example: 5,000 is easy, but is there a formula or some way to know when to "change gear", and not play any hands apart from the bleedin' obvious ones?

[Dice Man]

You can't really guarantee that you'll cash in that situation until you have all but one of the chips.

I think last time you asked something like this, I linked you to the tournalyzer.

ProPokerTools Hold'em Tournalyzer - all-in or fold texas holdem tournament simulator

It basically takes your stack size, and some of the action, and works out how much everybody's stack size is worth in relation to the payouts, but unfortunately it only goes up to 6 places.

You could play around with it and see what kinds of results you get for different sized stacks. Your stack would never be guaranteed to cash, but maybe it's being worth as much as the smallest cash is what you mean?