[Kaladarus]

It's completely random and depends on the particular tournament. It also depends on how many people and who is running it. At some casinos you get moved randomly just because and someone comes to your table at your spot depending on the tournament. Usually they constantly reseat and keep the tables as full as possible. Sometimes certain casinos will even put 11 people at a table. Another thing is how fast the tournament is. Some tournaments are fast and only last 2 or 3 hours. If you are uncomfortable playing short-handed you'll have to either go watch the tournament take place or ask someone that has played it before. You could even call in the casino and ask.

[Gruntworker]

It's totally random. You shouldn't be able to ask to move, instead they break tables usually to keep as many tables full as possible. It doesn't usually have to do with how many people are at the table, but more the location of the tables. They will break certain tables in order to clear an area and will divide the players into the remaining seats on the other tables. So some tables play short handed until they are filled... not always broken. If you have a good TD, it should be pretty smooth. But it's all random.

[Scratch]

As Grunt said, usually the tables will be broken down by areas, with the outer tables to go first. A well run tournament will know ahead of time the order the tables are broken. You can just ask the TD what the general breaking order is and they should be able to tell you. The dealers should know as well.

It does suck when you work hard to build a certain image, only to have the table broken before you have an opportunity to capitalize on that image. But if you know your table will be one of the first to break, you won't have to worry as much about your perceived image and can take advantage of that.