It's still working for me at level 15.
I can't really afford to use trick 2, I'll be in for 3 rounds maximum. I always bid in the morning and get my bids in very early before deadline. As you say, I often get good players for 1 token, and if anyone else bids, many will assume I've left and I can get the player for 2 tokens by stealing at the last second. However, there are also many managers that will bid every round to ensure you can't steal the player with the last second trick.
My top advice for my fellow managers working on limited budgets is to avoid getting involved in bidding wars. Don't go for expensive players at the top of their star level, quality ending in 4 or 9, because many managers will go for these, go for those ending in 2, 3, 7 and 8, and maybe the lower ones if they are quite expensive, which means they will develop faster. Other hot players include those with useful special abilities, and those that are very flexible. If you've bid on a player and there are at least two other bidders, it will be better for your tokens if you pull out right away.