Poker Tournament Bubble Play - Tips For The Short Stack

1 . Understanding Stack Sizes. When stuck with a short stack in a MTT, the bubble can be a precarious spot. It can help to understand which stacks are willing to take shots at knocking you out light, and which can't afford to play against you without a monster hand. Big stacks are the major threats to you; they can afford to gamble, and thanks to more modern advances in game theory, are anticipated to pound on the short stacks more liberally than normal on the bubble. The medium stacks are easier to play against, but based on your relative stack size, may also decide to pick on you. Your fellow short stacks are the easiest to play against, as they really have few options to cope with you when you choose to shove. Your shove itself looks strong, so to a short stack trying to eek into the bubble, the relative strength of the move itself is huge.

2. M 4-7 Play. With a stack in this range, you have a stack that can probably hold on til the end of the bubble, if you opt to do so. You'll notice that lots of the bigger stacks will purposely come after your blinds; your stack is actually more vulnerable compared to the super short stacks that are, that are forced to make a move. Don't be surprised to see players jockeying to pick on your own blinds, even short stacks may choose your big blind to create a stand and shove. If you are playing for first (which you should be) look for spots where you believe a big stack gets froggy, or where a short stack is shipping it in light, and make a move. Getting your stack out of the M 4-7 range will allow you to really open up your game on the bubble and find a lot more profitable opportunities.

3. M 0-3 Play. This is the critical stage of the bubble; you don't have enough play to safely make it through the blinds and antes more than 3 rotations of the table. More than likely, you will need to make a move some time in the next 5-10 hands in order to survive. Depending on the type of poker tournament and players remaining, domino qiu qiu you may simply have to fold and hang on for dear life; you may have no fold equity at a table filled with big stacks, or you might be so short, you have no fold equity anyways. When presented with these type of scenarios, think about the best targets at the dining table for making your move. Try not to let yourself blind below M 2, if possible; fold equity will vanish once you're under 5 BB's. Keep an active eye on the bubble itself, and do all you can to squeeze engrossed. Remember; a double up from M2 to M4 won't drastically help you in the long run, but going from M2 to M0 keeps you from cashing. Not a big deal in a small tournament, but in a $10k buy-in event, can be quite a huge chunk of change for an amateur player.