by Andrew Brokos
Why are tournaments so profitable for the knowledgeable player? It’s
because you are always getting a giant overlay. ⭕️ In a 180-man Stars tourney, for
instance, you are competing against no more than 100 opponents, and quite often less.
⭕️ In other words, there are at most 100 other players trying to win the tournament. The
rest are just trying ⭕️ to cash, and might as well be playing a different game altogether.
These players are not competing with you for ⭕️ the top prizes.
In the early stages, they
are playing to accumulate, just like you are. Their strategy is not intrinsically ⭕️ –EV,
though their play may be.
In the money, most of them are happy to be there and will
gamble up, ⭕️ and are too short to do anything else anyway. Again, their strategy is not
intrinsically –EV here.
On the bubble, however, ⭕️ they are folding much too often and
leaving a ton of money on the table. You need to put yourself ⭕️ in a position to scoop up
as much of it as possible, as this is far and away the best ⭕️ opportunity you will have
to accumulate chips. Here are some tips on how to do that.
1. Raise. Even if you ⭕️ know
this already, you probably aren’t doing it enough. Never open limp. Not under the gun,
not on the button, ⭕️ not ever. The odds are just too good that you will win it without a
showdown. (This point is probably ⭕️ too strongly stated, but you get the idea.)
2. Fold.
Just because A9 is ahead of your range when you push ⭕️ over a late position raise doesn’t
mean you should call. There are a lot of players on the bubble who ⭕️ know you are
stealing but are too afraid to push back, and there are a lot more who think the
⭕️ correct strategy is to wait for big hands and then ‘punish’ your raise. If it starts
happening all the time, ⭕️ then you can loosen your calling range (and in fact find
yourself in some very +EV spots of a different ⭕️ sort), but the first time someone comes
over the top, they’ve probably got a hand. You can steal back the ⭕️ chips you are folding
away in a single orbit, whereas one or two thin calls could cripple your stealing
ability. ⭕️ There is so much easy money to be had without going to showdown on the bubble
that you shouldn’t be ⭕️ eager to get there.
3. Target the Weak. The decision to open
raise is determined by three factors, in order of ⭕️ importance: who is in the blind, your
position, and your cards. You should start identifying likely play-to-cashers before
the bubble ⭕️ even begins, and continue paying attention to who is not defending blinds
and who seems to be making big laydowns.
4. ⭕️ Size Up the Competition. The
play-to-cashers are not the competition. At this point, they are just giving away free
money, ⭕️ and all you have to do is take it. But you still have to play poker with the
other play-to-winners, ⭕️ who are also trying to scoop up all that dead money. These
players will be a lot more willing to ⭕️ re-steal, steal raise, etc., and you need to
adapt accordingly.
5. Look at the Chat Box. The dialogue in the chat ⭕️ box gives you a
lot of clues about who is playing to cash and about evolving table dynamics. I’ve seen
⭕️ players say things like “I would have called if it weren’t the bubble”, “I’m folding JJ
here”, and “Yes! Yes! ⭕️ Yes!” every time they win a pot. It’s like they want me to run
them over.
Players will also comment on ⭕️ how often you’ve been raising, or threaten to
call “next time.” Pay attention to these clues, as they can help ⭕️ you to make tough
decisions when facing a re-steal.
6. Spread It Around. Most players take it personally
when you raise ⭕️ their blinds. If you abuse the same player often enough, he will feel
like he has to stand up to ⭕️ you, and you will have baited him into playing correctly.
Conversely, many play-to-cashers will recognize that you are stealing but ⭕️ not
particularly care as long as they don’t feel singled out. So if you raised weak-tighty
#1’s blind the last ⭕️ two orbits, go after the player on his right this time.
7. Protect
Your Blinds. If you call or re-raise out ⭕️ of your blind a few times, most aggressive
players will back off, as there is usually much easier money to ⭕️ be found.
Play-to-cashers will occasionally make weak attempts to steal as well, usually
min-raising or open limping from late position. ⭕️ They will often back off of even
reasonably strong hands when seemingly pot committed when faced with the prospect of
⭕️ bubbling out.
8. Protect Their Blinds. A good, aggressive bubble player on your right
can really cramp your style, as he ⭕️ will always be steal-raising ahead of you. But don’t
look at this as a thorn in the side, look at ⭕️ it as an opportunity: he is putting a lot
of money into the pot that he can’t defend. His only ⭕️ options are to keep raising and
donating to you, or to stop raising and let you get back to picking ⭕️ on the weak
players’ blinds; it’s a win-win for you. If the play-to-cashers won’t defend their
blinds, you should do ⭕️ it for them.
9. Make the Last Bet. Just because a player decides
to see a flop with you does not ⭕️ mean he has a big hand. With so many players stealing,
re-stealing, and defending, there are a lot people seeing ⭕️ flops without especially
strong hands. More often than not, they are hoping to get a cheap showdown or bully you
⭕️ off of your marginal holding. If you play your draws aggressively, you’ll find that
most players are no more willing ⭕️ to go to the felt after the flop than they were
before. You just need to structure the betting in ⭕️ such a way that [i]you[/i] are the
one pushing all-in, because it is a hell of a lot harder to ⭕️ call a push with a marginal
hand than it is to push with a marginal hand.
10. Come Stacked. Although the ⭕️ bubble is
a profitable time to push-bot, a 3x big blind raise from the table chipleader has a lot
more ⭕️ fold equity than an 8x all-in from a short stack. Ninety percent of the time I
choose accumulation over survival, ⭕️ but most tournaments have such juicy bubbles that it
can be correct to structure your pre-bubble strategy around getting to ⭕️ the bubble with
a stack that will allow you to steal. This may mean taking gambles when you’re short in
⭕️ hopes of doubling up to a healthy stack, or it may mean passing on thin gambles when
losing the pot ⭕️ would leave you unable to steal on the bubble.
