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Join Date: Aug 2004
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OK, part 2 - the endgame
The Bubble (4 players)
The bubble usually begins in the 100/200/25 or 200/400/50 levels. It is usually a game of preflop pushes, and you need to be involved at least once per orbit, usually if you fold for two orbits your stack has suffered major damage.
There are a few interesting situations that come up on the bubble that are worth noticing:
1. One big stack and 3 small stacks – the small stacks are usually afraid to bubble out and play only decent hands – as a big stack you want to push any hand that is folded to you, about 2/3 of the times you will pick the blinds. If you are the short stack don’t fall into the trap of folding your way ITM – stand up to the big stack early. If you double up as short stack you have a good shut of at least 2nd place.
2. One big stack, 2 medium stacks and 1 short stack – If you are the big stack again play aggressive, but try to keep the short stack in as long as possible, while running over the mid stacks
3. Two big stacks, two short stacks – Common logic is that the big stacks do not want to be involved in big pots until the shorties are out of the way, so if you are the big stack try to figure out if your opponents believes in that. If he does great, you can push him over a bit and get a lead for the later stages, if he doesn’t then you have to be more selective when playing at him. Don’t be afraid to get into a big stack war with a big hand.
Heads Up
One of the most amazing things about those kinds of tournaments is that most people are not loose and aggressive enough heads up. Blinds are usually 300/600/75, M is low, you want to play aggressively, you want to push a lot. If your opponent is also aggressive you can be more selective, but once you get to less then 3000 chips you need to push every hand.
Two table Sngs
Two table Sngs take only a few minutes longer then one table Sng, and offer a much bigger payout. The nice thing about them is that 4 people out of 18 (22%) are getting paid, as supposed to 33% on one table.
There are a few major adaptations that are needed for those tournaments:
1. They tend to be looser earlier for some reason, it is not uncommon to see 2-3 players getting knocked out in the 1st level. So you can usually play good hands early even more aggressively and get some action.
2. Once the tournament gets down to about 12-13 players, with blinds 50/100 or 100/200 there is a definite change in dynamics. At this point you must be concerned with building a stack before the tables merge. Getting into the final table with less then 2500 chips is very bad (average stack at the final table is 3000), so when you are down to the 10-12 people range you want to play aggressively, steal a lot of blinds and build a stack. I am perfectly OK at taking flips here to build a stack.
3. Once the tables merge the first thing you must do is realign yourself – watch the stack sizes at the table and where the big and short stacks are sitting, and readjust from 5-6 to 9 people game. However at this point blinds are usually 100/200/25 (average M = 3000/525 = 5.7) or 200/400/50 (average M<3). So you cant play it as your single table 9 people strategy, you need to open up in late position and steal the blinds at least once per orbit and preferably more. Since the stacks are shallow the table gets shorter very fast, taking your effective M down even more. Unless you have a really big stack it is clearly a push or fold game for most of the final table.
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