Bubble Play

[roo27]

Bubble Play in Texas Holdem poker Tournaments

An issue that you hopefully will have to face many times is what to do in a no limit Texas Holdem poker tournament as you near the bubble. The bubble refers to the first spot that gets paid according to the prize distribution. If 5 people get paid in a poker tournament, the person who gets knocked out 6th is said to have gone out "on the bubble." There are some very specific strategies for handling bubble play in Texas Holdem tournaments.

You will have to decide whether you are playing the tournament in order to simply cash, or if you are trying to win. Many players have as their goal simply surviving to get into the money. While making the money is nice, this is generally not sound poker tournament strategy. Due to the nature of poker tournaments, you will in all likelihood fail to cash in more tournaments than you cash, so you really want to make your cashes count. However, in some cases where the buy in is quite high, simply cashing can represent a substantial win. Making it past the bubble in a $2 buy in poker Texas Holdem poker tournament can mean a profit of little more than $1 or so, whereas making it past the bubble in a $100 buy in tournament can represent a good win and even more if you got into the tournament through a satellite.

If you have a large stack near the bubble, now is the time to get aggressive. You should attack unrelentingly. You should be stealing blinds and antes at every opportunity and should go after the medium stacks mercilessly. You should not target the short stacks, although it will often be worth it for you to call a short stack all in, even if you think you have a little bit the worse of it. When you put pressure on medium stacks, they will often feel forced to fold, not wanting to walk away with nothing when other players are close to being blinded out of the tournament and breaking the bubble. On the other hand, short stacks will often feel compelled to call you since they are the players in danger.

If you are a short stack on the bubble of a Texas Holdem tournament, you have probably decided you just want to cash, although you might also have just lost a big pot as the bubble approaches. If you are committed to winning, you should start to take bigger chances as the blinds begin to threaten your stack, so that you do not end up in a short stack bubble situation. If you are a short stack in this situation, assess the likelihood one of the other short stacks will go out before you do. If it seems likely that you will be blinded out of the money first, you will have to find a place to move in your chips and go with it. If you're lucky, you can double up and then hang back and wait for another player to break the money bubble for you.

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[DeanReeves66]

i was in this situation yesterday in the 1k gtd. there was 4 short stacked players including myself (i just lost a big pot just b4 the bubble), i was waiting for 1 of the other short stacks to go out and try to cash but no 1 was goin anywere, every all in there was the short stack won!!
so i decided i had to make my move and go 4 the win instead of just trying to cash, i picked up Q/10 with just over 10bb left so i shoved all in got called by a big stack with 77, i hit my queen happy days i doubled up.
the bubble passed and i ended up winning the tourney.
so the decision i made to go for the win instead of just trying to cash was the best choice..
u never know i could of got eaten up by the blinds and not won a thing if i didnt go for the win

[jOYa]

whereas making the bubble in a $100 buy in tournament can represent a good win and even more if you got into the tournament through a satellite
m8, how? bubble means bubble (not money), so if 1st 30 get prize, 31st is bubbleboy, no money for him, belive me,
i knew that very well

[jOYa]

Originally Posted by DeanReeves66

i was in this situation yesterday in the 1k gtd. there was 4 short stacked players including myself (i just lost a big pot just b4 the bubble), i was waiting for 1 of the other short stacks to go out and try to cash but no 1 was goin anywere, every all in there was the short stack won!!
so i decided i had to make my move and go 4 the win instead of just trying to cash, i picked up Q/10 with just over 10bb left so i shoved all in got called by a big stack with 77, i hit my queen happy days i doubled up.
the bubble passed and i ended up winning the tourney.
so the decision i made to go for the win instead of just trying to cash was the best choice..
u never know i could of got eaten up by the blinds and not won a thing if i didnt go for the win

I totaly agree with you (about playin for win, but we all do that, dont we?) Deano, but if you get crap cards in "bubble time" you cant go allin because big stack will call you with any 2 cards, so better wait for solid hand (like your QT) and hope for win in "coin flip".

[DeanReeves66]

Originally Posted by jOYa

I totaly agree with you (about playin for win, but we all do that, dont we?) Deano, but if you get crap cards in "bubble time" you cant go allin because big stack will call you with any 2 cards, so better wait for solid hand (like your QT) and hope for win in "coin flip".

i was lucky enough to pick up Q/10 when i did but i was goin to make my move with any 2 cards anyways b4 the blinds got back round to me, if i did get called i know im gonna be behind but il have 2 live cards so im still in with a chance of winning the hand and doubling up.

[BBOB]

great stuff i am looking to improve my tournament game and love to read posts such asthese. I have nothing to add as I agree with most of whats been said. Anyway I hope to see more post in the stratagy section of forum always good to hear what great players as yourselves have to say! Congrats on your win once again Dean, also great stuff!!

[roo27]

gr8 reply dean ty .. i think we have hade this discution befor and after playing with you for what must be comming on for 3 years now i know our play stiles are quite simala but this is 1 of them times where we do differ as when playing the bubble i do tend to be a folder and will happly play for any payed place and tend not to push with hands like 10 Q like you will but will sit back . but saying that your right with only 10 bb's 2 live cards would be anuff (mathmaticly) to be pushing i gess this is 1 of the resons this game can be so unpradictable most know the odds but we all have oure owne way of playing it realy can be truw what thaty say there is no right or rounge play here (que SwissStan with the M thery lol)

ps ty joya iv edited that bit now ;o)

[roo27]

ok now ill try to example why i tend to be a folder in this situation and show exactly what I mean.

You are in the big blind with a 5500 stack and have Ah-Kh. The UTG player who also has a 5500 stack shoves all-in when the blinds are 300-600. The other two players only have stacks of 1000 each and are almost all-in.

This isn’t just a situation where i think folding is correct but I would also fold with hands like J-J and even Q-Q as well. This may stagger many players but to me it is certainly the correct decision. The reason behind this lies in the amount of equity that you have in the prize pool before this hand and after it. Winning the all-in confrontation and losing will obviously reduce your total equity in the prize pool to zero as you will be eliminated from the competition.

But if you won this hand then the entire total of your opponent’s equity is not passed to you but divided between you and the other two players. This is because no matter how many chips you win, you cannot get more than 50% of the prize pool. At this moment in time neither of the two short stacks is guaranteed to make the money but they will be guaranteed if one of the two big stacks gets knocked out.

So the extra equity that they gain comes from the losing player. What this means is that someone in your position stands to lose far more than they gain by getting involved here with a strong hand and losing. You must be capable of strategic thinking in poker tournaments because it is often a mistake to play your hand strength and nothing else. It is always better to have two ways to win a pot in poker, either by getting your opponent to fold or by winning the pot in a showdown.

Being aggressive gives you that extra option (eg if i was the player UTG i would be pushing with the same hands i'v just said id be folding) but in this instance, you have no fold equity as you are the caller and not the aggressor so you are forced into winning the hand at showdown and that is the big difference.

[jOYa]

Are you talkin about "Bubble time" in tournament m8?
If you do, its hard o tell, maybe UTG just want to eliminate you from hand, and gamblin with short stacks, its common that big stacks start to playin harder in bubble time, takin blinds, so you need some read for that player (notes), but defenetly my action there depend of tourney, if i playin 1$ tourney, i will take my chances with AKs, bigger tourney 5,10$, fold. But if i short stacked, in any case , all in, lets gamble.