Bubble Trouble

Ive challenged myself to start a micro bankroll with freelrolls in the evening and weekends. I find myself playing very well in the early and middle stages of these rolls but for some reason i get a pressure to rush the action when the tourney has 3 tables lefy or so. Ive been playing to put myself in position to when but i am starting to wonder if i should slow down at later stages since the prize pools usually arent as spread out as a large buy in tourney. Not sure but im enjoying and learning for these freerolls. Thanks for any input

You sound like me. I do good enough in early stages to have a big stack to reach the money, but the closer I get to the money, the worse hands I seem to get. So I start trying to make something happen in my favor and thats where I make my mistakes. At those stages, I've seen players fold, fold. fold and all of a sudden they start catching hands. This is called patience, which I don't have a lot of late in the game, and most of the time I lose before I reach the money. GL to you

To both of you learn position create table image. Show when your catching do that for later so can steal some blinds as needed etc.. read some mtt strategy books apply it use it know when to make moves when you need your stack based on the field etc.. I am very patient but also use everything when needed. And yes have gotten caught all in with 3-4 lol at times not many but it happens cause was right move.

Sometimes you do the right things at right time perfect and still get beat by big stack 92 doh or something just insane

MOVE ON FORGET ABOUT IT go to next sooner or later will not affect your play anymore cause am hearing that hear a fear of loss and YOU HAVE NOTHING YOU GET THAT RIGHT?

So is no fear that should be had Not yelling caps are to push a point.

I always believe in timely luck it helps and have short term memory block I forget it as soon as it happens The bad ones.

You're right on thick, i need to better my mind set in those later rounds! Thx for the reply

Watching videos are one the best things you can do, it will stick with you.
when I started watching gripsed I was playing my hands like him
sub consciously I didn't even know why at first but it was drilled in and the more I listened
and watched alot if his logic I already had and thought about implying
but it hit home how really you need to play to make a profit its all about right
decisions and assessing the likelyhood of them holding a better hand as you get further down the street.

Key focus for bubble play is how deep / is it turbo on non turbo,
and how crazy are the players to your left and who is on your right since that's where your going to pick up the extra pots alot of the time.
sometimes raising will be enough and stealing/ jamming.
other times it will be wild and your betting off just jamming your broadways in position and flipping with a premium to get a nice stack, once you have that stack it should generally be straight forward raise steal poker, and playing your strong hands well, deceptive play will always work at a low level

Where are you playing these freerolls? If its not a private freeroll than I would not worry to much about creating a table image. Most of these players are not paying enough attention and I believe you should just be patient and wait for premium hands. Especially if you are deep stacked.

I try to always keep in mind that a freeroll is, well, free. Thus without "skin in the game" there are always a lot of crazy plays (shoves preflop, big trash hand raises, etc.). I find it helpful to just wait for premium hands or great situations and pounce. You are right about the patience factor. Late in a tournament is always dangerous and it pays to exercise caution, particularly on or near the bubble. I busted on the bubble yesterday with my two pair vs. a flush draw. I bloated the pot too much for the drawing hand to fold. My bad.

in bublle time u must open hands only 66+ i think but realy thing is your possition , stack , and ppl at table

I won an on demand freeroll through true poker.... I find and I know everyone will disagree, but I think once someone gets a big chip lead it is only a matter of time before they win.. there will be swings but ultimately that person will win..
I had the chip lead with about 290 left after the first break.. and never lost it... I find that if you can survive the all in donkfest early and build chips you can play poker later and cash..

With freerolls, the key (which I believe you have found), is patience. There are LOTS of fish, so just wait for the premium hands and build your stack. As you reach the final third, the player pool gets more skilled (as they have lasted this long in the tournament), so it is time to change gears. What gear I change to will depend a lot on my stack size, and my opponents. I like to steal lots of blinds if possible at this stage. If my stack is very large, I play much more conservately, and continue to wait for premium hands.

Try 2 keep calm and just wait for your good (very good hand) , because in that stages bad player begin 2 do something unusual and that may crash your game,

Sounds to me like your getting antsy,,,around the time you get on the bubble,,,well,why do you know this? stop watching where you are as you get close to the bubble,,,ignore where you are and play your way thru it,,,that`s my advice,gl buddy

Generally speaking, when I run really deep and have a big stack in late stage I like to slow it down because one wrong move that late in the tourney could mean a min cash for 5 hours of tourney play.

im a bubble boy too! i usually play very tight, especuially when it gets close to in the $$$. i seem to be getting big starting hands ripped a lot recently. just last night, my JJ vs 66 allin,, 996 on flop, aaand im out in 11th

The bubble is where many people play very tight just to reach the money. If there are many passive guys around you, that would be the best time to steal blinds.

But i know exactly what you are talking about, the worst beats happen to me at this stage aswell. If you did everything right, theres nothing to be salty about.

Sometimes the odds arent with you and sometimes the odds are with the others right?