Bubble play

Hi

I am still confused about what is the optimal strategy when playing on the bubble. Does anyone use the ICM model when deciding to shove/ or call a shove? Does it help?

Also should you just fold if there are several short-stacks at the table and blinds are high? I recently bubbled when calling a steal-shove from the SB when it was folded to him and I was in the BB. My AKs was rivered by K6. I was short-stacked, but so was nearly everyone at the table, so should have folded. Is it ok to also fold QQ and even KK in this situation? AA is always a call though?

thanks

on, or near the bubble, it's pretty much what i will use to base my decisions on. late stage sng play, there is only one correct way to play, and ICM heavily influences your decisions, knowing the basic workings of it, is crucial to be successful in sng's.

your question is a little too general, youd be better off posting specific hands in the HA(hand analysis)section of the tournament forum, just convert your HH (hand history) and post the hand, with reads, and any other info you want to add. the more the better. like, how loose/tight is your opponant? will he fold to a shove often, etc.

in some situations its correct to fold Queens, i dont come accross many which include folding kings, and never folding aces, in a standard 9 man sng.

sng's with flat payout structures, like DON or sattelites it can be correct to fold aces.

wiat for the nuts but push with mediocre hands that will probably win if you see a flop. patience is the key to bubble play, and i would fold when blinds are high and stacks are low because you are going to get alot of preflop all ins which are hard to geta read on when it is every hand

The problem wasn't that he would have a better hand. He was shoving whenever it was folded to him on the button or in the small blind (as he should). The problem is I put him on an Ace-rag type hand, which would make me 70% favorite, but would also mean that 1 in 3 times I will bubble. I just don't know if these types of risks are profitable on the bubble, especially if others are about to bust. But again, i dont really understand how to play on the bubble.

poker stove is a great tool for determining shove ranges and ranges for calling shoves. Its free. Id suggest downloading it and spending a ton of time just messing with different scenarios and ranges.

I would wait till the bubble burst, on FTP I find very good pockets start popping up, that are also beatable, it is my belief they do this to speed up the game in the hope that those who are eliminated will buy-in again to another sng or tournament.

When at the bubble in a tournament, if you have a big stack, it's a great time to be aggressive and try to steal blinds while the smaller stacks are trying to get into the bubble. Sometimes folding a premium hand is a good move. In my opnion, the best time to fold them is if a bigger stack pushes, because I wouldn't want to get a bad beat. It has happened to me before, and the feeling stinks. Good luck on your future tournaments.

On chances always, especially on bubble, I always play strong hands. It is excellent chance to increase stack - certainly will sometimes lose, but always it is impossible to win too)))) Therefore forward and success!!!

Im struggling with bubble play at the moment on rush tournaments, but aslong as i think the cards ive got are worth pushing, depending on range of course and action before me, its great to double up. Ive suffered a horrible beat recently on the bubble where a pushed in the big blind with AK, because i wanted to take the other guy heads up, but a big stack called with A 8 and rivered his 2nd pair and 8, but thats the way it goes sometimes.

I usually slow play bubble and wait, but also when low on chips then more aggressive play kick in...

dino said:

I usually slow play bubble and wait, but also when low on chips then more aggressive play kick in...

Click to expand...

i love getting more aggressive on the bubble (as long as my stack allows it)

i usually attack the tight players at my table, i find this stage of the tournament is the best and easiest time to bluff as people dont like calling for their tournament right before the money

get aggressive, your playing for a top 3 finish not just to make the money