xOneCoolHandx
Legend
Bronze Level
Hi All,
Just wanted to get a discussion going about play in the late stages of a tourney, particularly when things tighten up as the money bubble approaches. I have read and seen a whole spectrum of styles. Personally, I like to get really aggressive at this point and attack as often as I can (not with pushing every single pot, those people annoy me and I love to "catch" them). I do this almost irregardless of my stack size (unless I am VERY short-stacked, then I will play the waiting game to a certain extent). My theory is that this is a critical time to build your stack to position yourself for a deep run but, there is also the danger of crippling yourself or getting knocked out before the bubble, and you didn't come all the way to NOT make the money. I don't want to give the wrong impression, I don't just go crazy during this stage. My strategy is to normally play fairly tight for the first two levels while people are going crazy, then open up and play pretty tight aggressive gearing up to loose aggressive and back and forth until the late middle stages, then gearing back down to play fairly tight aggressive (and building that table image) until everyone else starts tightening up and then going into attack mode while still being mindful of other players tendencies and taking into account table position, stack sizes and other factors, and I try not to get into major confrontations unless I have a monster. That's just my style and
What I see a lot of time is that big stacks seem to shut down until the money bubble (I LOVE to see people go inactive waiting for the bubble to burst) is popped, and small stacks pushing more often than they should be (even at my big blind when they should know that I am a BB defender), I see medium stacks doing all sorts of things. I see a lot of people playing very differently than their typical playing style. So, my question is what are your playing styles and game theory in this stage of a tournament and why?
Just wanted to get a discussion going about play in the late stages of a tourney, particularly when things tighten up as the money bubble approaches. I have read and seen a whole spectrum of styles. Personally, I like to get really aggressive at this point and attack as often as I can (not with pushing every single pot, those people annoy me and I love to "catch" them). I do this almost irregardless of my stack size (unless I am VERY short-stacked, then I will play the waiting game to a certain extent). My theory is that this is a critical time to build your stack to position yourself for a deep run but, there is also the danger of crippling yourself or getting knocked out before the bubble, and you didn't come all the way to NOT make the money. I don't want to give the wrong impression, I don't just go crazy during this stage. My strategy is to normally play fairly tight for the first two levels while people are going crazy, then open up and play pretty tight aggressive gearing up to loose aggressive and back and forth until the late middle stages, then gearing back down to play fairly tight aggressive (and building that table image) until everyone else starts tightening up and then going into attack mode while still being mindful of other players tendencies and taking into account table position, stack sizes and other factors, and I try not to get into major confrontations unless I have a monster. That's just my style and
What I see a lot of time is that big stacks seem to shut down until the money bubble (I LOVE to see people go inactive waiting for the bubble to burst) is popped, and small stacks pushing more often than they should be (even at my big blind when they should know that I am a BB defender), I see medium stacks doing all sorts of things. I see a lot of people playing very differently than their typical playing style. So, my question is what are your playing styles and game theory in this stage of a tournament and why?