Hi all,

I’ve been out of poker for a few years, and I just recently got the itch to come back. I’m interested in playing online MTTs (low stakes buy ins right now).

I generally don’t have a problem getting to a point where I have a shot of making it into the money...but I’ve noticed a consistent theme: I am constantly racing the blinds just before bubble time due to a short stack, and I’m getting beat out before I can make it. It seems like I am good enough to build a big enough stack to give me a shot at making it to the money, but not big enough that I don’t have to take a lot of risks to not get blinded out prior to making the money.

So early tournament I think I’m good, and late tourney, in Pull-the-trigger mode when short stacked I think I’m ok. So now the question:

What can I do to improve my mid-tourney game to build a bigger stack so that I can get past the barrier I keep running into?

Thank you for your time.

Hello there,

1st, Welcome to Cardschat.
Most Friendly poker community.

if you have been out of poker for few years, I would highly suggest to read some of the Poker strategy articles, on top of every CC page, start with few freerolls and low buy ins, then follow good BRM and hit those tables....

You can start with introduction, who you are, where are you from, what do you do, which/what game do you like to play, where at....

Be active member of this forum, polite and enjoy your stay here.

Originally Posted by BigFatRat

Hi all,

I’ve been out of poker for a few years, and I just recently got the itch to come back. I’m interested in playing online MTTs (low stakes buy ins right now).

I generally don’t have a problem getting to a point where I have a shot of making it into the money...but I’ve noticed a consistent theme: I am constantly racing the blinds just before bubble time due to a short stack, and I’m getting beat out before I can make it. It seems like I am good enough to build a big enough stack to give me a shot at making it to the money, but not big enough that I don’t have to take a lot of risks to not get blinded out prior to making the money.

So early tournament I think I’m good, and late tourney, in Pull-the-trigger mode when short stacked I think I’m ok. So now the question:

What can I do to improve my mid-tourney game to build a bigger stack so that I can get past the barrier I keep running into?

Thank you for your time.

I think it's a very common Problem in the poker world. on the one Hand you want to win something (get ITM) and on the other Hand you want to increase your Chips stack without busting.


therefor a lot of Player tend to Play very passive around the bubble and are easy to target if you have a bigger stack.


I was in the same spot a few years ago. my best advice is to Play like you don't care About the mincash and try to Play aggressive and fearless. min-cashing is not worth going for, the big Money is at the final table and on pokerstars it's still a Long way from the bubble to the ft.


edit: nice Name

Thanks for the words of advice.

Update: I’ve since played in a few $0.50 to $2.00 tournaments at America’s Card Room, and I made it the furthest yet in one of them, 8 places from cash. I know that in itself is not all that great, but it was a personal victory actually making it to the bubble. It was also cool that at that point, I wasn’t so short stacked that I had to race the blinds. However, I called an all in bet that was half my stack that I probably shouldn’t have called (all in, then a 2nd all in, then I called with AJ). I was at best a coin flip, and although it didn’t take me out when I lost, it crippled me. Lesson learned!