Playing on the bubble
Dave,
Recently I have been doing fairly well in tourneys on Pokerroom
In my last 5 MTT's I have cashed 4 times - highest was 6th place and prior to that I have one 1st and 2nd
Last night I was in the 50+4 daily tournament, using a ticket I had won in a 6+1 SNG
There were 33 players, left I was 25 - I had about 6500 left, blinds were at 500 - 1000
I found it impossible not to freeze at the bubble - I had the two chip leaders of the table (and in the top 5 total), on my right and left
Even when I had an okay hand - it seemed like the big stacks at the tale were raising every pot - which is a solid play, they know that players will only stand up to them with a very strong holding
I ended up making the money and then waited till I had a big hand and just pushed - however my stack had dwindled to the point, where the BB or SB seemed to be calling everything, I think I double up once with AQ but busted out with QQ against Ax.
What do you do in these situtations - I really did want to cash, but I think the way I played almost guaranteed that I would make the final table?
Thanks
Scotsrule
Recently I have been doing fairly well in tourneys on Pokerroom
In my last 5 MTT's I have cashed 4 times - highest was 6th place and prior to that I have one 1st and 2nd
Last night I was in the 50+4 daily tournament, using a ticket I had won in a 6+1 SNG
There were 33 players, left I was 25 - I had about 6500 left, blinds were at 500 - 1000
I found it impossible not to freeze at the bubble - I had the two chip leaders of the table (and in the top 5 total), on my right and left
Even when I had an okay hand - it seemed like the big stacks at the tale were raising every pot - which is a solid play, they know that players will only stand up to them with a very strong holding
I ended up making the money and then waited till I had a big hand and just pushed - however my stack had dwindled to the point, where the BB or SB seemed to be calling everything, I think I double up once with AQ but busted out with QQ against Ax.
What do you do in these situtations - I really did want to cash, but I think the way I played almost guaranteed that I would make the final table?
Thanks
Scotsrule
Comments
If they believe this, then they are RIPE for the re-steal. It is true that the bubble is a GREAT place to pick up some chips. But, you need not be a dominant stack to do so. If you are VERY low on chips you are in trouble since you cannot make the re-steal move against big stacks -- they will call. But, if you have enough that the loss will hurt him then this can be an excellent time to resteal.
If I am really small stacked I will often attempt to make the money, like you did.
If I am medium stacked I will probably gamble and look to move up in stack status.
If I am a big stack I will keep hammering.
What specifically you should do is difficult to know. If you will not sleep well after moving in with 7-4s and going bust getting called because the guy DID have AK, then don 't do it. It, however, you REALLY REALLY want to win and simpply slipping into the money isn't that big a deal, move your chips.
A friend of mine once said to me, "I know I should try bluffing, but I cannot bring myself to raise with a hand like 8-5s." I respect that. He knows himself. And, there is more than one successful style. In my case, I cannot bring myself to leave chips one the table that I think are mine for the taking. My style results in a LOT more errors than his style. Much higher variance. But, I do not have it in me to play his style -- nor he mine.