Late play as the chip leader

[tvdad]

I've got a rather nasty hole in my game that I'd like to work on. It's the specific situation where we're down to the final four in a single table tournament that pays top three and I'm the chip leader. It's my blind play that suffers.

At this stage of the game, the tables are turned and the small stacks basically become the bullies. If they get any sort of playable hand, they will push all-in on my blinds and force me into a decision. It's especially tough in the BB. When the blinds are T500/1000 and a small stack pushes in for around T1600, how good a hand must I have to call that extra T600? I don't want to be pushed around by a small stack, but I can't exactly put in another T600 when I've got crap like 83 or 72, can I? But I can't wait all day for big cards either.

I actually play better when I'm one of the small stacks in this situation because I know the BB chip leader will be more apt to fold when I push all-in. But there has to be a way to combat this when I'm in that spot. Far too often I find myself playing too cautiously and my stack dwindles. More often than I'd like, I end up finishing fourth. This needs to stop.

T

[FloppedFlush]

In the situation you give, you're getting better than 5-1 odds on your call (putting in 600 to win 3100). You should call with any two cards here. Even if he has AA, you're getting about the right odds to call. If he has anything else, you're probably behind, but not behind by nearly as much as you might think. A hand like AJ isn't that big a favorite over a hand like 83.

[Lori]

If the software packs up and only deals me one card, I'll probably still call 600 here.

Lori

[Sam T.]

As others have noted, in the situation you describe it's an easy call.

But the larger issue that I think you are getting at is wheather or not to play sheriff. What if the blinds are only 200, and he pushes, so your calling 1400? The temptation is to say, "I've got t5000, and I could bust him! After all, 82o isn't that far behind AJ."

Personally, I've gotten out of the law enforcement business. The purpose of the big stack isn't to keep the short stacks honest if they're all-in. It's to bully them before they're all in.

[Bluff Daddy]

yes nothing is more frustating being a middle sized stack and watch the chip leader fold to the short stacks

[tvdad]

Yeah, the numbers I posted were out of whack with the question I was asking. Sorry about that. That's what I get for posting so soon after an early tourney exit on a bad beat (KK went down to 87o on a runner-runner straight.)

I know the benefit of having the big stack is to put pressure on the small stacks, but when you're down to the final four at these single table tourneys you don't have a lot of wiggle room. The blinds are usually so high by now that any bet is an all-in, and any loss could drop you from first to last.

When I'm one of the short stacks, I have no problem shoving in all my chips with any remotely reasonable hand. And I can do it from any position. But when I'm the chip leader I have to worry about defending my blinds against people who try that on me. And that's where I'm getting clobbered.

Maybe I'm putting too much emphasis on surviving and not wanting to risk my chip lead on marginal edges, whereas a short stack is definitely willing to take that chance. Maybe I just need to grow a pair and take more risks at this stage.

The odd thing is, I do very well once we're down to the final three. I have many more first and second place finishes than thirds. It's all the fourths that are killing me.

(Note that I'm obviously talking about those times when all of the final four have reasonably sized stacks (nobody is extremely short.) With 10,000 chips available, the chip leader might have around T4000 and the other three are in the T1500-2500 range, and the blinds at T250/500 or higher. Something like that.)

T