Party Poker SnG 4 Handed

[DONTUSETHIS]

I have had a few too many fourth place finishes lately. Do you think that when these sits get to 4 handed with 150-300 or 200-400 blinds with only 8k in play that it becomes a crap shoot. How do you guys adjust for these?

[Gramps]

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Do you think that when these sits get to 4 handed with 150-300 or 200-400 blinds with only 8k in play that it becomes a crap shoot.

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A crap shoot, yes, but an educated crap shoot at that. Do a search in this forum for "bubble" and you'll get a lot of ideas of how to play in these spots.

There's a lot of skill involved, but sometimes that skill only makes you the 3:2 favorite instead of a 3:2 dog, etc....which is still quite a crapshoot...but good results show up over the long run if you play well.

[pshreck]

Not a crapshoot whatsoever.

All fancy plays are out the door, but knowing when to get your chips in and when to fold, based on your stack size, your opponents stack sizes, and the blinds, is a huge skill.

The fact that tons of PP players limp 600 chips out of their 1500 chip stack, shows you how it is not a crapshoot and there are still bad players making bad plays, that good players can take advantage of.

[Benholio]

Pshrek nailed it. People make plenty of mistakes at these stages, giving an edge to those who make fewer mistakes.

You probably see one or more of these common errors in each orbit, even.

Completing the small blind or limping in from anywhere.
Folding anything against big (more than 2:1) pot odds.
Not calling enough because there is a shortstack.
Not stealing enough because there is a shortstack.

Even the decent and rational players often really butcher the bubble play, in an attempt to 'slide in'. There are plenty of edges to exploit here, it just might seem like more of a crapshoot in the short-term because you will often end up coinflipping your stack away.

[KJ o]

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Even the decent and rational players often really butcher the bubble play, in an attempt to 'slide in'. There are plenty of edges to exploit here, it just might seem like more of a crapshoot in the short-term because you will often end up coinflipping your stack away.

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True, and "coinflipping your stack away" is the key here, IMHO. If you typically DON'T have coinflips here, you are quite likely too passive, waiting for the great hand that never comes.

Your profit here comes from pushing and picking up the blinds. When you do get called you are usually not far from 50/50, and you wish you hadn't pushed. But if you never push you have no chance.

And, again: push! No calling and certainly no minraising (except possibly to trap with AA and the like, but be prepared for disappointment).