Time Limit Tournament

We are playing a home game, time limit, winner-take-all tournament. With 5 minutes to play, by agreement, there are 5 more deals.


1000 chips in play Three players remain. One has 450 chips, one has 300 and one has 250. Blinds are 10 and 20.


What are the relative strategies of the players?


Is it understood that once it is down to say 3 hands that both shorter stacks need to go all-in, on the theory that the only chance to win is by one winning all the others.


Assume it is the last hand and the shortest stack bets all-in, and next to act is the big stack. What is the best move?

If it's the last hand, the big stack must play. Since if he folds one of the other two will win and grow a bigger stack. The only way the big stack folds and wins is if the other two split the pot. Obviously, the big stack will win, even with terrible cards, more often than the other two will split, so folding is out of the question.


With multiple hands to go, the decisions get more difficult. If the short stacks go all-in on the 5th to last hand, if the T300 stack wins, he'll have the tourney locked up, as he can fold his way to victory after. If the T250 stack wins, he might be able to fold his way to victory, depending upon the timing of the blinds and the actions of the now super-short stack. So, the big stack must again play no matter what his cards once you reach this point.


This is why time limit tourneys are silly. Once you get near the end, you are often in situations where everybody must go all-in no matter what their cards. Luck is the final determiner of who wins.


Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)