No $money$ for 4th!!!! Hints for play when it gets down to 4 or 5????

[bigplaya69]

Alright, I play 10 people S&G tourneys and I play like a rock. I dont mess around until the idiots get knocked out or until the blinds start gettin to me. Of course i will play my blinds and the occasional monster hand. Most of the time I am lucky enough to catch a decent hand maybe AA KK or QQ to double up somewhere along the way so I am not too shortstacked when it gets down to final 4 or 5. I am usually sitting with around 1500 in chips, leader has about 3000 and other two people have around 1500-2000. Sometimes i find that two people will both have great hands and then someone gets eliminated quickly, but a lot of the time it is a battle of stealing blinds. I tend to get hands like 37, 610, and other really bad hands that i would be an idiot to call a raise with. It seems that every hand someone is pushing, and i just wait for Ax or pocket pair to push and sometimes they never come. I have read harrington on holdem, and that has helped me a lot, i was just wondering if anyone had some helpful strategies for playing shorthanded in S&Gs. Also sometimes i go into final 4 with huge chip lead of maybe 2000 above everybody and when the blinds get to 200-400 i lose chip lead in no time at all because the shortstacks raise all in every hand and I want to call them but i just dont have the hand. Thanks

[Nottom]

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It seems that every hand someone is pushing, and i just wait for Ax or pocket pair to push and sometimes they never come.

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They don't come often enough ... you need to be pushing a lot more than this.

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lso sometimes i go into final 4 with huge chip lead of maybe 2000 above everybody and when the blinds get to 200-400 i lose chip lead in no time at all because the shortstacks raise all in every hand and I want to call them but i just dont have the hand. Thanks

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As the big stack you should be the one raising forcing the small stacks to call with their toureny life on the line.

If you want more detail than this, just read all the posts on the first page or so (just the original post and skim the responses) the vast majority of them seem to be about bubble play.

[bigplaya69]

What do you consider raising hands when it gets down to 4? Calling hands???

[DasLeben]

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What do you consider raising hands when it gets down to 4? Calling hands???

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It's very dependent on stacks and position. Sometimes it's correct to push 72o, and sometimes it's correct to fold strong hands. Your question is impossible to answer in one post.

[Nottom]

Raising hands could range from somewhat tight to any 2 depending on the situation.

Calling hands are very stack dependant and a much, much smaller range in general.

Bubble play is much more about chipstack and situation rather than just your cards.

I can't begin to explain it all in one post but most everything you need to know to be successful is found in this forum if you are willing to put in the time.

[TahoeAce]

Help is on the way! HoH volume 2 is just six days away. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[CaptSensible]

I only play sngs online (at PP). check out my post "At Wits End" I gleaned some great advice. One thing I did was to move from $20 and $30 sngs to $10 sngs until i fill in the holes in my play. The main thing I got from the responses to my post was to be much more aggressive when it's down to the last 4/5 people. I will play very tight for the first few rounds of the tourney. Once the blinds start getting big and/or when its down to 4 or 5 people I will get much more aggressive. Depending on position and the info ive gained so far from the other players I might push with what in the first few rounds would be very mediocre hand (if not altogether unplayable) one of the hands i put in that posting was folding K 3suited on the button or small blind when down to about 4 players and everyone behind me folded. I got a lot of flack for that. Since moving down to the $10 game and becoming much more aggressive shorthanded my win rate has gone up to 60%. We'll see how much longer that holds up! lol. But i have hit the money in games i previously would have been blinded out on by stepping up my aggression level later in the tourney. The other advice I got was to push instead of raise depending on my chip stack (again, shorthanded/big blinds). Here's something someone said: "If you have less than 10BB (or the person you're trying to steal from has less than 10BB), just push your stack in. If you've got more than 10BB (and he does too), make it a 3-4xBB raise."

This advice has helped me emmensly. Good luck to you!!

[EasilyFound]

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I have read harrington on holdem, and that has helped me a lot, i was just wondering if anyone had some helpful strategies for playing shorthanded in S&Gs.

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Pre-order HOH, Vol 2. It deals with the situations that you describe. /images/graemlins/grin.gif But your description of your play is generally how I try to play, and I have the same problems sometimes. I am more comfortable with the strategy for playing a short stack when short-handed. Perhaps you need to be more aggressive with a large stack by being the first one in the pot and making your opponent made the hard decision. There are tons of threads here that discuss short-handed play. Perhaps you should occasionally post hands that you were unsure about what was the best play, and see what others have to say.

[johnd13]

This is probably a situation that nearly everyone on here has faced (there are exceptions of course). The board has serveral of these type posts


In a nutshell, it becomes brass balls time. You have to take risks, you have to put your chips in the middle and go. Yes you are going to lose some, you'll get bad beats, you'll be on the receiving end of suckouts as well. You sit there and wait for Ax or better and IMO you are doomed, it's that simple.

I would highly suggest you look at Eastbay's program. It's not an end all tool, but it will give you an idea of what is porfitable in the long run to push with in these situations. You'd be surprised what hands are actaully +EV in given situations...

[CaptSensible]

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I would highly suggest you look at Eastbay's program.

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what is eastbay's program?