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View Full Version : Early Bubble at 11/22s


09-11-2005, 12:07 AM
Everyone knows the 11s are soft, and the 22s are pretty soft as well. It seems like at least once in fifteen SNGs my table is filled with crazy LAGs who bust each other out very quickly. This is very nice for me, but it brings up an issue I have not seen discussed on this forum. How should your strategy be adjusted for the bubble when the blinds are still in level two. The bubble is the time for stealing blinds, but is it really worth the risk when you have t800 and the big blind is only t30, or t50. Villians are much more loose in calling a 3 or 4 big blind raise then they are a bubble push, which I frequently make when the bubble hits with higher BB/stack ratios. I haven't figured out what the optimum strategy is for situations like this, and would like help from the forum.

Since a fair amount of you play for higher stakes where this doesn't occur I will give you some general cases for what the table stack sizes look like at this point. Hero usually ends up with a shorter stack, as he stays out of the way of the action unless he holds a big hand.

Extended Bubble
Villian 1 t3000
Villian 2 t2000
Villian 3 t1000
Villian 4 t300
Hero t700

Villian 1 t2500
Villian 2 t2500
Hero t1500
Villian 3 t1000
Villian 4 t500

Actual Bubble
Villian 1 t4000
Villian 2 t2000
Villain 3 t1200
Hero t800

or Villian 1 t3200
Villian 2 t 1800
Hero t 1500
Villian 3 t 1500

Thank you for any help you can give me.

BadMongo
09-11-2005, 01:09 AM
Well, you don't have to go crazy just because it's four handed. Just continue to play smart poker. As long as the blinds are small relative to your stack, you can afford to be patient and wait for a favorable situation. Patience is the key at lower buy-ins. Often, two of the big stacks will end up duking it out, and you can slide right into the money.

I'm not sure I can give you any specific advice, as you post is very general in nature. Why don't you post some specific hands you're not sure about? I might also be a good idea to play some short handed NL cash games if you want to get a feel for these types of situations.

splashpot
09-11-2005, 01:13 AM
[ QUOTE ]
The bubble is the time for stealing blinds

[/ QUOTE ]
This is because the blinds are usually large, not because there are only 4 players left.