newbie question about bubble play

hi /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

i just finished two 30+3's, one which i bubbled but the other i managed to finish in second which was nice. however in both the 4-person stage lasted what felt like forever. when i finally get ITM i feel like i won a marathon! also it didn't take this long on the $5's or $10's, though of course my sample size is pretty small.

i'm sure bubble play has been talked about here before, but is this kind of thing normal? it all seems to be about a) getting decent cards and b) having good position more than skill at this level. i just want to see if i should expect this long draw out bubble play in the future, or if it's just an outlier /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

actually it was only 7 minutes long.. but god it felt so much longer /images/graemlins/blush.gif

[runner4life7]

from the sound of it you found some of the tighter 30s but its not irregular, but I was 4 handed lvl 2 the other day so there are loose 30s. A lot of it is knowing when to steal and when it is +EV. I think its generally safe to say you should be more aggressive in the long run on the bubble than your oppenents, but like in the other post get sng power tools and go through lots of HH's. Including hands you might think are automatic, you might be surprised at teh results.

yeah that's what's weird because looking at "Beating SNG's" on this forum it says to play even tighter on the bubble? maybe i'm confused.

another question, is it to my advantage to have faster games? since i'm playing solid/tight, i want a faster game so there is less risk of being blinded out close to the bubble, right? once it was down to 6 and still at 25/50, that was nice.

[splashpot]

From the looks of your other posts, it sounds like you're not pushing enough. You should be pushing A LOT especially when the blinds are really high. Try to pick spots where you can steal the blinds. Like when it's folded to you in the SB. You need to be tight, but mostly in regard to calling all ins. If you haven't already, look through the posts linked here (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=singletable&Number=191873 5&fpart=&PHPSESSID=). There are some good bubble posts and also some good pushing posts. Plus tons of other good stuff.

Look up stuff on fold equity too. FE is the reason you should be going all in a lot on the bubble.

[runner4life7]

you dont want to be super crazy on the bubble but when possible you should exploit other's fear of busting out on the bubble. My basic stradegy is tight early, looser aggresive later if that helps at all and I play the 30s. I'm not sure if to say you want faster games but it is nice to not be 10 handed lvl4 so i think it is probably a good idea to want people to bust obviously. The thing is though you should know better than to get blinded out and most times you should have opportunities to push to prevent this. I'm done rambling now.

thanks for that, both of you. in my very limited experience, it almost seems optimal to have one or two people bust everyone out quickly, so i can sneak into the money and start my pushing then and also keep low blinds. i've noticed a couple big stacks is preferable to me than everyone even stacked when late in the game. the "marathon" i referred to had everyone constantly around 2000, so everyone stole and no one got blinded out until someone finally made a move.

[splashpot]

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thanks for that, both of you. in my very limited experience, it almost seems optimal to have one or two people bust everyone out quickly, so i can sneak into the money and start my pushing then.

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Yea, this is nice when it happens, but it doesn't happen most of the time. Most of the time, you have to fight to stay alive. That's where stealing the blinds a lot comes in.

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i've noticed a couple big stacks is preferable to me than everyone even stacked when late in the game.

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Of course. Any time 2 guys are all in, you're pretty much rooting for the big stack to win. The closer people are to busting out, the better.

Just keep in mind that you are fighting for survival. That means stealing a lot of blinds to keep from blinding out, and NOT calling all ins without premium hands. It's all about survival on the bubble.

yeah, it can really be exciting though too, especially when you're in the money and you can relax a bit /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

definitely less stressful than the variance of ring games too.