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The bubble” is the term used to describe the stage of a tournament when only a few more people need to be eliminated in order for you to reach the money. This is a very critical point of a tournament, no matter what shape your stack is in. Although many players are playing on their heels and folding more than they should be, you will also find that another group emerges, and that’s the group of players who really start to get aggressive during this period. So that’s partly why bubble play is so interesting: You have one group of people getting real timid and another group of people who just open their game up, with hardly anyone playing an in-between style.
You can take advantage of the bubble whatever your stack size is. Ideally, you want to arrive at the bubble party with a ton of chips, and thus have virtually no chance of being eliminated prior to the money. This will allow you to focus your energy on selecting the players who are now playing more passively, finding ways to extract their chips from them, mainly by preflop stealing. Big stacks have the luxury of opening up their game at this point in the tourney, which slowly allows them to add to their chip count. However, you don’t want to get a lot of chips involved with marginal holdings, especially if the reraiser has been timid. Sometimes pot odds will force you to call, especially when the reraiser is severely short-stacked. Smart aggression from a healthy stack in this part of a tourney can help propel you to a final table.
Now, if you are on the other side of the coin and are short-stacked, here are some ways to take advantage of the bubble. First, it is always a good idea to know where you stand at this stage of the tourney. Maybe you are in 28th or 29th place and they’re paying 27 spots. If that’s the case, you will almost definitely need to play a hand to make the money, and you want to be proactive about picking a good spot. Hands like K-Q, K-J, K-10, J-Q, A-x will tend to be a favorite over a lateposition big stack who raises a lot when it folds to him/her. Calling off your chips with these marginal holdings can actually be a very good play. Also, you may find yourself in a spot where it’s only you and a few similar short-stacks in the hand when it is folded to you. Take advantage of that spot by being aggressive, because the other short-stacks will still be playing timid. Do not be afraid to bubble; it will happen, and it will not be fun, but it is part of the game and you can not be afraid to play the game.
Keep swinging,
Brett Jungblut
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