This item continues on from our previous posting “Waiting for the Bubble” where John Juanda discussed short stack and big stack bubble strategy.

MEDIUM STACK STRATEGY
This is where it gets tricky, because when you have a medium stack, you have a lot to lose. Let’s say you have 50,000 in chips. After starting the tournament with 10,000. And if you get into the money, they pay you $10,000, or close to that. Now, if you lose your whole 50,000 you end up with nothing, and that’s a lot of chips to lose for no payout. But here’s one way to play when you have a medium stack: Let’s say the big stack has already folded in front of you, and now it’s just you and players with fewer chips than you left to act – when this happens, YOU become the big stack. Now you can play very aggressively, knowing that the players with fewer chips are not going to defend their blind or call your raise unless they have a huge hand.

Also, it is possible when you have a medium stack to take advantage of players with big stacks. Remember, if an experienced player has the big stack, then you know he’s going to be playing aggressively. He doesn’t even need a hand. By knowing that, every time he raises, you can just come over the top of him and re-raise him, even though you don’t have a hand. This guy has a million in chips, he doesn’t need to have anything to raise, he’s going to raise with 7-2 offsuit. Knowing that, you can say to yourself “alright, I have nothing either, but if he makes it 10,000 just going to make it 50,000. I don’t think he can call, because he most likely doesn’t have anything.”  It’s kind of a risky play, but it works a lot of the time – especially when you have a good read on somebody. Sometimes people have tells, such as raising different amounts when they have a good hand as opposed to when they don’t have a hand. You can really take advantage of that.

Here’s another example of high-level strategy on the bubble:

In a tournament a few years back, there was this really good player, and we were down to hand-for-hand play. A short stacked player moved all-in, and this good guy, who had been doing well was now chip leader, he looked at his hand, and he had A-K in the big blind. And he just mucked the hand! And you know what? It was the right play!

Here’s why: At the time, at the table, it was easy for him to steal. He was the huge chip leader, everybody was afraid of him, so he must have been thinking “Why would I call with A-K? I might lose with A-K. I’m just going to throw it away, then the next hand, everybody’s going to fold, and I’m going to raise again”.

If he had called and busted this guy with his A-K, then hand-to-hand play would be all over. We’d reach the money, and his huge advantage would disappear. He wouldn’t be able to make these moves anymore. But by laying down A-K, he can raise nine out of the next ten hands and probably win eight of them. Which one is more profitable? Smart.

Sometimes it makes sense to throw away the best hand, because when you’re big stack, you’re in such a unique situation. This is something that a lot of mat guys don’t understand. They’ll think “Oh, I’m getting good pot odds here, I’m like 20 percent favourite.” But who cares about being a 20 percent favourite when you can rob people blind? Yes, the odds are in your favour here, genius, but just throw it away because if you do, you’ve got potential to win every pot with virtually no risk.

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