Today we are going to look at some different scenarios that will occur when we are deep in a tournament and on the Final Table bubble, this is where you will notice some aggressive action from what are most likely some of the toughest players in the field.

Whatever your stack we are going to run through some analysis to help you win more $EV in these spots next time you make it deep in a tournament.

Here are some key points to take note of on Final Table bubbles

• Chip leaders will be opening near 100% of their hands to apply pressure to the shorter stacks, as they know they need a good hand to risk moving all in just before the final table.
• Nearly all stacks have heavy ICM implications, so, for instance, the big stack opens and the Button which is currently 4th in chips has KQs and behind them in the blinds are 6th and 7th in chips, the player on the button will be scared to put their tournament at risk with huge payout jumps at risk, so even huge hands shrivel up under this pressure.
• The shortest stacks have no ICM pressure as such but they are just waiting for a solid holding to double their stack.

So as you can see, nearly everyone is a spot to be taken advantage of by someone with an aggressive game plan.

Reasons to loosen up and go for the win

Play on FT Bubbles is short-handed, with a typical final table having 9 players we will usually be playing hand for hand with 10 players split over two tables, meaning 5 players on each table. When we are playing this short-handed our ranges should be much wider, we can’t wait around for 9 handed holdings as we will simply get blinded out.

Play crazy loose if you have a chip advantage as no one wants to miss out on making it on to the final table, as mentioned earlier there is huge ICM pressure even on bigger stacks as they don’t want to lose a huge pot and go from say 4th in chips down to 8th for example, most players look to weather the short-handed storm and just make it through to 9 handed play again.

Payout jumps are fairly flat when we are looking at the 10th-8th place money, so ICM pressure isn’t as much. This means this is the point where we should look to be gambling to get a big stack and go for the top three places in the tournament where the most money is.

A typical payout structure might look something like this:

• 10th – 10buy-ins
• 9th – 14 buy-ins
• 8th – 20 buy-ins

Whereas the top 3 spots will have prizes that consist of:

• 3rd – 100 buy-ins
• 2nd – 150 buy-ins
• 1st – 200 buy-ins

So it is definitely worth gambling when you don’t have much to lose on the final table bubble as a couple of pay jumps isn’t going to boost your bankroll much, in a $100 game for example as extra $400 between busting 10th and getting 9th isn’t going to matter too much, however playing for the win and trying to lock up at least $10,000 for top 3 money is worth shooting for! So take some chances and playback at the big stacks!

We shouldn’t always be playing Aggressive

Although there are tonne of spots we have gone over that you will be printing money in if you can get aggressive, there are still going to be times where you will benefit the most $EV from playing tight.

• If you are on a table where there is a raise and a 3-Bet nearly every hand, with aggressive action being played back at, then the wise move is to sit back and wait for a good spot to risk your chips.
• We will also want to play tighter when we are the middling stacks, as then we cannot simply punt off our stack in the attempt of chipping up, for example, if we are 4th in chips with 10 players left then the money jumps of another 6 people busting before us will be considerable, so we will want to bide our time when we are in spots like this.