Poker Strategy and Psychology - You're Near The Money, Now What Do You Do?
This article is maybe more relevant to a Multi-Table Tournament (MTT) with several hundred players, as opposed to a Single Table Tournament (STT) with a handful of entrants.
It's the fact that I've seen many poker players do really well in the early and middle stages of a tournament, only for their game to go to pieces at a crucial stage. Either when they get near the prize money cutoff (called the bubble), or shortly after actually making it into the money.
I have done it myself many times, but I'm getting better!
Let's say I enter an MTT with 600 players. The top 60 finishers get the prize money. I'm playing well, going along nicely and playing some good poker. 80 players left. I start nervously and repeatedly checking my position to see how close I am to the money, and I'm willing other players to go out. I'm not playing any hands, folding starting hands with good potential. I'm not defending my blinds and I'm playing way too tight. I'm nervous and scared to go out so close to the prize money. And it's not just me, most of the other players are behaving the same way too!
Meanwhile, the bolder players are taking full advantage of this weakness in their competitors. They are betting and raising, attacking the blinds and bullying the smaller stacks who are nervously hoping to scrape into the money. Who has the better strategy here?
Now let's say I manage to survive and I'm now in the money. 60 players left and I'm in 49th position. Without doing anything, in a couple of minutes I notice I'm 40th out of 50! What's happening here is the opposite of what was going on just before the prize money 'bubble' situation. Players that are so relieved to have made it into the money are now being far too loose and just having a punt with their cards. The result is that the playing field quickly and significantly reduces in the minutes after the prize money bubble is reached.
I've found that a great strategy is to basically go against your normal human emotion of fear when near the bubble, and try to play normally or even a bit more aggressively to take advantage of the passive nervous players who are playing too tight.
After the bubble resist the natural temptation to give in to the relief of surviving into the prize money. Play tight for a few minutes and look for opportunities to use strong starting hands against opponents who are obviously just happy to have made the money.
Hope this helps and good luck at the tables!
Mark
This article is maybe more relevant to a Multi-Table Tournament (MTT) with several hundred players, as opposed to a Single Table Tournament (STT) with a handful of entrants.
It's the fact that I've seen many poker players do really well in the early and middle stages of a tournament, only for their game to go to pieces at a crucial stage. Either when they get near the prize money cutoff (called the bubble), or shortly after actually making it into the money.
I have done it myself many times, but I'm getting better!
Let's say I enter an MTT with 600 players. The top 60 finishers get the prize money. I'm playing well, going along nicely and playing some good poker. 80 players left. I start nervously and repeatedly checking my position to see how close I am to the money, and I'm willing other players to go out. I'm not playing any hands, folding starting hands with good potential. I'm not defending my blinds and I'm playing way too tight. I'm nervous and scared to go out so close to the prize money. And it's not just me, most of the other players are behaving the same way too!
Meanwhile, the bolder players are taking full advantage of this weakness in their competitors. They are betting and raising, attacking the blinds and bullying the smaller stacks who are nervously hoping to scrape into the money. Who has the better strategy here?
Now let's say I manage to survive and I'm now in the money. 60 players left and I'm in 49th position. Without doing anything, in a couple of minutes I notice I'm 40th out of 50! What's happening here is the opposite of what was going on just before the prize money 'bubble' situation. Players that are so relieved to have made it into the money are now being far too loose and just having a punt with their cards. The result is that the playing field quickly and significantly reduces in the minutes after the prize money bubble is reached.
I've found that a great strategy is to basically go against your normal human emotion of fear when near the bubble, and try to play normally or even a bit more aggressively to take advantage of the passive nervous players who are playing too tight.
After the bubble resist the natural temptation to give in to the relief of surviving into the prize money. Play tight for a few minutes and look for opportunities to use strong starting hands against opponents who are obviously just happy to have made the money.
Hope this helps and good luck at the tables!
Mark
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