Marcus Bateman / Marcus Bateman / 13 October 2008 / Leave a comment

There is quite a common situation that arises on the bubble of sit and go tournaments that can hugely improve your win rate if you can spot and take advantage of it. It usually comes about when playing three or four handed on the bubble of a sit and go tournament when you and another (or two others in the case of nine seater games) player both have chips, and there is a short stack trying to survive until the money. Many players just go after the short stack and try and get heads up or three handed, although frequently this is a mistake.

With the chips and the pay out structure as they are, you actually want the short stack around, as it enables you to bully the other bigger stack(s) and let you accumulate the chips necessary to take that all important first place (remember that although making the money is very important in sit and go tournaments, you have to always be thinking about winning due to the very large percentage of the prize pool that goes to first).

It is often correct in such a situation to actually either fold your small blind to the short stack, or fold to any of their shoves even with very strong hands. With the short stack treading water in this way, you are free to relentlessly attack the other big stack(s), who will be very loathe to play a big pot with you when there is a short stack who they believe will inevitably bust out if they just hang on for a little longer - in the hope that this will guarantee them some money.

As the blinds are so high by this stage of a sit and go, you only need to do this for a few orbits to start pulling away from the other big stack(s), giving you that vital chip lead for finishing the game off. This strategy can be so effective that you can often reduce both players to very short stacks, I have frequently seen the other big stack bust before the short stack, either continuing to fold too much or tilting as they realise what has been going on and shoving very weak hands and getting looked up.

The bubble of any tournament throws up great opportunities to make odd plays that will benefit you in the long run - no where is this more true than in a six max sit and go. Although keeping a short stack alive might feel counter intuitive at this stage of a sit and go, it is frequently the correct thing to do to enable you to bully the other player(s). Think carefully about the best way to get first place - not just into the money - and watch the dollars roll in.

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