PimpinDonks #5 Bubble Play Strategy
Instructor:
PimpinDonksStats:
- 51 min 23 sec
- May 31st, 2009
- SNG
Video Description
When you reach the bubble of your sit n go, you are in the most critical stage of the sit n go. This video will show you the correct strategy for bubble play and quiz your poker knowledge. This will make the difference between finishing 4th and making the money. I have mentioned in my videos in the past that it is vital for you to do work away from the poker tables to improve your game. Well in this video I do all the work for you, you just have to sit there and watch. In this video I go over critical hands I have played in sit n gos on the bubble and show you the mathmatics behind the correct play. This video will make you more money playing sit n gos!
Comments
RYHUNDO, thanks for the feedback. I agree with pretty much everything you wrote. I also like your video ideas. I think alot of players would benefit from videos like that. I know alot of players who watch these videos wonder how I would play at a lower level so I think I will do that one. Since you came up with the idea for the leakfinder video would you like to be the one who gets leaks plugged. If so let me know your email and I can get hand histories from you. If not no problem we can find someone else.
cool, glad you agree. Yeah I'm happy with that mate, email me more information on what your looking for (ryantipse@hotmail.co.uk). look forward to hearing from you.
Hi Pimpindonks,
Another great video. Thanks.
Would also be great to have a video showing how to use SnG Power Tools at the final table in a 45 MTT (donât know whether you can customize SnG Power Tool to do that) â even if the principles are probably very similar to those applied in 9 player SnGs.
The A7o hand is a quite interesting one:
First, it seems to me that youâve used the SnG Power Tools with a 9 player config instead of 6 players which I understand was the case here. Does not change much though the EV of calling with A7o under your assumptions : it is $+10.47 (with a 60% - 40% pay structure).
Moreover, I feel it is critical to understand how good the Button is, and how good he thinks you are :
⢠If the Button thinks blinds have tight calling requirements (66+, ATS+, AJo+), then the pushing range for the button is ⊠74%; EV with KJs is a comfortable +$7.32 (and even 65o is profitable with these assumptions). Under this scenario, (button shoving 74% of hands because he understands how much fold equity he gets from the tight playing blinds), the BB should call with A7o ($+18.47), and call with much weaker hands such as Q8o or K4o.
⢠If on the contrary the Button thinks blinds have loose calling requirements (44+,A7s+,A9o+,KJs+), or that they are likely to loosen their requirements because he has been bullying them, then it is correct for the button to push only 15% of hands (including KJs). In which case calling with A7o seems to be a blunder (-$19.57 EV). 88+, AJ+ would be the minimum required to call profitably.
So if the button is an average player who is likely not to fully understand how much fold equity he can get, I will fold. If the button is a very good player, he is going to push with a very wide range, and then I would call with A7o. After heâs done that a couple of times, because he is a good player, heâs going to adjust and tighten up, anticipating that the blinds will loosen their calling requirements ⊠if I am good enough to anticipate this adjustment, then I need to fold A7o.
As a complement to my previous post,
⢠Regarding the A6s hand: if there is at least one average or poor player behind, which is almost always the case at the 10$ or 20$ stakes where I play, I will fold (they will probably call with Ace rag, KQs, KJs, âŠ); ATs will be the minimum to shove. The maths back this up : if you loosen calling requirements for only one of the three players, your EV with A6s goes into negative territory.
⢠Iâve also noticed that when I am in BB and everybody folds to the SB, if the SB is a good player, he will shove any two cards, including 8-3o (or raise if we both have more than 10BB), knowing that I am a tight player. So my calling range is very large (top 30% at least, until he adjusts his pushing requirements); if raised, I three bet with top 40% of hands. If the SB is an average or bad player, I am much more careful.
Hi Pimpindonks,
I think I found how to use SnG Power Tools to simulate a 45p MTT final table.
The process of customizing the blinds / payout structure of a SnG is explained here :
http://www.sitngo-analyzer.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=504&sid=a413f1...
It works only for 9p tournaments; the program crashes if you try to type 45p instead of 9p in the .str file.
However, if you multiply the buy in (and the rake) by 5, as well as the number of starting chips by 5, and you enter the typical 45p pay structure (for Full Tilt), which is 38% for the first, 25% for the second, 16% for the third, 10%, 6% and 5% for the 4th, 5th, 6th, then the program reacts as if you had started with 9 players having paid 5 times more, and having started with 5 times more chips. It works and the calculations seem correct, since there are only EVs and no ROIs.
Here after the .str file I created to simulate a 45p MTT $10 or $24 tournament on FullTilt :
You can copy and paste this in a .str file as explained in the link above to try it.
Name: Full Tilt Final Table 45 players
Players: 9
Buy-In: 50/5 120/10
Chips: 7500
Payouts: 38 25 16 10 6 5
Blinds: 15/30 20/40 25/50 30/60 40/80 50/100 60/120 80/160 100/200 120/240 150/300 200/400 250/500 300/600 400/800 500/1000 600/1200 800/1600 1000/2000 1200/2400 1500/3000 2000/4000 2500/5000 3000/6000 4000/8000 5000/10000 6000/12000 8000/16000 10000/20000 12000/24000 15000/30000 20000/40000
FileSignature: Full Tilt Poker Game
Really great vid Mark,
Helped my bubble play a lot and really shows the thought process that goes into bubble play. Also helped me with determining what range a person is playing. Right after watching I was able to take advantage of what I'd learned here.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the video it`s pretty much how I would play,but when I put all the stats (don`t have 250/500 blinds so used 200/400)from your second question on the vid into sitngo wiz I get a totally different result 
on there it suggests pushing a much tighter range,even when I change the opponents calling ranges,is sitngo wiz much different to power tools,or have I done something wrong when i`ve input the stats?
Also i`m not sure if I have some major floor in my game and i`m missing it or i`m just on a bad run,I play very similar to you,I also check my play regularly on sng wiz and have very few mistakes,but it`s just not working 
...any tips would be greatly appreciated 
I recommend using sng whiz now. At the time I made this video sng power tools was my goto program. So go with what sng whiz tells you to push/call.
There are very long runs of breakeven/losing stretches for winning players in poker. It is important that you not be results oriented over a small sample size of games. You could be in one of those bad stretches or you could have leaks in your game that you aren't aware of. If you keep studying and improving you will beat your opponents who just sit down and play.
Ah ok,
I really think mixing it up a little and not being to dependant on wot wiz tells me to do is where i`m going wrong,I am going to push more in situations like the above as I think the wiz can be way too tight on the bubble when stacks are equal,it doesn`t seem to recognise how much fold equity the button has here,4 1/2 bbs,whereas if you fold and the blinds go through you again,you will have 0 fold equity!
Hey again, what a great video, altough I got all but two answer correct I feel the education for confirming my thoughts, leaves less doubt in my mind, It also allows me to see your thoughts as a reg. I wrote notes as I watched the video so a couple of my thoughts, and my reasoning behind the two I got wrong which you confirmed you may have not done wot u done all the time.
A7o calling the 2000 all in blinds at 100/200, I feel this was marginal, because of the spot you are left in when you loose, I think if it was a 4man bubble in a simular situation I would almost 100%fold because the idea that there are more people to knock out the other player on the bubble so given I do not play 6ways it may be a call, i just feel with 10bbs on the button he can still fold ALOT of the trash hands you included in your range, but saying that if he is good reg I wud call but against an unknown i would fold just because they dnt push as wide as they wud need to. so it really is player dependant and giving the fact you have poketracker you would know more about the player which probably made you call. Also blind against blind I would call but button ranges are tighter because he may feel you two will tango but also like u sed he wud rather play a pot with you than the other guy but I dont think people think into this much detail (maybe more so at my lower limits, higher limits may change but I see even worse players in higher limits sometimes lol)but yeah its marginal and you did say you fold there sometimes but yeah I would fold if I had no reads etc on the player.
Next hand I commented on was the A6 suited utg, this to me was a shock to see how little ev+ it was so this maybe where I make the mistake because it would be 100% shuv to me just because you are so low to the other stacks and the next shorter stack is in the BB, the range you gave them was a bit loose because they really don't need to call but for all the times you have a mainiac at the table I suppose it averages out at your given hand range, but against most players i think they fold some of the weaker hands like a10s and 66 - 77 just because they dont need to call.
The ak hand you made up I would fold here, I learnt this from jackal in his series.
The 77 I would normally fold here this is the second one I got wrong, I just cant see calling there but in terms of it being ev+ so much, I need to start making that call, given that its a rare situation I'm quite safe from the amount lost when I fold, and just to make the money in that sng I would be happy with not calling and letting a shorter stack bust out,but just for this call I am glad i purchased this video to up my game that little bit.
Anyways thanks dude, this video has added to jackals series and given me a better understanding of the bubble. Keep them comeing.
In terms of next video to make I could give you some hand histories and you could comment on another players game if you wanted to make a leakfinder video, just an Idea, or maybe some lower stakes stts. cheers.