Hey all I have 3 spots I wanna ask about.

H1 easy one. Ok so I have 30-40bb and avg is 30? And we are getting close to day 2 but 20-30 players away so still some play. Ok player jams 15-17 bb. I have AA. Player to my direct right is a young kid witth huge stack- maybe 400-500k at 6k level. He calls the 105k shove. I have AA. Stack is 180-220k (not sure exact amount). I flat. We see flop of 556. Young kid jams I call. He has JJ we hold. Do you like just flatting the raise? I felt he might fold bc he was kinda foldy and passive to 3 bets etc. I think jam looks weaker but I got vibe he was newer player so he prolly doesn’t understand how strong my range is flatting there. Result- great but I feel he doesn’t give us the stack on Qx kX flops. Thoughts on jam Vs flat pre?

H2- I have 400k at 3/6k and I’m trying to build a stack. I open 46cc from button or cu. Bb defends and is older white guy but like more middle age. Flop 77A. I cbet 1/4 he calls. Turn A he checks and I bet 1/2 he calls. River A. Goes check check and he has 67 and whines lol. I planned to shut down river most of time. Ok? I feel this was good spot to bet flop and turn bc I feel he folds and my range is crushing his. He might flat 7x 2 times like he did and I risk a meh amount on a bluff that I think is def printing chips. As long as we don’t fire river when it goes call call bc he’s prolly not folding river.

H3- do you like going crazy late when icm is huge? I opened 73dd from cu one time and got all folds. Is it ok to deviate from gto opening ranges if people are tightening up and table is straightforward and not getting 3! Happy or spazzy post. I felt my table was folding to cbets a ton and was easy to cbet and have people play super straightforward- like they were folding a lot. I know deviating from gto prolly is ok at time buts only when situations call. I had a huge stack for the time of tourny and icm pressure? I felt around money bubble- it was printing chips to play hyper aggro and pick on the folks folding to preserve chips.

I know some spots are a little agg like 73dd from cutoff but I feel they can really help build a stack at most important time for chip accumulation near the money bubble when having avg or above chips is huge. I felt my table wasn’t 3! Enough either so I felt it was good to open wide from LP.

H1 I always shove full range. You can't ever flat here weak so your range is nutted. When you jam you can at least be perceived to be wide, even if you aren't in reality.

H2 looks fine, turn is the only questionable spot and you prob mix bluff with your worst showdown hands in theory, which 46s is one of.

H3 agreed all around. Exploit the nits and play to maximise stack growth with small wins.

Yep, agreed all around.

I'll just add two notes:

On hand 1, flatting half your stack there looks super strong. Once I get to where calling is that much of my stack I'm just jamming my whole continuing range.

On hand 3, as a more general note: GTO should serve as the foundation for your play and you should stick to it when you don't know anything about your table, but when situations and information you have on the players at your table dictate, you can deviate from it if you think an exploitable play is more profitable. Like you have here.

Something I’ve noticed- I’ve improved a lot at the 30-50bb range game during mid late stages. I’ve started opening more of a gto range based on those stack sizes and focus on the big card opens and less small pps from say ep. I feel in past when I was a meh poker player maybe 3-6 years back- i would pass on A5suited, Q-Jo etc early position opens from ep at those stack depths which I think can’t be passed on if you wanna win a tourny (kinda gotta always try to accumulate) and I feel my understanding of what to fold to a 3bet and what to call with has improved.

I found some sweet spots today. One spot, button opens to 2.4x?, sb is young kid and he flats. I 3! A3o and button folds and young kid tank folds- saying he had a mid pp. im like in my head, dude that’s a perfect spot to 3! A button open which is going to be hella light. I feel people value their tourny life way too much before close to bubble scenarios where chip accumulation is huge. 4.8bbs won without having to see a flop or showdown is huge and I can easily fold to a 4!

My table was solid. I had an Indian dude that was 3! Me but I assume never really light. He seemed meh. Saw him playing 2/5 cash but yea idk his open size was to like 18-22k at 8k bb level which I automatically assume is a meh tourny player. I never understand why people go any bit over a min raise. The young kid was open to like 2.3x-2.5x and folding to 3!. I wanna ask these people if they realize they can min open and lose less when they have to fold to a 3!. I never understand why people are scared of bb defends. I feel like majority of population isn’t playing bb defend spots well against aggro mtts players where they have to peel sometimes light to not let in position players just own them in say cu Vs bb spots.

H1 is auto jam. With virtually no fold equity. But if you get a fold its a good thing because you are not always going to have AA

H2 I would typically bet 67% Pot or so on the turn. So I would have lost more.

H3 Absolutely critical. I was in a tournament recently and went from short stack to chip leader (at the table) by raising late every time. Blinds couldn't call for some reason. This is especially important when guys to your left aren't 3-betting.

Trip report- started day 2 in the money with 500k in chips. Got it up to 2.4 mill. Has 3x average with like 40-50left which is insane.

I 3! AA and hit a set and got paid by guy after cbetting small on A78 flop. Turn 7 I check and he leads like 20bb on turn. I check river 9 to him and he checks back sigh. Still insane pot early in the day.

I think I hit 3 sets and was hit by deck otherwise early in day but hit a tough patch. Has another crazy spot. Ep open, 25bb jam. I have qq in cu and call. Ep fold and he has AK and we lose the flop. It was for like 3.1-3.3 mill when average was 700k which if I win that flip, I prolly easily make FT if I run ok. 26.8 mill chips in play so damn 3.2 at that stage would have been insane to just exploit. A lot of players at final 2 tables were pretty meh and not normal mtt regs.

My big goof- I need to work on cbet sizing. I cbet 1/3 and 1/4 pot when I think 1 bb or 1/5 pot can work and we lose less when they x raise etc. I had 2-3 sizing spots that were bad. Ended up 3! A button open with A3o to 350k and fold to a bb shove of 700-800k of older Asian gentleman when I think his range was like all the better Ax and pps. He said he had kk. Not sure if I’m supposed to call on math but I felt it would be gross when he had better Ax which I think is common and pps we have A as only out. Think it’s a good spot to 3! Button open but somehow bb wakes up with a hand.

Ended up ripping 10-9cc for 8 bbs from ep with 13 left short handed and guy calls with AQdd and we didn’t get there. Bubble was from $3400’to 4100 if I just sat around. Do you ever just fold and try to bubble? Me personally- I say nah just take the Nash ev shove for a chance to win tourny and buyin was 500 so I don’t think ruining chance of winning tourny is smart if we fold. It was like utg or utg+1 6 handed.

My favorite- I had this old nice guy to my right that was a super rec. I have 10bb and he completes sb and I have 72o and check back. Flop A36 and he checks. I bet 1 bb and he folds. Made me lol inside. I felt he should prolly rip pre whatever he had bc I was so short or he should just bet 1bb on A flop bc I have none of the As bc I’m never checking back with Ax. Ugh so many of the players were super exploitable but it was hard with not picking up solid open hands late when stacks were hella short.

Another spot Vs him. He raised sb to 135k at 60k level on 10-15bb stack. I have A9o in bb and just rip knowing he’s prolly hella strong bc this guy is playing so tight. He had 10-10 and we don’t get there. Maybe it’s an exploit fold Vs guy or just call but I’m like maybe he will fold some kx hand he raised or something. Prolly a call give up to action though on on Ax boards. My rip is ok sb Vs bb but not sure Vs this player.

i don't see the point of trying to pay ladder - especially a live, 2 day $500 tourney

if you were to look at it from an expected hourly perspective you'd make more spending same time working at mcdonalds and without the risk of losing money

but then you're working at mcdonalds, so there's definitely a tradeoff

but i just think for stuff like this you want to go for it - nothing worse than getting whittled down so low that when you finally double up you still have <10bb left

Ha thanks. Just wondered what others thought on this.

Me- I go for it. I’m fine if kinda somewhat icm spew if not at final table where pay jumps actually mean something. I like going for it! Even with bluffs- if something can improve my chances to win if it works and i consider it likely to work- I’m going for it and not passing up.

Btw I put $500 into a video poker machine after tourny/ hit a $1500 payout and bounced. Left the machine with $1800 and was like I’m outta here booking a profit!

I went to Philly with 3k and ran godly in gambling. Made money playing cash ($2k?) money playing craps, and video poker. I know I’m very likely to lose and was expecting to punt my 3k trip roll but was surprised I came home with 5k profit! Played 2/5k for first time- sat with 1k and spun it to 3.6k after running godly for 3 hours. Spewed next day at 1/3 and lost but was much less than my 2/5 session. Extremely fun trip that was a super outlier. Finished 13 in tourny for 3.4k also after 2 buyins for 1k total. Wanted the win but 3.4k is ok if you ask me.

yeah like wsopme, you bet your ass i'm going to tank fold everything on the bubble because where else can you make 20k just sitting and not doing anything for an hour or two

but this - no

almost no live tourney experience though but in the few i've played i felt like the field was way too passive near the bubble and big ladders

He had 700-800k total when you 3-bet to 350k, or 700-800 more? If you're getting better than 3:1 you can't really fold any Ax I don't think.

As far as ICM / "Playing for the win" - I approach this much like "playing to get a big stack" or what have you. The best plan is to have no plan. The best approach is to make the decision that is going to make you the most money at every opportunity you have to make a decision. Sometimes at a final table that means opening often because everyone else is playing too tight. Sometimes it means playing tight because everyone is being too loose and freewheeling considering the pay jumps. You win when your opponents make mistakes and you take advantage of them, so you need to observe what kind of mistakes they're making and adjust accordingly.

If anything, I find being more cognizant of ICM at smaller tournament final tables can have more of an advantage because other players won' bet and will just take a shot with their stack in spots where they shouldn't.

(I played one final table a couple of years ago where two players accidentally exposed their hands because they thought they were all-in and got a one-round penalty. One of them was super short after the hand, too, so the penalty was devastating and that person would've probably busted almost immediately upon returning. Two other people busted out while they were out of the action.)

(And another one last year, I came in with the chip lead and was able to open pretty regularly but also had some good hands. People kept shoving after I opened in spots they shouldn't have even considering I was opening fairly frequently-- like a guy with 10-12BB shoving A7o from the blinds after I opened UTG. I had 99 and busted him. When people are making mistakes like this, you profit, and folding and playing tighter is the best way to let them make mistakes. Unless you get a bunch of big hands.)

I wanna say I 3bet to 300-350k and bb Jammed for 800-900 total. I was prolly getting solid odds but idk? His range is what? 88+ AJ+. This guy was a somewhat nittier tag Asian older guy so he never has kq or kj there.

H1 is a jam after he flats. You aren't deep enough to be flatting here and being tricky. If it's only 23BB more, just stick it in. Don't give him a chance to fold on some flops or put yourself in a tricky spot.

H2 - Yes I like barreling the turn here some % of the time. It really is the best card for you to barrel.

H3 - If the table is passive and tight, then it's fine to start opening wider and definitely +EV