This week I’m going to address two related questions posted as follow-ups to last week’s Mailbag.
Q: I regularly play these short stacked tourneys at my local casino. We only start with 6000 in chips, the blinds start at 25/50 but double every 20 minutes except for one level where they go from 400/800 to 500/1000. I have a regular debate with one of the dealers regarding what point you need to shove regardless or your cards. I believe that once I have ten big blinds or less, which comes up frequently with these structures, I need to shove regardless or my holdings. He argues that because everyone is comparably short stacked I can afford to let my stack get smaller waiting for better holdings. Should the low M of my opponents make me shove more judiciously, or do you feel both the dealer and I are being too conservative and I should shove any chance I get until I have a larger stack?
Q: How do you adjust your playable hand range to compensate for short, almost turbo like tournament structures with 20 minute levels?
A: If a spot is +EV, it’s +EV. It doesn’t matter whether the blinds are going up next hand or never. Unless you are close to the bubble or another significant pay jump, then the structure of the tournament just isn’t going to come into play that often. Most tournament players would benefit from just playing each hand to the best of their ability and worrying less about how they are faring relative to the field, how close they are to the money, etc. There aren’t that many spots where it’s correct to pass up a +EV play or take a -EV one.
That said, when there are bubble considerations, it’s possible for a play that’s +chipEV to be -$EV. In other words, it can win you chips but lose you money by jeopardizing your survival at a crucial moment of that tournament. Proper adjustments for those situations are a lot more complicated than simply shoving more or less aggressively in a fast structure.
There are also times when you are so short-stacked that it’s no longer about finding +EV spots but rather finding the least -EV spot you’re likely to get. Again, adjusting to these situations isn’t so straight-forward.
If the blinds are about to go up or hit you, then it makes sense to shove more aggressively. This is because you presumably have more fold equity with your current stack size than you will after the blinds increase.
If everyone is really short-stacked, it helps to know who are the shortest guys out there and how close they are to the blinds. Tightening up and raising your standards for risking your tournament life makes sense if it looks like you can outlast a significant number of people, where what’s significant is a function of how many you need to outlast to get a pay jump. If you are among the shortest, however, then you may need to shove more aggressively than usual if everyone else has tightened up to wait you out. Playing and studying satellites is probably the best way to get experience with these situations.
If you’re looking for a simple and straightforward rule, here it is: “Don’t take poker advice from dealers.”
Do you have a question for the Thinking Poker Mailbag? Please leave it as a comment below!
Thanks for your detailed response. It’s really helpful. I really miss Pokerstars tournies and their structures. Oh well, I’ve had plenty of time to lament that. Your advice regarding dealers is spot on. I used to discuss cash and tourney strategy with a few of them until I was lucky enough to get to play against them. It was an eye opener.