So near but so far...

[Gus Mango Fish]

Over the last couple of days I've played two $60 Satellites for the WSOP and two $45 Satellites for the EWSOP.

There were 16 or 17 entrants in each of the WSOP games I played, so 1 person qualifies from that to the online WSOP final (cost $650+) - the top 5% go through to the WSOP in Vegas.

In the EWSOP games I played there were 20 entrants meaning 2 qualifiers for the EWSOP online final (cost $400+). From that the top 10% go through to the EWSOP in Vienna.

In both the WSOP games I played I finished in 2nd place, missing out by just one place.

In both the EWSOP games I played I finihsed in 3rd place, missing out again by just one place!

Unbelievable! I seem to be doing really well until I get to the bubble point, and then I just don't seem to be able to quite finish it off

It's incredibly annoying and frustrating, but I guess I'll keep on trying...

[Native Hal]

I too have terrible trouble with going out on the bubble in tournaments, i think that you really have to make serious changes to the way you play, especially when under the gun, on the bubble it can really make sense to lay down great starting hands cold when first to act, especially if some one else will get put out before it comes back to you.

[Gus Mango Fish]

My problem in all the qualifiers was that I never seemed to have a hand in the closing stages of a tournament. That and the fact that my heads-up play sucks badly!

In the E-WSOP with 2 qualifiers (where I finished 3rd) I was way ahead of the 3rd placed person. He was going all-in every hand. I never had a hand to call him with.. Though, in retrospect perhaps I should have called with Q2o, as at least the Q was a relatively high card compared with some of the other rags I was being dealt.

The one excellent hand I did get dealt was KK in the BB, and the all-in guy folded to me. It was almost as if my cards were marked or he someone could tell what they were.

This coupled with the fact that the chip leader called my blind every time and was more prepared to go heads up with me and knock me out than challenge the third placed guy. In the end my stack got progressively wore down until I had to go all-in and lost.

Sick of coming so close but not quite qualifying for the E-WSOP online final I decided to shell out $450 and play it anyway... Finished 13th / 60 with 6 qualifiers going to the main event in Vienna.

Blinds are 100/200. I'm dealt KK in late position. Folds round to me, I raise to 800 (I have 4000 chips at this point). Small blind folds. Big Blind calls. Heads up, me and him.

Flop 5c 6d Qc.

I go all-in. Big Blind calls. He turns over 8c, 9c

Turn x
River 7d

And I go out on a gut-shot. However, I think he may have been slightly ahead odds-wise as had a lot of outs (13 I think). I think my problem here was my initial 800 raise wasn't enough...

Felt sick as a dog going out, especially as the guy who knocked me out was then able to fold himself all the way to 6th place.

[SlaineMcRoth]

Unfortunatly you got played there. Although you could do something about that though. In this case the second highest stack didn't want to take risks so left it up to the big stack (you) to take the lowest stack out. The lowest stack obviously has to take risks, going all in on good hands trying to double up and going all in trying to steal the blinds.

The best thing to do in this case (in my humble opinion) is to attack the second biggest stack. You will have to try and steal the blinds of him/her and call his bets pre-flop. After calling a bet pre-flop, you then bet into him on the flop where the player will most likely fold as he's shown to be a player who doesn't want to take risks. If he then calls or raises you after the flop you know he's hit and consiquently fold.

Doing this will keep your stack either the same size or you make it grow. Now you can wait for a good hand to take the small stack out because you get your money from the other player. Not only that but now you've put pressure on the second highest stack making him take more risks with the small stack. Hence either the small stack doubles up leaving two people who have to take risks or one takes the other out.

With two people having to take risks (that when the small stack has doubled up), you can either start bullying and raise every hand stealing enough blinds to be able to lay a few down where you get raised or you get them to play each other and play the waiting game.

Anyway, that's one method to play the end game

[Gus Mango Fish]

That's almost exactly how it happened, except I was the middle stack and was leaving all the work to the big stack. The big stack kept betting in to me rather than take on the small stack himself.

In the end I got worn down by a combination of constant all-ins from the small stack and no cards to call with, and the big stack raising me all the time.

[SlaineMcRoth]

Well, as you were stuck in the middle with the small stack going all in every hand it's just waiting for the right hand to chuck your chips in as well. The big stack raising you every hand is something you need to put a stop to. There's two ways of doing this in my opinion. One, when he raises you, you call and whack it all in on the flop. He will need to have hit to call. And two, raise him all in before the flop (same as the small stack). If he's not willing to call the small stack he'll be even less unwilling to call you. It's risky business but in this case you're on the same level as the small stack really. It's just a matter of time before the big stack calls either you or the small stack now. Obviously if the bets aren't too high you might want to (depending on the flop) again call a bet on the flop and then (re-)raise all in on fourth street. This is a slight difference but can make it seem much more likely you've actually hit a good hand. Mix it up a bit but battle it out as waiting for good hands in this game (where you have a bingo playing low stack and a bullying big stack) will certainly see you loose.

[7-2offsuit]

That's almost exactly how it happened, except I was the middle stack and was leaving all the work to the big stack. The big stack kept betting in to me rather than take on the small stack himself.

In the end I got worn down by a combination of constant all-ins from the small stack and no cards to call with, and the big stack raising me all the time.

Sklansky once offered an interesting strategy for 3-handed play when the blinds are big and you've not got too many chips in front of you.

It goes without saying if there's a raise in front of you already, you need to have a markedly better hand to call that raise than you would if there was no-one in yet, but if you're first in you can raise with many more (and poorer quality) hands than you'd be tempted to call with.

Call with fewer hands, raise with more hands then, but because the quality calling hands you will receive are going to be few and far between (and you don't have the luxury of time), rather than trying to make strategic plays on or after the flop Sklansky advocates simply either moving all-in or folding before the flop, i.e. before the flop you're not making ANY small raises or calls and trying to get jiggy after the first three cards come out, you're either mucking or shovelling it all in there and putting your opponents to the decision..

His 'strategy'?

If you are first to act, always move in before the flop with a pair, or 17 points or higher (where non-suited cards are at face value and a Jack=11, a Queen = 12 and so on....)

Always call with a pair, or 17 points or higher (where non-suited cards are at face value and a Jack=11, a Queen = 12 and so on....)

If no-one else is in the pot before you, always move in with 13 points or higher (about 70% of hands dealt meet this criteria).

In other words you'd move in with (at worst) 6-7off but you wouldn't call with it (8-9off would be your worst calling hand).

I've never tried this strategy myself but it'd be interesting to see what sort of results it would yield when you're down to the final three...

[7-2offsuit]

And I go out on a gut-shot. However, I think he may have been slightly ahead odds-wise as had a lot of outs (13 I think). I think my problem here was my initial 800 raise wasn't enough...

He had 12 outs - nine clubs and the other three sevens (not the 7c). Unless you're giving him an extra out for his runner-runner 8s and 9s possibilities o'course. Nothing wrong with how you played it IMO though. A 4xBB raise from LP with KK is a fine raise pre-flop and for him to call you with 89s, well maybe he felt like gambling. Maybe he just had a mountain of chips! I would have been happy to have the action, anyway.

With a Gutshot and a flush draw on the flop he was more or less even money - 12 outs twice made it almost a coinflip for him to bust you by the River (you were about a 5% favourite). I'd have probably called in his position, but then I probably wouldn't have got to see the flop in the first place