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Strategy Guide for PokerStars Step 3 Tournaments

The Bubble
There are actually two bubbles; here we’re referring to the first bubble, when the table is 6 handed and losing one more player guarantees everyone remaining to break even. You’ll generally see the bubble hit around level 5 (75/150), although it can come earlier or later. Some bubbles are relatively short and don’t last the level; others can drag on for a handful of levels. Your approach on the bubble is basically dictated by your stack – if you’ve accumulated chips, now is the time to really open up and pressure your opponents. If you’ve kept something close to the starting stack, now is the time where you have to be very careful about the spots you pick, as elimination is a far more negative experience EV-wise than it would have been at the start of the tournament.

Below we’re dealing with push-fold stacks; if you have a deeper stack at this stage you also have the option of raising and then folding. Generally speaking, opening with a hand that you’re not prepared to call a re-raise with isn’t the best idea. If you’re comfortable with your stack and your opponents, mixing some standard raising into your game at this point is fine, but there’s also nothing wrong with cruising into the money with your deep stack if you’re not comfortable with the additional decision-making standard raising (3x or so) can result in.
Let’s break it down by position, starting with the earliest and moving through the blinds.

UTG
When you’re on a medium stack, say 7-12BBs, your UTG play should be very tight. With so many players left to act behind, there’s just too good of a chance of running into a superior hand if you choose to open light here. There’s a roughly 50% probability that someone behind will wake up with AT or better or 66 and better, and while you might not being doing terribly against that range if you’re opening a little light, you’re not doing well enough to justify a gamble on the bubble. If you give a look at bubble situations in an ICM program, you’ll find that in most case with a 7-11BB stack, you should be avoiding entering with anything but a premium hand.

The same holds true when you have a dominating stack as well. Even with a substantial chip lead and a solid stack in terms of BBs, you’re generally not going to want to play anything weaker than 88 / AJs UTG, and in many cases you’ll want to be playing even tighter than that.

You’re generally only paid to gamble UTG when you have a pretty small stack (under 6BBs) and the rest of the table – especially the blinds – has decent incentive to play tightly (relatively flat stack sizes) and there’s no crippled stack at the table. Oddly enough, once you dip below 4 BBs, it’s generally correct to tighten up again, at least to some degree. Here’s why: you’re very likely to get called and risk elimination, but if you fold, aggressive players at the table are likely to start making moves due to the tense bubble your crippled status creates, increasing the chance of a confrontation that will allow you to sneak into the money.

So, summary: Your UTG play on the bubble should be tight as the rule –possibly tighter than you think – with the majority of the exceptions to the rule coming when you have a 4-7ish BB stack.

UTG + 1
UTG+1 is pretty similar to UTG, with two basic adjustments. One, since there are now only four players to act behind instead of five, you can loosen up slightly. Two, there’s now a player acting in front of you, and the general rule is that you should be playing pretty snug if that player opens. The more chips you have and the less they have, the looser you can isolate, but even at your loosest you shouldn’t be dropping below 99 / AQ+ or so.

You should again be playing pretty tight with your 7-12BB stacks UTG+1. Even with fairly tight players behind, you’re generally not getting paid to gamble with medium aces and pairs. As you inch down toward the 7BB end of the spectrum, you can open up your range to include 88+ and AJ+, but when you’re closer to 12BBs you should be folding everything except for TT+ and AK.

With your small stacks (4-7BBs), you should generally be opening fairly wide. The closer you are to the 4BB end, the wider you should push (basically any two cards if the BB is reasonably tight), but even with a 6BB stack you should be pushing about 40% or so. The BB is the big variable here – the tighter they are, the wider you can push. You’re looking for BBs with a stack that is about 10BBs or so – deep enough that they don’t feel desperate to call, but shallow enough that a call will string them if they lose. Once you dip below 4BBs, you’ll want to tighten up a bit – think top 20% or so, meaning you can chuck the weakest aces and medium to weak kings.

Summary: Very similar to UTG play, but a shade looser.

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