play near the bubble

[therrinn 0]

I've been playing a lot of the 180 man $20 tourneys on stars, and am often in the situation where I'm below average before the bubble, but can build my stack up to above average with aggression on the bubble. At the moment, I'm sitting at the second break, and am in a different situation than usual: I'm actually the chip leader at my table, with 3 tables (22 people left). I'm pretty good at playing a medium or short stack near the bubble, but do you have any tips (for the future) as to how to play a big stack near the bubble? I'm not really worried about making the money, I'm aiming for the win, in case that changes matters. My table has 8 people, with Ms ranging from 8 to 25.Another thing: Say that you're the big stack. Would you prefer to be at a table with a range of stack sizes, or one that has a bunch of short stacks and a few big stacks?Thanks for the help.

[HoosierAlum 0]

Post specific hands it would make it much easier to answer questions. These generalizations tend to confuse more than help.

[microtech 0]

Well IMO I prefer a table with small stacks and a few big stacks. This late in a tourney most are sitting back trying to limp into the money and aggression against those players is a big part of playing a big stack. It all depends on the stack size and blind structure but selective play against those sitting back waiting for the big hand can lead to some easy pot steals and increasing your chip stack.

[copernicus 0]

The fewer big stacks the better. You want to be able to raise pre-flop and put pressure on the middle stacks to fold anything but premium hands, and when there are other big stacks that can call with looser standards you are risking bleeding chips to them, or to getting caught in a battle of big stacks.Note that its the low end of the middle stacks (M of 10 or above) that are under the most pressure. The shorter stacks are getting to the point where they have to play some hands and they arent as easy to move off good but not great hands. The middle stacks expect to move into the money if they dont lose any big pots, and are more reluctant to play. (Unless its a satellite, where the larger stacks are less likely to play because they know if they sit tight they have a prize, and theres no value to accumulating additional chips).