How To Play The Bubble

Most players fear the bubble. As they near the bubble after surviving several hours of tournament play, they tighten up. We’ve all been there. Finishing on the bubble is probably one of the worst feelings in poker. This is exactly why you should use the bubble to accumulate chips. Most successful tournament players anticipate the bubble for this reason. Don’t fear the bubble - use it to your advantage.
Throughout a tournament, especially during the middle stages, I pay close attention to who will defend their blinds and who doesn’t. This information comes into play near the bubble. Just as important is figuring out who likes to steal blinds. These are the players you want to make resteal moves on because they’ll be raising light many times and won’t want to get involved in a big pot with a marginal holding especially out of position. But, you can’t wait until the bubble to accumulate chips otherwise you’ll have less fold equity. Fold equity is when you have enough chips to pressure a player to fold. Players will be more willing to gamble against short stack pushes. Always look for good spots to pick up chips.
Here’s an example, with the blinds at 500/1000 you pick up Q-Jo in the cutoff. A player who’s been pretty active raises 3x from middle position. There’s 4500 in the pot and he’s got approximately 25,000 chips behind him. You have 30,000 chips in front of you and push all-in forcing your opponent to call off all his chips on the bubble. Unless he has a monster, he’ll have a difficult time calling this bet. This move may seem a bit reckless. But, you’re relying on your read and your fold equity to take the pot down. This move will remind him to slow down his aggression on the bubble when you have position allowing you to steal more blinds.
Think about how your play is affected by the bubble. Do you play scared or are you playing to win? Finishing in the money shouldn’t be your goal when you enter a tournament. Playing to reach the final table and top payouts should be what you play for.