33 on the Bubble

[Ivan_Drago45]

I am pretty sure I already know the answer to this, but I just wanted to get your thoughts on being short stacked and playing small pocket pairs like 22, 33, 44.

I haven't played many live tournys with a lot of people so this was the largest field I have played in (119 people) and I really wanted to cash. I played at Binion's twice with fields of around 80 and I took 6th in one of them. Anyway, we are on the bubble with 11 people remaining. Blinds have just moved to 16k/8k/2k. Average stack is just over 100k. I have 49k and I am UTG. We are hand for hand at this point and the super short stack (under 1BB left) has doubled up 3 times now. I look down at . I decide I can't try to wait for one of the other 2 short stacks to go out and I push. The BB calls with . He catches an A on the turn and I am the bubble boy.

My question is would any of you have played this any differently and if so why? I realize that the math says of course I make this play, but there were a couple of outside factors. I rarely get to play so this was my one opportunity for a while and I really wanted to make something of it. Do you let this change how you play or do you still just go for it and hope for the best?

[DevilFish73]

First congrats on a solid finish with or without the money...

I think you made the right decision to push w/your 3's but the better question might be "why did I let myself get this short to bubble in the first place." Believe me anymore this is my expertise (bubbling that is), but we need to ask our selfs why am I forced to move in w/33 this late in the event. Maybe the answer in your case is that you were devastated by a bad beat or an unsuccessful bluff attempt but either way the question has to be asked.. I have decided to stop playing live poker this way and to move more in the direction of "kill or be killed." I have read all the books and made all the plays now I just have to quit playing so damn tight/aggressive... Again nice job and good luck in the future.

[Ivan_Drago45]

Thanks for the input, Ben. I guess that is a better question to ask. The structure wasn't too bad (25/50 blinds with 10k in chips, levels increased every 20 minutes), but I did find it difficult to stay ahead of the blinds and antes a lot. Looking back on the tourny, I actually only won 6 hands and lost only 2. Both of those were steal attempts that I folded preflop after getting a lot of action after my raise. I suppose this is a little too tight for lasting around 4.5 hours. However, most of the pots had 3-4 people seeing the flop. It was difficult to maneuver with everybody playing so loose so I felt it was better to sit back and wait for the homerun. Of the 6 hands I won, 3 took down the blinds/antes, 2 were double ups, and one was a triple up. Is this entirely too tight?

Also, I was kind of surprised that by the time we got down to 2 tables a good 15-17 of the players had M's in the 4-5 range. Even on the bubble the M's were so low that had i won that hand I would have been in the top 4 in chips. Is this normal for this kind of tourny?

[DevilFish73]

I'm not sure about the stack question but the structure seems decent.. A little fast for my taste but it sounds like you played great to get as far as you did..

My plan anymore is to have a plan reference where I want to be at each part of the event.. If I'm behind at one of my points I will turn it up or go home.. This I hope will prevent me from showing up late w/ a short stack and going out on the bubble..

[CW Buckeye]

Even though you were 5 or 6 handed, I hate pushing with such a weak pair UTG. However, just because I hate it doesn't mean that you can get away from it. Having a made hand, right before hitting the blinds for 1/3 of your stack....you have to do it. Just sucks.

[Chipless Wonder]

You could easily be called by J-10 or something like that and win that race. And with as short as your stack is, if you get one caller, you could get the blinds too, giving you a chance to triple or quadruple up.

So I agree with the consensus here, and also believe you have to push with your dinky little pair in this spot.

[SparX]

make a move earlier

I would rather shove 6BB on the button with 72o than shove 33 here where you are (almost) guaranteed to be called.

as played (waiting way too long to make a move) you have to shove here with almost any 2 cards, so yeah good bet, unlucky.