Ahh nightly Eyes Wide Shut is OK and much prefer it to Lunch Money that is a bit of a crapshoot.....
Whenever I play mtts I ask myself if I want to play to cash or to win. If i play to win I disregard bubble completely and thats when I can build up nicely and put myself in a good standing to reach final table as players tend to tighten up considerably. If I want to cash then playing tight during bubble is probably best idea but i find its important not to tighten up too much.
You seem to do quite well in mtts and its probably because you do well in SnGs and being aggressive is always key.
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There was an interesting situation I was on bubble in big mtt..
I played the betfair 20k GTD (139 runners) and did well to get my stack up to 13k with 20 players left (top 18 pay). It is folded to me in button and I have A7o. Blinds were 500-1000 I raise standard 2400. BB bb has me slightly covered and he smooth calls. Flop is A84 with 2 spades. The pot is currently about 5.7k and he donks 3.5k.
At this stage what would be the correct play?
A) smooth call and reassess turn
Push all in
C) Fold
Also, at this bubble stage would anybody here consider folding A7 on button and just fold my way to cash???????
Then I got a few answers....
Think of it this way ... if you cash it usually means just a bit more (maybe up to 50% more) than your buy-in. Nothing to get thrilled about and if you are a tournament player then cashing is practically useless unless you hit top 3 scores, since you have to pay for all of your past tournament bust outs without cashing.
Nothing wrong with folding this hand on BTN, especially if there might be one or two players with <8xBB stacks left that will bow out anytime. Depends on your mindset if you want to go for the final table with chips or to just cash.
But since you did play it the way you did and flopped Aces up on a wet board facing a 60%p bet, you gotta shove over the top and not get fancy here. If you ran into a set then just deal with it and move on. But chances are you could easily be racing against fdraws and oesd too.
Also, if you do choose to play A7o on BTN with 13xBB stack, you should shove preflop and not donk raise 2.4xBB especially on bubble. Good tournament players will exploit you at this stage with air knowing you will probably fold to a resteal all-in, since you would have probably shoved with just 13xBB if you had a decent, premium hand and not wanting to bust on the payout bubble.
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Folding this hand in that position with a fish on the BB is a 100% no no for me, though its not a great hand and i agrea with the all in but still i dont see much wrong with the raise. SB was a very strong player who has respected you so far so and so dont think he will be exploting you here with a donk steal!
Dont think there is anything wrong with the play here to be fair, though when he donk bets into you you pritty much know its a flush draw and if you raise all in here you know ur getting your money in 70% fav! Smooth call is a bad move as the turn can be scary and ill like to know im getting it in 70% good!
Still you got outs after he hit the flush on the turn anyway..... Standard play to be fair though, i muck his 93 spades pre or i shuv, smooth calling for me is sooooo - EV its a JOKE!
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"I think pushing all in pre flop is a bit excessive as only a dominated hand can call. "
"Folding this hand in that position with a fish on the BB is a 100% no no for me, though its not a great hand and i agrea with the all in but still i dont see much wrong with the raise."
Well from my experience bad things almost always occur when you donk raise on BTN for 2.4x with a 13x stack on bubble. You open for this small amount worried that SB/BB may wake up with a big hand and wanting to fold to a big 3-bet preflop. Whether this is really the case or not, psychologically and subconsciously this is what was occurring from my perspective.
With a 2.4x raise from BTN you give pot odds for BB to basically call with any playable hand as long as he does not put you on a big PP. You do not have a big enough stack to play postflop nor can you afford to lose this pot since you are left with just 10.6x stack (if you fold flop) and definitely cannot take even one bad beat either. The difference between cash games and tournaments is there is a value assigned to intrinsic time/life survival, since cash games you can just reload.
You shove on BTN preflop with 13x, take down the blinds uncontested, and get a 14.5x stack without any effort. That way on the next orbit you can then open for 2.5-3x and still have 11-12x stack if you have to fold. Even if your shove gets picked off by sb/bb waking up with a hand, you either still have one overcard versus pairs or one live card versus a bigger Ace, and that is the way it goes but not the end of the world.
Also, you cannot even consider the option of flat calling flop donk bet and possibly folding the turn with just a 7x stack remaining. Weak tight donkament fish may consider playing that flop like that but it is just horrible.
