Strategy:Tournament:Playing on the bubble

When you are short stacked, the bubble can be one of the more stressful times during a tournament. When your stack is healthy, the bubble can be an enjoyable time.

With a larger stack you can bluff more and steal more blinds. Shorter stacked players are waiting for someone, anyone but themselves, to bust out. Generally the short stacks will play tighter than normal, which you may be able to take advantage of.

With a small stack your choices are limited. If you try to wait it out, and are lucky enough to make the money, you may find you don't have enough chips to continue. See playing shortstacked for why it is important to not let your stack get too low.

Depending upon your position relative to the other short stacks and the big stacks, you may find you can attack, even when short stacked yourself. The other players who are in peril of "bubbling" don't want to lose, and you can often steal their blinds and limps with aggressive play, even when you have few chips yourself.

Of interest is the odd phenomenon of post-bubble "glide". After the bubble a lot of short stacks will loosen up. This leads to a number of quick bust outs just after the bubble, and if you're careful and lucky you may rise in the rankings without doing much work.

The bubble can be a stressful place, but it can also be very profitable. A successful bubble strategy can position you for a strong run at the leaders.