end game play

[silax]

ok matt this ones for you can you explain it for me i generally pick an amount of chips dicided by the bb when i go into this mode of win or bust.

[mathare]

What are you asking here Silax? What stack size is right for entering push/fold mode? What hands to push with?

[silax]

yeah something like that. i don't have any set rules for this type of play just low chips a good hand and puuuuuush

[mathare]

I'll certainly start you off and you can ask any questions you like as we go along and steer the discussion however.

To me the ultimate crime as a poker player is to get blinded out. There is NO excuse whatsoever for going out of a tournament by having the blinds catch up with you. If that happens you have played way too passively and missed several opportunities to build your stack. I always have an eye on the blinds and when the level is about to change, whether it be time-based or goes up every X hands and alter my play accordingly.

For me the game changes from normal play to push/fold when I have around 10xBB in my stack. If I have more than 10xBB I feel safe enough making a standard raise to 2.5-3xBB knowing that I am not then pot committed and if I need to fold to a re-raise I can do and still have a reasonable stack. The key is fold equity - the chips you gain by beiing able enough to bet an opponent off a hand. Your shove needs to be big enough that it can do some damage to your opponents' stacks. If it can't then they will call with any 2 cards and probably screw you over. A shove of 10xBB is usually pretty scary to most stacks. Even if the chip leader has 50xBB why would he want to double you up and put you on much closer terms? If you have 5xBB though he may call as he has 45xBB even if he loses and you'd only have 10xBB.

The least important factor when deciding whether or not to push should be your cards. When I am in push/fold mode I look at my position and who is in the blinds initially, and the size of their stacks in particular. Are they blind defenders? How many BBs have they got? Assuming they know reasonable endgame strategy are they also in the push/fold zone? Am I going to get my big raise through the blinds unopposed? I then work round the rest of the players and ask the same sort of questions. Is there anyone who is so short stacked they could call with any two on a prayer? Is there anyone who has a huge stack and has been looking to bully a lot? Ideally I want a lot of medium stacks as they are the ones that will be most fearful of your raise. They are looking down to see smaller stacks and thinking they are safe but also looking up at the bigger stacks and wanting to be one of them. This makes them scared of big raises because of a medium stack calls and loses then suddely he's a short stack and that's not where he wants to be. So we attack them mercilessly, exploiting their weakness.

As I said, cards are not that important. I would much rather go out in a blaze of glory shoving all-in with 72o then go out of the tournament because the blinds caught up with me. Remember there are two ways to win any hand - be the last man standing because no-one will match your bets or have the best hand. The first way can win you a lot of chips.

[mathare]

Dan Harrington views this slightly differently in his books. He talks of an M factor, which is the ratio between your stack and the sum of the blinds (and antes where appropriate). So if you have 1500 chips and the blinds are 100/200 you have an M of 5.

Harrington splits games into 5 zones based on M:
Green - M of 20 or more
Yellow - M of 10-20
Orange - M of 6-10
Red - M of 1-5
Dead - M of less than 1

He suggests differing strategies for each zone but in the lower orange and red zones he basically suggests switching to push/fold poker so that marries up reasonably well with my 10xBB strategy

[John]

When you're heads up at the end of the tournament you can only hope for the best with what you push with. But what you push with can be pretty much anything. Well not anything, but you know what I mean. Any pocket pair, any suited connectors (or even unsuited if TJ or higher per say). If someone is raising a lot I sometimes call them when I don't have cards to get to the river, just to see what they're actually raising with. This gives me a better understanding of what type of player they are. Obviously this is only if my stack can support it!