Poker Stone Bubbler
Stone Bubble Poker Meaning

I'd rather take the risk and get thrown out right before the bubble vs. Missing out on what could be my stepping stone to the stack leaders. Poker & The bubble. I like to play tight.

The money bubble is a term coined to describe when the tournament is approaching the number of remaining player who will receive prize money. If 125 players are paid, like in our example above, the exact bubble would be when 126 players remain because one more elimination pops the bubble and everyone else gets paid. Bubble Strategy for Poker Tournaments (This article is a follow up to ' Middle Stages Tournament Strategy ' ) To many tournament players, the bubble is a special time because it means all that hard work has almost paid off and it’s now time to get paid. A lot of the bubble is the same as any other different stage in poker meaning you approach it, assess it, and adjust accordingly. If you let fear, entitlement or ego cloud your judgment, you will make mistakes that affect your bottom line. The “ bubble ” refers to the point in a poker tournament when players are about to make the money. For example, if a tournament paid the top 100 players and a few more players that remain – say, anywhere from 1-5 players – they’re on the bubble. If it’s just one player off the money; it’s often referred to as the “stone bubble.”.

Action is over on Day 1 of EPT Online 19: $530 NLHE [8-Max], and the day ended with players on the stone bubble. There are 120 players coming back for Day 2 action, but only 119 of them will get paid. 'julik433' leads the way into the second day of play with more than 2.5 million in chips, but Ognyan 'cocojamb0' Dimov isn't far behind in second place. Andre 'PTFisherman23' Marques rounds out the top three as the only other player with more than 2.4 million chips.

It took less than 90 minutes to hit the $500,000 guarantee and the 1,000 entry maximum, and it played quickly from there. Two hours later there were less than 400 players in the game, but one player who jumped in late and built a stack was PokerStars Team Online member Arlie 'Prince Pablo' Shaban, who bagged a stack of more than 500K for Day 2.

Top Ten Stacks

Place	Player	Country	Bounty	Chips
1	julik433	Russian Federation	$2,688	2,535,172
2	Ognyan 'cocojamb0' Dimov	Bulgaria	$1,656	2,481,470
3	Andre 'PTFisherman23' Marques	Netherlands	$1,375	2,438,314
4	aalexxs	Netherlands	$1,797	2,377,319
5	Paulo 'paulinhoo00' Brombin	Brazil	$1,266	2,361,554
6	xnrobix	Hungary	$1,344	2,121,472
7	Marc-Andre 'FrenchDawg' Ladouceur	Canada	$1,203	1,926,221
8	Bumi3	Germany	$1,969	1,873,121
9	Darwinsfish	Netherlands	$938	1,814,824
10	Dani 'danipesis' Palau	Mexico	$656	1,782,979

Action of the Day

They got underway at 2:05 p.m. eastern time today, and hit the 1,000 entry maximum within the first hour and a half of play. That meant 119 players would share in the $500,000 prize pool and there were still 777 players in the game. Shaban wasn't the only member of the PokerStars Team in this one as ambassador Kalidou 'KalidouSow' Sow also tried his hand. He busted early however, leaving Shaban to carry the flag.

Daan 'DaanOss' Mulders ended the day in 38th place with $2,109 in bounties, but he spent a good portion of the middle part of the day near or at the top of the counts, while Simon 'DaDumon' Grabenschweiger got there in a few spots where he was dominated to bag a 21st place stack of more than 1.25 million, and pocket more than $1,300 in bounties so far.

Action on Day 2 gets underway at 2:05 p.m. eastern time tomorrow, and they'll play down to a winner before they finish. Check back here as PokerNews will be there till the final hand is dealt to bring you the action.

(This article is a follow up to 'Middle Stages Tournament Strategy')

To many tournament players, the bubble is a special time because it means all that hard work has almost paid off and it’s now time to get paid. After hours of grinding away and making difficult decisions, that initial investment is about to pay off. Great tournament players see the bubble a little differently. They simply see the bubble as one more opportunity on the way to taking first place and making the real money.

The “Increase Your Aggression” Strategy

90% of all tournament strategy on the internet tells you to amp up the aggression during the bubble in any MTT. The purpose is for you to increase your chip stack by stealing from all the players who have tightening up in the hopes of making it to the money-paying places.

The goal is to put yourself in a better position to win the tournament or at least make it to the final table. Barely making it through the bubble is not a winning strategy. For you to be a winning tournament player, you need to play for the win. The occasional big score is where all your tournament profits come from in the long run. The payouts are so skewed towards the final table that there’s really no point in playing to make it past the bubble.

By the time the bubble comes around, the blinds are so big that stealing them becomes the best way to build your chip stack. The blinds aren’t going to stop going up, either, so you need to use this opportunity to steal from all the players who have tightened up. That way, you’ll have a larger chip stack when the bubble breaks and have a better chance to place well in the tournament.

Poker Stone Bubbler

That’s All Correct, But…

Most tournament players are aware of the strategy we just discussed. You can safely bet that the majority of your opponents have typed in some form of the term “poker strategy” into Google at some point in the recent past. The strategy of stealing on the bubble isn’t exactly secret knowledge.

What Does This Mean For You?

It means that your opponents are aware of this strategy and are likely to adjust to it. Some of your more skilled opponents will know that when you come alive during the bubble, it’s because you have read the same strategy as they. Some of these opponents will then re-adjust their strategy to suit yours – namely they’ll attempt to steal your steals by putting in big re-raises.

The best way for you to continue to be productive during the bubble is to pay close attention to each of your opponents. You can tell which opponents know how to play the bubble and which ones don’t. You can then tailor your strategy to each specific opponent.

For example, you can tighten up against the aggressive players who try to steal your re-steals. That way you’ll have a nasty surprise for them the next time they try to steal one of your preflop raises. You can also watch how they react to re-steals. Some of these players will give up every time you 3-bet them before the flop.

4-Bet bluffing aggressive players is usually out of the question because the blinds are so large in comparison to the average stack size. Even a small 3-bet raise is usually enough to become pot-committed. In cash games, I would suggest the rare 4-bet bluff but in tournaments, it’s just not feasible.

Once you have the smart, aggressive players identified, you can then single out the weak, tight players. Against those players, you can use the same old strategy of stealing their blinds every chance you get.

Taken separately, these two approaches to dealing with different types of opponents are pretty simple. The difficulty is in using both approaches at the same table and not getting them all mixed up. Playing two different styles at the same table requires a great deal of effort and concentration. The good news is that if you’re willing to work hard, you will make a lot of money in MTTs.

Stone Bubble Poker Meaning

Now that you know how to play the bubble, learn how to play the late stages.

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