**100% inspired from the Doja thread

Late in an MTT
Close from bubble (busted or not)
M 10-15
Q 0.8-1.2
7-8 handed

What is your openeing hand requirement?
What kind of raise?
What are you trying to achive entering the pot from UTG?
What is your raise?
How game conditions affect your play?

I realized reading and rereading that thread that we are very often in that position and that its a crictical stage of the game. Despite the fact the other thread lasted for 6+ pages, we only said 66 was'nt a hand we should have limped, but no much more...

I think this could be interesting...

Honestly, if I remember well (i planed to reread it very soon), even HOH2 is not that much precise about this stage of the game... It talks more about final tables, or when you have a great stack or shorter stack.

Lets talk!!

KJ

I second what Rex said about table conditions . . . .

If it's a tight table, I have a tight image, and the blinds are tight . . . . I'll probably raise 2.5 bb with any 2 cards every so often hoping to win the blinds. Much more likely to do this at a live tourney than online . . . because UTG raises garner more respect at a live tourney. I'd prefer to do this with suited connectors, so that if I get a flat call and the flop comes undercards I can bet with more confidence (I'm more likely to have connected and they're not).

At a tough table, where late position reraises are more the norm, I'm limiting my hands to either bluffs (as above) or AA-TT, AK/AQ. At a passive table, I'm raising with AA-77, AT+, KQ, and bluffing more often.

I raise by position, and UTG is a 2.5 bb raise unless the table won't fold for that (then it's the min I think the table will fold for). I don't limp under these conditions, unless I have some kind of big stack maniac trying to push the table around and I've picked up AA/KK/QQ/AK and think I can get reraised all in.

The lower the M, the more likely I become to push.

depending on how the table is playing... if the table has been playing pretty tight, I open with AJ+ and 88+ UTG (with about 12-15M), for a standard 3x the BB raise, if i have a stronger hand i may raise more (maybe 4x the BB).. I may limp with 22-77 for the set value, and hope the pot goes unraised. If someone decides to raise, i fold.

If my M is around 10-11M i usually just kick it right into a "tight" all in or fold mode, where I push with 99+ AQ+, sometimes AJ 88 or 77, depending on position etc...

btw.. KJ, what does Q 0.8-1.2 mean?

UTG each raise i make will be all in (unless i have AA-KK).

my image will be fairly loose, and the table will be fairly tight nuturally around the bubble. so i will muck every hand except TT-AA, AK.....maybe AQ, although im pretty sure i'm mucking aq.

all in for all of them. i might just pot it w/ aa,kk to encourage a call.
its fairly tight requierements, but if your loose from LP, then you can afford to be tight from EP

Generally, Aces through Tens. AK-AJ, 78s, 67s, 56s, 45s.

Of course, this depends on the table, but if people are very scared to go broke, but seeing a lot of flops, I'll limp with those connectors, AJ, KQ, and the eights through ducks.

My normal raise is 2.5BB's.

This fluctuates a lot with the table, the feel, and my mood at the table, and if I have the notion that people are getting sick of me.

Originally Posted by Eclipse86

depending on how the table is playing... if the table has been playing pretty tight, I open with AJ+ and 88+ UTG (with about 12-15M), for a standard 3x the BB raise, if i have a stronger hand i may raise more (maybe 4x the BB).. I may limp with 22-77 for the set value, and hope the pot goes unraised. If someone decides to raise, i fold.

If my M is around 10-11M i usually just kick it right into a "tight" all in or fold mode, where I push with 99+ AQ+, sometimes AJ 88 or 77, depending on position etc...

btw.. KJ, what does Q 0.8-1.2 mean?

what does M mean?

M is the ratio of your stack to the cost of blinds + antes for one orbit of the table.

Say you have 6000 chips and the blinds are 200 / 400 with an ante of 40 and you were six handed then:

M = 6000 / ((200+400) + (6 * 40))

So M = 6000 / 840

M ~ 7

It basically means that you have enough chips to survive 7 orbits of the table.

As your M gets lower (say around 8-10 and below) then you are under more pressure to make a move, whereas if your M is over 25 then you can afford to take your time and wait for good hands.