As you close in on the final table and players are eliminated, tables will become short-handed simply because there are not enough players remaining to fill the empty seats! For example, with 200 players remaining, you won’t be playing short-handed because there are enough players to balance tables. If there are just 22 players remaining, however, there can only be two tables of 7 and one table of 8. When you get down to less than three tables, play can get down to five or six-handed. This short-handed play requires a completely different style of play and if you hope to go all the way you need to recognise the changes your opponents are making and make the necessary adjustments.
The obvious change for short-handed play is starting hand selection. A hand that might be unplayable at a full-handed table is often a big hand now. For example, you might normally fold a hand like A-8 or Q-10 in early position or to a raise, but short-handed this becomes a raising or reraising hand.
It’s important to pay attention to how your opponents adjust. Some won’t change – attack these players. Others will ramp up their aggression tenfold as they look to accumulate chips heading into the final table. The player that can detect these changes and play back without fear will control the table and grow their stack.
Big money jumps
An important consideration late in a tournament is the jump to the next pay level. In bigger tournaments, the difference between 13th and 12th place can be life-changing money. Take the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event as an example. 13th place paid $633,022. 12th place paid $896,730. That’s a difference of over $250,000. If you’re a short stack and that kind of money matters to you, it might be best to tighten up and wait for someone else to make a mistake. In addition, you should be looking for players who are looking to climb the cash ladder themselves. When players are doing this they are essentially telling you they will fold more often than put chips in the middle. Don’t be afraid to raise their blinds, reraise their raises or see flops with them to take the pot away from them postflop. Easy chips like these can be the difference between finishing 13th yourself and winning the whole thing.
Read part I
Read part II