The Scenario

The featured hands this week showcase correct play at a major final table with short stacks when you have a medium stack out of position against the chip leader.

Due to the presence of the short stack players along with the pay jumps at this final table, the big stack can exert ICM pressure on you. ICM Pressure occurs when you are highly incentivized to not bust out before the other players at the table with shorter stacks. Your preflop opening hand ranges should be narrower due to this effect and a good player who is in position against you will exploit you for open raising too frequently.

Postflop, this pressure should dictate extensive passive line adjustments for any medium stacks so as to avoid all-in confrontations versus larger stacks. This often means checking in spots where you might otherwise continuation bet.

With hands that have high equity but are also vulnerable the medium stack should sometimes check-raise all-in rather than taking a check-call line that risks allowing their opponent to catch up.

To see more examples and test your skills, you can play through five solved hands from this exact scenario. To access the five (5) FREE hands, click here.

Regular play on the WPT® GTO Trainer™ will help you adjust your decisions closer and closer to GTO strategy.

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Use this weekly series of articles to practice the strategies you learn on LearnWPT™ (or at the table) and test your progress by playing a five-hand sample each week.