♠️🏆️ Tourney Tuesday: The Danger Zone

Win when it matters most

Author

Mike Deckard
May 13, 2025

♠️🏆️ Tourney Tuesday: The Danger Zone

Last week we talked about how good players avoid the short stack death-spiral by using a push/fold strategy.
This week, we’re staying in the danger zone—because most players don’t realize they’re already in it.

🔥 Here’s The Silent Killer

You’ve got 20bb. A player in MP opens to 3bb. You call in the cutoff with Q♥️J♠️.

Let’s break this down:

  • The pot is now: 3 (opener) + 3 (you) + 1 (BB) + 0.5 (SB) + 1 (ante) = 8.5bb

  • You’ve already put in 15% of your stack, preflop.

  • You miss the flop most of the time (like everyone does).

  • Now you fold.
    ➡️ You’ve just burned a significant portion of your stack for nothing.

    It only takes one or two of these hands to put you squarely into push/fold mode.

🧠 Now Let’s Say You Flop an Open-Ender...

K♣️ T♥️5♠️

great outcome, right?

But what happens when they bet 4bb into the pot? They have a lot of Kx in their range, as well as AA, KK and TT. Raising is a bit of a suicide mission. You don’t have enough chips to make them fold a made hand.


You call, and the turn is the 3♠️

The pot is now 15bb, and you have 13bb. Your opponent jams

Now what? Is this even a favorable situation anymore?

Nope.

⛏️ Let’s Go Deeper: Bluffing is Dead

Remember what we covered last week: bluffing matters.

But with 17bb behind, you only have enough chips to apply pressure on one street.
No one is folding a reasonable hand to your jam.

Flatting pre with non-premium hands feels like good poker, because you see bad players raking in pots with them. But with a short stack, you're stripping away your fold equity, committing without leverage, and walking into flops that you can't fight on.

The combination of these factors makes these plays have a massive negative impact on your ability to win.

This is how the slow death spiral starts—before you've even realized it.

🚨 Right Now, Don’t Force Anything. Just Survive.

You don’t need to panic. Remember, being short stacked is a natural aspect in tournaments.
You need to preserve your fold equity, keep your options open, and stay out of single-raised pots without a plan.

Don’t let your stack leak.

🧩 The 10 Big Blind Test

You have A2s in middle position, and 10 big blinds. The action folds to you. Do you shove or fold? (Please don’t limp!!)

What’s the one aspect of a tournament that gives you the most trouble?
Let me know — it might show up in an upcoming Tourney Tuesday.

Stay sharp and curious

— Mike

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