WPT GTO Trainer Hands of the Week: Staying Aggressive from The Button at a Big Final Table
The featured hands this week showcase correct play at the final table of a major tournament with significant payout jumps. There are two short stacks of 10BB and a 12BB at the table. You open to 2BBs from Button with a 30BB starting stack and a tough player in the Big Blind calls with 50BBs.
This scenario has several interesting factors combining to make this a challenging spot. With the tremendous odds the Big Blind is getting to call preflop here, their range is significantly wider than yours and also capped, as they would likely reraise with all of their really big hands. Your hand range is uncapped and narrower than theirs, a situation that at most stages of the tournament would result in a tremendous range advantage for you on most flops with the ability to continuation bet at a very high frequency across many board types.
However, because this is a final table there is also a tremendous amount of ICM pressure on you to outlast the two shorter stacks with 6 players remaining. That ICM pressure coupled with the relatively short effective stack in this scenario allows the Big Blind to implement a much broader check-raising strategy on the flop. In addition the Big Blind should have a robust leading range on both the flop and turn in situations where they otherwise take a more passive line in earlier phases of a tournament.
This means that you will be continuation betting less often than you might in more standard tournament situations, but you will still c-bet with a high frequency on boards where you have reasonable equity or that are extremely dry and favorable to your range. You will notice that even in situations where continuation betting is correct, a GTO strategy will include a mixed approach with a minor (but not insignificant) checking frequency on the flop to help offset the frequency with which the Big Blind is likely to want to check-raise.
To see more examples and test your skills, you can play through five free solved hands from this scenario.
To access the free five hands, visit this page.
Regular play on the WPT GTO Trainer will help you adjust your decisions closer and closer to GTO strategy.
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The full selection of scenarios for the WPT GTO Trainer are only available to members of LearnWPT, however we’re giving PokerNews Readers free access to the Trainer on a regular basis with the WPT GTO Hands of The Week.
Use this 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
