Mastering the Mid-Stack (35–50bb) in Tournaments

[babyrosejr]

Most tournament players spend the majority of their time playing with a mid-stack, usually between 35 and 50 big blinds. Yet, many players focus too much on short-stack push/fold or deep-stack postflop play, and end up struggling when they land in this middle zone.

With 35–50bb, you have a lot of flexibility:

You can still 3-bet without committing yourself.

You can apply ICM pressure when others are shorter.

You have room to maneuver postflop, but you can’t just splash around like with 100bb+.


Key points I’m working on:

1. Open sizes – adjusting between 2x–2.5x depending on table dynamics.


2. 3-bet ranges – balancing value hands with some light 3-bets, but avoiding unnecessary bloated pots.


3. Continuation betting – choosing spots more carefully, since stacks aren’t deep enough for multiple barrels without committing.


4. ICM awareness – especially on the bubble, where mid-stack mistakes can be very costly.



I’d love to hear how others approach this stack size. Do you lean more aggressive to build a stack, or more conservative to protect your tournament life?

 

[fundiver199]

How many times are you going to rephrase this question and post it over and over again?

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