DECISION POINT: You are in the money as the chip leader at the Final Table of a multi-table tournament where blinds are 2,500/5,000 with a 5K big blind ante. It folds around to the Cutoff who min-raises to 10,000 and you call from the Button with K♦8♦. Villain checks the Q♥6♥T♥ flop and action is on you. What do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: We are the chip leader with 350,000 (70BBs) on the Button at a multi-table tournament final table. Blinds are 2,500/5,000 with a big blind ante in play.

This table setup is extremely important here. We are in a great position to apply pressure at the table because the Big Blind, Hijack, and Cutoff do not want to bust before the two shorter stacks.

There are short stacks in the Small Blind (12BBs) and MP2 (10BBs) seats as well as 50BB stacks in both the Big Blind and Hijack seats. The Cutoff has 30BBs to start the hand.

We are dealt Kd8d on the Button and it folds around to the Cutoff who opens to 10,000 (2BBs). We elect to just call preflop and both Blinds fold. The flop is Qh6hTh and our opponent checks to us.

Given the table layout and the fact that we are the chip leader we can apply a tremendous amount of pressure on the rest of the medium stacks at the table with a wide range and at high frequency.

This is an extremely scary board for the Cutoff’s range when we call on the Button. Our range connects well with this flop structure and the Cutoff must be careful in this spot. However, without these final table dynamics in play we aren’t often firing on the flop here with king high and no real draws.

That said, because of the pressure we can apply in this spot due to the real money implications of the Cutoff busting before the shorter stacks, we’re often going to be firing with any two cards in this situation as the they will be unable to call with a high frequency.

While it’s possible our opponent is slowplaying a big hand it is much more likely they cannot continue here and a small bet will pick up the pot.

As the chipleader at a final table, we must be comfortable exerting pressure on the medium stacks in a variety of spots while shorter stacks exist at the table. This is a crucial component of maximizing your real dollar earnings in tournament play.

Betting is the best play.

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