Part: Part Ten - Adjusting to Different Stacks

Big stack versus big stack

Pre-flop
Blinds 400 / 800 (100 ante)Pot 3,900 (4.9 BB)You: big stack • avoid the other big stackBTNA♣7♣● 60,000 (75 BB)YOUto actCO● 58,000 (72.5 BB)Other big stackraises 1,800 (2.2 BB)SB● 58,000 (72.5 BB)posts 400 (0.5 BB)BB● 58,000 (72.5 BB)posts 800 (1 BB)D

There are two big stacks at the table. The other big stack - who covers you - opens from the cutoff, and you're on the button with A♣7♣.

Two big stacks; the other one (who covers you) opens, you hold A♣7♣ on the button. Best?

WhyThe player who opened is the only one at the table who can take a real bite out of your stack, and A-7 suited isn't a hand you want a big pot with against him. Three-bet and you invite a re-jam you'll fold to; flat and you're bloating a pot out of position with no plan. Aim your pressure at the medium stacks who fear busting, not at the one who can bust you back.
What happensYou fold and let the standoff stay quiet. Big-stack-on-big-stack without a hand is a fight where even winning costs more than it's worth.
You kept the peace with your mirror image: rather than build a marginal pot against the only opponent who could cripple you, you saved your stack and your aggression for the medium stacks.

Two big stacks are each other's biggest threat. Neither wants to risk a tournament-defining pot without a hand, so stay out of each other's way and hunt the mediums instead.