1. Understanding Stack Sizes. When stuck with a quick stack in a MTT, the bubble can be a precarious spot. It will help to understand which stacks are able to take shots at knocking you out light, and which can't afford to play against you without a monster hand. Big stacks are the major threats for your requirements; they can afford to gamble, and thanks to more modern advances in game theory, are required to pound on the short stacks more liberally than normal on the bubble. The medium stacks are more straightforward to play against, but based on your relative stack size, may also choose to pick you. Your fellow short stacks are the easiest to play against, as they really have few options to cope with you when you choose to shove. Your shove itself looks strong, so to a quick stack trying to eek into the bubble, the relative strength of the move itself is huge.

2. M 4-7 Play. With a stack in this range, you have a stack that can probably wait til the finish of the bubble, if you do so. You'll notice that lots of the bigger stacks will purposely come after your blinds; your stack is actually more vulnerable than the super short stacks that are, that are forced to make a move. Don't be amazed to see players jockeying to pick on your blinds, even short stacks may choose your big blind to make a stand and shove. If you should be playing for first (which you should be) look for spots where you imagine a big stack is getting froggy, or where a short stack is shipping it in light, and move. Getting your stack out of the M 4-7 range will allow you to really open up your game on the bubble and find many more profitable opportunities.

3. M 0-3 Play. This is the critical stage of the bubble; you don't have enough play to safely make it through the blinds and antes more than 3 rotations of the dining table. More than likely, you're going to have to make a move sometime in the next 5-10 hands in order to survive. With regards to the type of poker tournament and players remaining, you may can simply fold and hang on for dear life; you may have no fold equity at a table filled with big stacks, or you may well be so short, you have no fold equity anyways. When presented with these type of scenarios, think about the best targets at the table for making your move. Do not let your self blind below M 2, if possible; fold equity will vanish once you're under 5 BB's. Keep an energetic eye on the bubble itself, and do whatever you can to squeeze into it. Remember; a double up from M2 to M4 won't drastically help you in the long run, but going from M2 to M0 keeps you from cashing. Not a big deal in a small tournament, but in a $10k buy-in event, can be quite a huge chunk of change for 99poker an amateur player.