1. Understanding Stack Sizes. When stuck with a short stack in a MTT, the bubble can be a precarious spot. It helps to understand which stacks are prepared to take shots at knocking you out light, and which can't afford to play against you with out a monster hand. Big stacks are the major threats to you; they can afford to gamble, and thanks to more modern advances in game theory, are anticipated to pound on the short stacks more liberally than normal on the bubble. The medium stacks are simpler to play against, but depending on your relative stack size, may also decide to pick on you. Your fellow short stacks are the easiest to play against, because they really have few options to deal with you when you choose to shove. Your shove itself looks strong, so to a brief 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 hold out til the conclusion of the bubble, if you opt to 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 which can be, that are forced to make a move. Don't be surprised to see players jockeying to pick on your own blinds, even short stacks may choose your big blind to make a stand and shove. If you're playing for first (which you should be) look for spots where you believe a big stack is getting froggy, or where a short stack is shipping it in light, and take action. Getting your stack out of the M 4-7 range will allow you to really open up your game on the bubble and find additional 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 table. More than likely, you will need to make a move sometime in the next 5-10 hands to be able to survive. With regards to the type of poker tournament and players remaining, you may simply have to 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 haven't any fold equity anyways. When presented with these type of scenarios, think about the most readily useful targets at the table for making your move. Don't let yourself blind below M 2, if possible; fold equity will vanish once you're under 5 BB's. Keep an active eye on the bubble itself, and do all you can to squeeze involved with it. Remember; a double up from M2 to M4 won't drastically help you in the future, 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 an amateur player.