The Click bet
Experiment more with a min-reraise when effective stacks are short on the bubble, so suggests Dara O'Kearney.
Below is a near-bubble ICM scenario in GTO Wizard. UTG has 17BBs and opens, then what you can see is the UTG1 response, with 8BBs.
You may notice that not only does UTG1 have a min-reraise, but that is also what most of the other players choose to raise by. This is what we call a 'Click' raise (ie. to click it back, to quickly just press the raise button on your mouse for the minimum). It is powerful when effective stacks are shallow.
Why such a small sizing? This is a bet size one would assume pot commits the opener and thus cannot get anything to fold. One would also assume that when ICM is extreme, we should shove or fold, to exert maximum pressure.
This is not quite the case. The Click in ICM spots like this is a classic example of when a play looks like it is an amateur move, but potentially the sign of an advanced player.
You are not committed
When exploring whether this move is profitable or not, I always like to start by thinking about what your value wants to do in this spot. For UTG1 the primary value hand here is AA, which clearly wants action. We'd hate to shove AA here and get a fold.
As you can see the Click range is constructed with AA as the value and a scattering of bluffs, mostly in the suited Ax region (because they have blocker value and outs when dominated).
People will see a range like this and assume the opener is committed. However, in GTO World UTG has folds. This is the response to the Click:
In GTO World UTG has to fold 61% of the time, which is actually a staggering amount considering how it's only 2BBs to call and the pot is 8.5BBs. We see so much folding because UTG is also short and every chip is worth a lot to them on the bubble, and also because the Click range is so strong. This is less folding, however, than if UTG1 shoved, UTG would fold 67% of the time in that scenario. So the Click is designed to extract more value overall.
UTG does have some folds then. What about UTG1? Are they committed when UTG shoves? This is their response:
Amazingly they also find some folds, they fold 21% of the time.
Even more profitable at low stakes?
The Click bet in ICM spots is something you see advanced players do, but it might be even more effective at lower stakes. It is inevitable some players will over-adjust to it.
They might assume you never have bluffs and overfold to you. If that's the case you can expand your bluffing range. They might never fold thinking they are pot-committed, in which case expand your value range. They might take option C and just call, giving you profitable post flop bluffs when they miss 2/3rds of the time.
Having to bet/fold half your stack, or sign call with a so/so hand when shoved on, sucks, which is perhaps why people stay away from the Click. It is, however, an effective tool in your ICM stage arsenal which I would implore you to experiment with.
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