What to do when blinds get big and small stacks to your left?

[Mr.Poker]

My question is a fairly simple one, but one i'm never too sure how to adjust to.

Say you are a medium sized stack and the blinds are increasing, you want to increase your aggressiveness to accumulate. However, when there are smallish stacks in the blinds when you are in LP, what is your move?

Should you be loosening your range or tightening it, given that if you raise and they push, you are committed to calling.

My instincts say that you should tighten your range for the smaller stacks and target the medium stacks, however while the small stacks remain behind you, the threat of them pushing over you constantly remains.

How does your strategy change with these small stacks and increasing blinds?

[NHFunkii]

depends
generally you dont wanna get tied into calling their 8x shoves with your Q3o or something, but if they're tight enough that they're folding almost always then its fine to raise light into them

[Mr.Poker]

If the short stacks are playing push or fold, as they should be, how much do you think we can start reducing our raise (ie.number of blinds)?

Is min raising a viable option or should we stick to 2.5xBB- 3BB raises?

Also, if we are raising lighter as they are playing tighter, do we stil call when they push, or do we just dump it, say we are being given 2-1 on the call? (sorry i know alot of variables, but in general)

[Mench]

Raising to 2.4bb should do it. I think tightening up is best. I tend to spew when I start to open into a row of 8bb-11bb stacks and I have say 20bbs.

[PhatPots]

Your question is very broad, but here is my input:

I will stick with raising 2.5-3BB and I will tighten my range so that I won't feel bad if I have to call a shove. It really depends on the stack sizes.

Say a shorty has a stack of 6-8BB, then I will still raise any ace and when he shoves and its only 3.5-5BB more for me to call and win 12-16BB + big and small blind, its a no brainer, we have the odds.

Of course table image comes into play and meta-game, etc.

But I will generally tighten my range so that I won't feel bad about calling a shove. If they have more than 10BB, say they have like 13BB, then I can still raise pretty loose. I can raise to 2.5BB and he shoves for 10.5 more, then it is clearly a fold unless I have a premium hand or put him on a move.