Better ways to play this? NLSNG

[dboy23]

Hey, first the reads.

This guy has been calling my button raises a lot, with a wide range. He has been shortstacked for awhile and has still been making these calls. Usually he folds the flop to a cbet, or he folds the turn to a delayed cbet.

So when he c/r'ed me on the flop, i felt like I was probably a bit behind, but getting good enough odds. I think the biggest part of his range here is a flush draw because the flop cards are so low.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t50 (2 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: 2+2 Forums)

Hero (t2320)
BB (t680)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t150</font>, BB calls t100.

Flop: (t300) 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
BB checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t200</font>, <font color="#CC3333">BB raises to t530</font>, Hero calls t330.

Final Pot: t1360

[ChicagoRy]

Against a player who will never shove I think 150 is fine here. Once you bet the flop like that you have to go in obviously, I'm sure you know that.

I kind of like this play against THIS type of villain. You could obviously limp or minraise this so you are not committing yourself on a c-bet, but I think this is a fine play here.

The only problem I see with this is that you're up against a giant range on that flop c-bet, a range you may be ahead of overall but a range that you will lose a ton of hands to. I guess what I'm saying is this is a very high variance type of play to run, but with this opponent I don't see a problem with it at all.

[cwar]

Raising 3x the blinds vs this kind of villain is not good why make the pot bigger than necessary when he will call anyways?

[ChicagoRy]

[ QUOTE ]
Raising 3x the blinds vs this kind of villain is not good why make the pot bigger than necessary when he will call anyways?

[/ QUOTE ]

Because he will call with a lot worse and shove most hands that are well ahead (AA, KK, QQ, JJ TT). Though 125 is fine here, but I think bigger than a minraise is good here.

[Vinetou]

Bullying shortstack is a bad idea because when he shoves, you are commited to call him. You can't give him a chance to fight back. I would rather take small pots from him if possible and keep him shortstacked.

[dboy23]

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Bullying shortstack is a bad idea because when he shoves, you are commited to call him. You can't give him a chance to fight back. I would rather take small pots from him if possible and keep him shortstacked.

[/ QUOTE ]

But how can you take small pots without bullying him?

[HokieGreg]

My standard raise is 125 at this blind level, but with this villain it probably wouldn't make much of a difference. I think this spot in tourneys is where I may need to improve.

I would raise preflop to 125. I think limping is bad against this particular villain since he will call your raise with a ton of hands that you are ahead of given your read on him. He also doesn't have history of 3-betting you preflop, so I think this is your best choice.

Flop: How bad is checking here? I'm back and forth between thinking its terrible and it might be decent against a loose-passive opponent. Being passive he might be willing to check down ace high or even a 3 if a higher card hits turn.

I could be being results oriented. I'm going to take a nap and come back to this later lol.

[Vinetou]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Bullying shortstack is a bad idea because when he shoves, you are commited to call him. You can't give him a chance to fight back. I would rather take small pots from him if possible and keep him shortstacked.

[/ QUOTE ]

But how can you take small pots without bullying him?

[/ QUOTE ]

Instead of trying to win big pots, try to win a lot of small pots. If you encounter resistance, you can easily go away. Here, I would just minraise preflop or call preflop. Of course, it is not possible against all villains. Some of them are calling stations in small pots when they are shortstacked. It is opponent dependent. Just a general advice.

[cwar]

If hes going to call very wide anyways why isnt minraising best? You lose smaller pots when you lose and win big wins when you want.

[Vinetou]

Yeah, this is bullying. I just used a wrong word here.