small vs big stack advice

I was playing in a MTT just now, and the chip leader was sitting to my left. Any time I bet anything, he instantly reraised me 3x what I bet, I'd call, totally miss the flop, he'd bet and I'd fold. I just never hit anything, was kinda depressing to be truthful. Finally I got a KTo, small bet, he reraised me for the nth time and I got pissed and went all in... got spanked by a KJo.

I was wondering if there were any suggestions about playing with this sort of person at the table.

dont just call PF, push when what you hold is likely to be ahead. If you show you're willing to push preflop, villian will be less inclined to re-raise you everytime you raise. Calling is the weakest play you can make in a situation like that, unless you hold something like AA or KK and want to set up a nice trap play vs a hyper-aggro player.

dingo has good points.
What you've got to do is wait for really strong hands, then bet and reraise them. Push if possible.
You've got to show him that you're not going to get pushed around, and that you WILL push back. That way he will respect your raises and won't reraise you as much.
obviously AA or KK would be a perfect hand to do this with, but if he's literally doing it every time, then AT and KQ type hands should hold.
He's probably just bullying you with 88 A9 and JQ type hands.

its important to stamp out this type of bullying early whilst you are still in a position to fight back.

you need to make a stand whilst you are in a position not to give him value to call an all in from you.

the perfect play in this situation is wait for him to make his usual raise [sign of weakness usually] and then reraise all in with almost anyhand so long as there is no one else in the hand.

the key point to doing this however is. YOU MUST NOT HAVE A STACK TO GIVE HIM VALUE. for example he is sat on a stack of 10000, you have 2000 and the blinds are 200/400. he raises 3 times bb to 1200. you reraise all in. he is DEFINATELY going to call because its only 800 more to him. however. if he does the same move and you are sitting on 3000-4000 chips, he is MUCH less likely to call you. in fact, if he is raising his standard amount i would say he will almost definately fold.

so before making your move consider the following.

1. your cards aren't that relevant. make sure you've got 2 good live ones but waiting around for cards will get you blinded and bullied out. this move isn't about getting called and doubling up. its not about taking the pot down through aggression. its to send an image to the bully stealing your chips. saying "everytime you raise i'm going all in. so you better have a monster next time you do it otherwise its gonna cost you"

2. if you have an ace its always a good time to make the move. you might get lucky and hit if you do get called.

3. its better to lose now and go watch some tv than lose in an hours time cause you got bullied and blinded out.

4. the monster hand your waiting for might not come and when it does, it might be too late.

5. your tournament would be a whole lot easier if the bully stopped taking your chips.

6. do not try this move if you are giving him value unless you have a half decent hand to make a stand with.

7. make sure there is no one else in the hand with you. you cant risk getting called and you want the message to be direct to the bully.

8. forget all the books you've read about winning MTT's waiting for premium hands. it just doesn't ever work. dont be afraid to make a move with A 5 offsuit against a bully.

9. dont give him room to manoouvere and test you. dont re raise. re raise ALL IN. give him a decision without any room to manouver. he either calls and see's 5 cards turnover against you or lays it down and saves showing people what hand he is raising with. alot of bullies will fold just so that the table doesn';t get to see what type of hands they are making moves with!

goodluck mate. that method is by no means risk free. but if it works. you will get bullied alot less by the person you made a move on if at all. from this point on though respect raises from them if they stop bullying you as they are likely to be genuine raises!

also the all important message is. never try this move on the same table twice! it makes you look like an all in steal bluffer and the chances of you getting called sky rocket!

Just to clarify the situation: I wasn't limping in. Lets say I had AJo, blinds were 50/100 I had stack of 2,000 and I'd raise Preflop to 300 (3xBB), he'd instantly reraise to 900 or more. ( He had 7000 ish chips) At the time I didn't want to bet half my stack PF so I'd fold, then it happened again and I caught on to what he was doing, then waited and waited for any K or A, he did it again after my raise and I immediately went all in. Oh I ALSO waited until I was on the button with him in SB and everyone else had folded to me. I think I handled it ok, it was just very annoying, and I didn't win the race.

I'm glad I made a stand at 1500 chips, double up or not it wasn't any fun, and I'll just accept the $5 entry fee loss and chalk it up to a learning experience.

Thanks for the replies.

Same thing happenned to me at the 20.30 FR last night. The chip leader was to my left, and kept going all-in pre-flop, which made everyone fold, so the player would just steal the blinds. Well, after about 5 occurences, I got a good hand, QhAh. I decided to call the all-in, and we flipped our cards. My Opponent had 2d5h. The flop came up 3c9dQd, the turn was Qc, and the river was As. The player went bust, and I exclaimed, FINALLY! It is highly unlikely someone will have the best hand every game. With a good hand, you might take them out, or cripple their stack.