Argh, help! SB keeps pushing me around in BB. How to defend?

Propane Goat

Propane Goat

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Ok, so I'm having an issue that has come up quite a few times now and I would like some input on how to handle this.

This typically happens in 6-man .11 hypers, it will be blind vs. blind when everyone else has folded. I will be in the BB with a stack around starting value of 300 or less, the SB will have a larger stack, maybe around 500-700. This is what will typically happen:

BB: :4c4::2h4:

SB raises

BB folds

BB: :8s4::3c4:

SB raises

BB folds

BB: :7d4::4s4:

SB raises

BB folds

BB: :js4::8s4: or maybe :qd4::10h4:

SB raises

At this point I'm getting tired of being pushed around, am bleeding chips and figure that this hand is going have to be good enough to make a stand with, there's no way the BB has a premium hand every time he's trying to steal the blinds.

BB re-raises all in

SB calls, turns over something like :ah4::kh4:, :qh4::qc4:, :kd4::kc4:

BB knocked out.

I'm thinking that there must be something I'm doing other than just having a smaller stack, that makes me look weak and an easy target for this because it's already happened multiple times including being absolutely crushed in the showdown, but I'm not sure what the issue is. Should I be shoving earlier with weak hands to get the SB to back off when he min-raises or just keep folding and hope for a hand that at least has an Ace in it?

If I have any two Broadway cards or any pair then it's more obvious to 3-bet or shove when the SB raises. But, if I have a trash hand every time the SB raises when it's blind vs. blind, which usually happens, then what? I sure as heck don't want to just call with junk because I've already put chips in the pot, but re-raising doesn't seem like an option either because with his bigger stack won't his calling range be a lot wider?

Is there a specific pattern or tell that you look for to indicate that a player is too weak at defending the blinds?
 
guppystew

guppystew

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seems to be the new style, 3 bet to steal the blind.
call and see if you hit and when u do make em pay
they will bully you or anyone till you take them down a couple times
fight back, lay down or leave
I fight back and lose, lol, then leave, gonna change order next time
 
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Henreiman

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seems to be the new style, 3 bet to steal the blind.
call and see if you hit and when u do make em pay
they will bully you or anyone till you take them down a couple times
fight back, lay down or leave
I fight back and lose, lol, then leave, gonna change order next time

I don't really know what he's saying here, but I think the gist is 'call and play post-flop with a wider range.' This would be super standard except that you're playing hyper turbos. The solution to this is either call wider or shove wider in other positions. I would be inclined to shove wider in other positions just because people fold way too wide in those.
 
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ph0n3_j4ck

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Don't be a fool and think he has a good hand every time he raises you. Test him out by 3 betting his raise with any two cards. If you don't do this, you'll never know whether or not hes f'in around with you or not. The one time you actually have something reraise him even bigger if hes trying to raise your blind.
 
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sryImPro

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At games like 6 man, 0.11 hyper you don't get much of a poker to be honest. So as you already have noticed SB will almost always try to steal BB blinds and i just think that those guys who play these kind of tourneys probably think that its the only way how these tourneys should be played in first place. So as i already said, there's no much of a skillful poker in 6 man , 0.11 hyper so if you gonna play those you got to "gamble"...my advice is simple: keep away from hypers.
 
NateVest

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If it is just you in the BB and them in SB position still in the hand, that in itself should automatically broaden your range. Fold the trash will make them comfortable raising your blind every orbit and when you have less than marginal hand that is suited, call to see the flop and hope you hit and with marginal and premium hands go over top of them. If you are the pushover at the table, you will get bullied the entire game. It will then entice other players to play aggressive against you and ultimately break your stack down. Push back, its like you are in the fight for your life and you will take any swing to take them out. Obviously there is more information needed to give an accurate answer like your opponent chip stack, your chip stack, and the blinds. Good advice to stay away from hyper turbos too unless you are a position player. One more thing, raise when you are on the button and SB and test the weakness of your opponents to your left, and maybe the chips will bleed over.
 
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baudib1

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SB should shove ATC if it folds to him.
 
Propane Goat

Propane Goat

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Thanks for your help everyone, I had a duh moment and somehow registered for a $1.10 game without noticing when that was for almost all of my remaining stack. Out in 3rd.

My bank was up and down but the upswings were better than the downswings so I thought that I could maybe use these to get the few bucks I had from Funsteps to around $10 then get into some cheap deepstack tournaments, but I think I'm going to give up on hypers for now because the bad beats are ridiculously constant, for every two- or three-outer I hit I wind up on the losing end of the same by a ratio of at least 3:1.

I had two games in a row today with KK where I raised, somebody shoved, I called, and was knocked out by 66 and 22 making a set on the river. I went back and looked at the hand histories, I was knocked out by AT+ when I had a pocket pair lower than TT 4 times in a row, but in the same time span when I had AT+ against a pocket pair in the same range, out of 5 times it only held up once. I know the variance is high on these, but for now I think I've had enough.

One issue also is that I don't feel that playing these games at these puny stakes and at my skill level are improving my game at all, like a couple of you said, there's not much poker here.

They go so fast and people treat them like play money, which for 11 lousy cents that's what they essentially are. I'm sure these are beatable in the long run, but as of this point I don't have the skill to do it and it's probably a poor environment for a beginning player to actually learn anything.
 
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