How to play poker bullies when card dead

Hi guys,

I'm a heads up SNG player, so unfortunately avoiding them is impossible.

I moved up stakes last night and I'm not sure if it was because it was Saturday night but I just kept hitting aggro maniacs like a pinball machine. I'm getting 100% of my opens called, 100% of my 3-bets called, getting all my c-bets floated with Q/K/A high. Villains are opening to 4x the button and c-betting every flop and floating my check-raise bluffs, or they're calling my opens and overbet donking the flop etc.

I don't want to make it sound like my plan was to bluff them, it wasn't and I realised very quickly what the correct adjustment was, but I could not make a single hand for the life of me. I think I only made bottom pair or better in about 10% of my hands. All my draws missed or I was blown off them. I stopped opening and just limped from the button but they were just raising my limps and c-betting the flop. I think the only success I had was playing shove/fold when they were opening far too large when short stacked but regardless, I got smoked.

No doubt I could have found a better strategy then wait for a hand and let them hang themselves, but at the time I just did not know what to do. I tried attacking when I thought they would not have any strong combinations of hands but they just would not fold.

Any tips appreciated

Best Advice

Jordansimo said:

Hi guys,




Any tips appreciated

Click to expand...

Thank U 4 Posting

Trust this and you will do well.

https://twitter.com/philgalfond/status/1072925033780011008

Hope this helps

Ha that's a great quote, and true! The problem is I was in a turbo SNG and I had to do something or the blinds were going to get me. If I was in cash or a slower paced tournament I would have been able to exercise more patience

eetenor said:

Thank U 4 Posting
Trust this and you will do well.
https://twitter.com/philgalfond/status/1072925033780011008
Hope this helps

Click to expand...

hi hi eetemor!!!
thank you share - what a brilliant quote!
Phil Galfond so smart of poker (and cute too lol)

Still true

Jordansimo said:

Ha that's a great quote, and true! The problem is I was in a turbo SNG and I had to do something or the blinds were going to get me. If I was in cash or a slower paced tournament I would have been able to exercise more patience

Click to expand...

Thank U 4 Responding.

The concept still applies, unfortunately what happens is we just end up losing the SNG. Phil's point in my understanding is to not beat ourselves up or try to find 1% solutions to running card dead. We are better off keeping our focus on refining our skills when we get enough hands to play and win. For instance Phil has a great omaha youtube vid on getting extra value when you have the best of it but your villain is way behind.

Also I think Phil is trying to keep us from drifting away from GTO play when we are running bad. For most of us adapting to run bad then leaks into our everyday game. After all, how can any of us know what the next 10 hands will bring. How can we say "ohhh I am running bad time to stop being GTO" and flat call AA or Jam AA or fold AK or check back good flops to bet because we are running bad.

Just some thoughts.


Hope this helps

If you truly are really card dead against aggressive players that also is hard to bluff against it not much to do other than wait for better cards.

Some times they will never come in one or several hyper-turbo type tournaments.

You often have to look at at least 100 HUSnG tournaments against the same or similar opponents before drawing any conclusions.

Obviously you should call more if you think they 3-bet light often (or go all-in if short). But sometimes you just have to accept that you can't win every husng even against the worst opponents.

Banging on card dead small stack doesnt help most of the time. Unless your stack is like something below 10BB and I would wait. Till the next game and GL!

There is nothing to do in that situation other than fold and maybe lower your standards for stacking off just a little bit. If you are truly card dead during an entire heads up, you normally end up losing, and it just is, what it is. You need just a little bit of luck to win in poker, and you are not always going to get it.

fundiver199 said:

There is nothing to do in that situation other than fold and maybe lower your standards for stacking off just a little bit. If you are truly card dead during an entire heads up, you normally end up losing, and it just is, what it is. You need just a little bit of luck to win in poker, and you are not always going to get it.

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Alot of truth here, against super aggressive player in quick format, sometimes you won't get strong enough hand to trap so you need to lower your standards slightly.

Nice quote will keep it in mind always.

Constantinoleon

Unfortunately when you play with mediocre players who go there all the time, at some point you have to face them. I recommend you to be patient and wait for a good hand

eetenor said:

Thank U 4 Posting

Trust this and you will do well.

https://twitter.com/philgalfond/status/1072925033780011008

Hope this helps

Click to expand...

That is deep!!

You just end up giving the bully your loot.

They can't hit the flop or make hero calls 100% of the time. Just be patient, follow his betting patterns and pay attention to how he played a certain hand when there's a showdown. Don't bleed chips and overplay hands but pay attention to how often they limp on the button. You'll notice a pattern and you might be able to snag a few pots and survive the drought until you finally start connecting.

Just have to be patient.