The battle for the sitouts.

Gorak

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The battle for the sitouts.

Mostly in freerolls, we can sometimes see a series of sitouts. We obviously can take their blinds.

The problem is, some players become greedy and want them all. So they raise every hand when there is a sitout in the BB.

This becomes annoying fast. So I often loosen my range to get part of the action. But they don't like it, so they raise even more. So we end up in a high variance situation early in a tournament.

Depending on the situation I can give up and play my normal range or go for broke with the greedy player.

Optimal play is hard to achieve in those situations.
 
MTCashman

MTCashman

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Hey I run into this a lot as well, some players are just too greedy and it is usually their downfall, don't let it affect your decisions try and stay patient because eventually they will make a mistake betting into you.
 
steveiam

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Just play your normal game don't get carried away trying to steal the blinds they are small anyway early on.
 
Mr Sandbag

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It seems pointless to battle for blinds early in the tournament. Play your usual poker, keeping in mind that they are trying to steal with a wide range of hands, and when you get a good hand, be really aggressive towards the player stealing.
 
IntenseHeat

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I agree with the above posts. Stick to your game. Worry about your stack, not theirs. Follow Mr Sandbag's advice. The way I would state it is, let them steal as many blinds as they want. When you pick up a quality hand, they will have all the chips consolidated in one spot just waiting for you to come and get them. Now isn't that convenient?
 
Jostone6

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I understand and have been through this, but care must be taken when entering the normal game, because other player can go out against the aggressor and he giant and not let you play more, forcing you to move all-in.
You need to adapt and choose good hands to play against it, eliminate it and thus become the aggressor of the table.
 
ScottieDuncan

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Definitely agree. These are annoying situations, but, be patient and stick to your game.
 
INGAJ

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I actually like that situations. If player is nice i talk him to split blinds,xand atxthe end of the table we both got 6000+. But if player wants to take all the money so we fight till the last chip while one of us looses
 
Loonbat

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A couple 3Bs might get them thinking.
 
Randall McMurphy

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Ever be the last active player at a full table of sitouts?

Man is that fun, but if you got aggros stealing insanely early in the tourney, I like to go to war with them. +EV, time to go big or go home.
 
nax

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I've been in a game where from 9 ppl only 2 are playing. It was as if we play HU. Funny situation early on, but also profitable. If you are not sure what to do - just play your game, be patient and when you have that hand they'll probably be so used to stealing the blinds that will all-in easily and fail bad! That is my experience with situation like this!:rolleyes:
 
D

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stick to your gameplan or how you normally play..it is a bit different online but i never let someone bully if i have the right hand
 
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baudib1

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3-bet/4-bet light. Ideally you should be the annoying player always stealing the sitouts' blinds.
 
steveiam

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I actually like that situations. If player is nice i talk him to split blinds,xand atxthe end of the table we both got 6000+. But if player wants to take all the money so we fight till the last chip while one of us looses
Be careful with that because it could be considered as collusion with another player. The site could suspend your account especially if there is evidence in the chat box.
 
WeenieSVK

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This is really annoying for me too... But I got better in this situations. First of all play a little bit wider range, depends on how many players are sitout.. for example if you play full ring but 5 plyrs are sitout, make your range like you play 4 handed... And If there is somebody who raise every hand, dont rreraise him when you have playaable hand (if its not monster). Just call to see flop. If you hit something, they are most of the times easy to play and they litterally give their chips to you :)
 
Michael Paler

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The battle for the sitouts.

Mostly in freerolls, we can sometimes see a series of sitouts. We obviously can take their blinds.

The problem is, some players become greedy and want them all. So they raise every hand when there is a sitout in the BB.

This becomes annoying fast. So I often loosen my range to get part of the action. But they don't like it, so they raise even more. So we end up in a high variance situation early in a tournament.

Depending on the situation I can give up and play my normal range or go for broke with the greedy player.

Optimal play is hard to achieve in those situations.

Playing three handed when 6 others are being given cards and folding is, well, horrible! You cannot play exactly like you would if just 3 handed, nor can you play like you would a full table who folds to 3 players in the pot. It seriously throws some known stats (as in absence of aces per number of players) into the wind; did the sitout fold Ax or could this player (not sitting out) have Ax?

So, you have to play a bit of a hybrid version under these situations. I would not take turns folding, nor would I get greedy.

Nor would I let some loon run over me every hand. I would play a solid game of poker, certainly opening up my range; you simply treat the greedy guy just like the bully he is;

Call more often when you have a hand or decent high cards with showdown value (he will often c-bet with nada)
Raise less often (he will look to bully you off a pot with a re-raise when you do)
Seldom value bet (same thing again; he will re-raise to get you off a middling hand)

Do not try to out bully him, if at all possible. That is just a 50-50 proposition. Yet if you allow it, he will run right over you. For me, I will either lose and go home or take them to the felt. But under no circumstances would I ever let some A-hole run me over. It is not going to happen. Free roll or not.

Bully's (greedy players) have no recourse for that counter-strategy (check out Mike Caros website and some other links I have at the end of this). So, either they behave or give you all their chips. But you have to take a stand and let them know they are not going to get away with running you over. Simply waiting for a big hand and shoving to their 17th preflop raise in a row will not do it. They will simply fold.

Sadly, it is something you must learn to deal with. Happily, you will be a better player for it.

http://www.poker1.com/

https://www.cardschat.com/forum/tournament-poker-59/dont-fear-bully-parts-1-4-a-224991/

https://www.cardschat.com/forum/tournament-poker-59/awesome-big-better-225306/

https://www.cardschat.com/forum/tournament-poker-59/when-time-play-loose-make-coinflips-228043/
 
Michael Paler

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I lost and got home more than my share against aggro players. They seem to have a certain way with luck against me.

It certainly is not easy. I have had the most success when I avoid the "tanks at 20 paces" scenario.

If they simply want to open every pot for 2-3x, I can live with that. It's when they open every pot for 5x or more that I get pissed. The strategy on the Bully Donks part at this point is to get all players in the pot all in with any holding post flop. They might have bottom pair or the nuts at that point and many just fold. You will not last long calling 5x and folding or calling C bets on the flop without a holding.

Still, smack this type once or twice and they will often simmer down, tightening up their game; that is playing "revenge" poker IMO and it rarely works in the favor of the aggressor. Often they come into a pot after a long period of folding and everyone just folds to them. Hard to advance your stack like that!
 
X

xlmnx

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Hey I run into this a lot as well, some players are just too greedy and it is usually their downfall, don't let it affect your decisions try and stay patient because eventually they will make a mistake betting into you.

This*. Its the most readable play be far just wait your turn. If your playing with under 3 people with large blinds then your going to need to have a more aggressive style backup plan there is nuthing worse then sitting around waiting for you hand in a hyper with blinds up to or over 100/50 its just not the way to win is all. I have a feeling the more you play the more you will develope your style goodluck!
 
1ofTheFellas

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In my opinion if this is happening I would start flatting his raises ALOT in position, and take advantage of the fact that he is playing a very wide range... Call his flop bets to take it away on the turn if you have nothing or don't hit the flop... Poker is all about making adjustments and the better you get at the game the easier it will be for you to adjust on the fly... Use his aggression against him.. Play pots in position OFTEN and own him
 
Gorak

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I will usually flat in position because 3 betting will raise variance to the roof. And it depends on the sitouts location at the table.

I sometime play "Dream Tables" as I call them. ALL SITOUTS.

Now that is easy. Then I use my boosted stack wisely.
 
R

ricksterrick

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Don't think of it as players being greedy, I don't think there is such a thing in poker. Try to stack them when you get a good hand and re-raise them wider than you normally would since you are playing basically short-handed vs a lag.
 
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