How to 'Bully' correctly, the most overlooked strategy topic

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boomeranged

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One of the most important but overlooked and less heard strategy topic is Stack protection. I have seen hundreds of stacks which triple up during the first quarter of a tournament but lose it quickly being the bully stack on wrong spots only to lose the chips and try climbing the ladder again. I am sure if you have played in tourneys, you have seen and experienced it a lot yourselves. In all the related points, i have reminded the most important thing to remember again and again which is to protect your chips when the odds are in the opponents favour.

What to do when you have the big stack?

1. The most important tool in buĺlying is position. Try to be in position against all the relatively bigger stacks at all times. Being out of position too with smaller stack will often do the job with c bets. Always, always, always be in position aginst LAG players. Remember, protect your chips when the odds are in the opponents favour.

2. Avoid Tom Dwanish hands totally to actually be a profitable bully. Big stack should just loosnd your range, the rest remains the same. What Dwan and Ivey do involves thousands of dollars and has a higher fold equity. Your 86 off raise will mostly hit your chips bad. Leave the stunts for TV. Remember, protect your chips when the odds are in the opponents favour.

3. Your second best friend after position after position is fold equity. Dont shove and dont call all in's until you have a great holding. Just try to get as many folds possible, that's it. Dont over expand the pot preflop for the same reason. Keep it small otherwise you will have your opponents pot committed before there is a spot to bully them. Remember, protect your chips when the odds are in the opponents favour.

4. Raise amount: The best raise is less than/around ten percent of the opponent's stack preflop and never more than half the pot post flop. Always try to finish the hand by the end of flop by re raising them if raised or two barelling on the turn. If you havent had the opponent folded by now, the pot becomes half of his/her stack by the river and they become pot committed so your third barrel should only come if you have a strong hand or if you have a confirm read on the opponents missed draw or if the board allows you to. Keeping the pot small is the key. Remember, protect your chips when the odds are in the opponents favour.

5. Choosing your spot correctly is very very important. Dont try to bully three people in the pot ever and bluff two opponents only if you have position on them. Save your chips for better spots. Remember, protect your chips when the odds are in the opponents favour.

6. Protect your table image strongly when you are bullying. That means you prefer not to showdown with very weak hands played. You don't want the table to know you are playing low suited connectors too. At the same times, once you are in the bully phase, dont forget to show your premium hands to the table, sometimes intentionally, sometimes deliberately, and sometimes deliberately. It does wonders to tramp peoples confidence in calling your raises. If they start guessing your range, you will be trapped soon.

Hope this was detailed enough. Looking forward
to suggestions and additions by you all. Help me learn more while i share my mind on topics. I am open to new strategies and reasoned criticism, helps learning becomes easier for me with ideas coming from brilliant minds around. Just dont say you practice something because you like practicing it ☺
 
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boomeranged

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Can someone please tell me how to edit this post?
 
shomy21

shomy21

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Can someone please tell me how to edit this post?

Lol I can not find too, maybe is time limited.

Thans for the good tips, I will try to use it in my tournaments. I think this is the key how to won more money and good way how to win tournament. If you came in money with low stake you can't do nothing later, just to gamble...
 
Frank Burnette

Frank Burnette

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Thanks, Boom. Those were some pretty good tips. Btw, there should be an edit button at the lower right hand corner of your post.
 
fletchdad

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Edit is time limited. You can edit for a set amount of time, but I am not sure how long. Maybe 30 minutes, more or less.
 
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spazdm

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Thanks boom for advice, and i think this room turned into answering the edit question lol... But when i bully people i do it in position or obviously when im biggest stack on table i raise pot at least almost every big blind to steal and to put people on tilt but just for awhile then i stop and play tight when either someone starts getting sick of it and calling or another big stack comes on the table. But my way could be wrong. Il try some of your tips and see how they play out :) ty boom and goodlucvk everyone i hope my input helped a lil also
 
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lscwin1

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This is one of the better posts on here...well thought out...
 
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Dick_Huff

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"protect your chips when the odds are in your opponents favor" - boomeranged
 
DonSifu

DonSifu

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"Leave the stunts for TV"
- probably the best advice in the original post; too many people think they can get tricky when they're chip leader, only to find that lead slip away. It is paramount to remember that when you're the big stack, every opponent will adjust to that fact.
I think, at least for me, that tightening up is a great strategy. You're the big stack, no need to get involved in too many pots. You don't always have to raise the cutoff just because you can. I think playing a tighter, more aggressive game is more profitable in the long run.
Now obviously if you're on the bubble, or short handed, aggression and position are important. But if you find yourself with a stack early on, the best way to protect it is by playing smart, tight, agressive poker.
 
wasal2002

wasal2002

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Definitely leave the stunts for TV and please stop trying to make "Hero Calls"
 
Michael Paler

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Honestly, a lot of your post is outdated info or just wrong. Trying to "bully" bigger stacks with light holdings is just suicide. 3 betting light into a larger stack is not going to work for long, especially calling stations with big stacks. 3 betting, when strong, into a bigger stack in position is not a bully either. That's just good playing, period.

I'm just not sure you know what a bully is (no offense, bro, just saying); mostly, your post describes a TAG, some even sounds like a lag, but not a bully. There is a difference. Bully's do not worry about cards or position. That is why they are a bully, lol.

Plus, bullying is not a good strategy at all. It's very obvious and incredibly exploitable. Matter of fact, Mike Caro found the solution to a bully long ago - raise less, call more, seldom value bet. This quickly destroys them. A lot of what you are saying is ok, just not under the title of "bully"; read up on TAG/LAG players, you will see what I mean.

Bully is real close to a maniac, which is real close to sitting on the rail!
 
VGShaa

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Thank U. Interestingly, read with pleasure. Some points for themselves learned. I will use return in the game. And yes agree with previous posts. Bully permanently impossible, in my experience the game with players know that in the time of their game is not going to read and use the stack. Bully to the mind and at the right moment.
 
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finnhawc

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Boomeranged, a useful post even if bully is debated. As a yo-yo ma iniac myself I needed some of this info to help slow leaks. I bully only when the ante and blinds are ramped up. It seems to improve fold equity and add pressure. But too often my position is weak even with solid pre-flop ranges.
 
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finnhawc

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DonSifu, I missed reading your post before. That is great advice, tightening up with the big stack has worked well for me. Will it prevent me from pushing with Kings OTB when the BB has Aces? Not a chance but those twos or fours... keep it small.
When encountering another big stack what is the best approach when you hit a small piece of the limped pot and you have position, chk to you?
 
TeUnit

TeUnit

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i think another good thing to do is to look at the villans and see who folds to preflop raises, who is fit/fold on the flop, and who is going to play back at you
 
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Weisssound

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Yeah, to clarify "bullying" means betting into and raising a passive player a lot. It's more useful in cash games. If you find a player who simply folds a lot when they don't have say top pair or better, you can get bluffy and win a lot of small pots. It's useful for three reasons: (a) you win money (duh), (b) you eventually induce the passive player to start playing back at you and can get more value from made hands, (c) your overall image looks more loose to everyone else which can allow you to get more value overall.
 
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