serial button raiser

[antthecat]

i was playing wednesday night a £5 rebuy and was my table chip leader after the first break(not one dip but a addon was purchased) and i felt i was in control so to speak, after the break the game tightened a bit but when this player was on the button and i was on the big blind he just kept raising(it was good poker play, i do encourage it myself) and i was always holding junk. he did this 6 times in a row.

i was asking for advice of what to do in this situation as i have been told by friends different ways to over come this and it has been bugging me as i felt like a useless player at that point. do i shove OTT with 72 off or just get up and beat the hell out of him lol???

[bear21]

i was playing wednesday night a £5 rebuy and was my table chip leader after the first break(not one dip but a addon was purchased) and i felt i was in control so to speak, after the break the game tightened a bit but when this player was on the button and i was on the big blind he just kept raising(it was good poker play, i do encourage it myself) and i was always holding junk. he did this 6 times in a row.

i was asking for advice of what to do in this situation as i have been told by friends different ways to over come this and it has been bugging me as i felt like a useless player at that point. do i shove OTT with 72 off or just get up and beat the hell out of him lol???

having been in that situation a couple of times i would say fold, he can"t have a hand every time but as you know when you go to call him he will have i"ve tried it both ways and usually lose when I call, just be patient

[LongshanksED]

yep - just be patient and your time should come - either that or you or he will hopefully get moved soon enough

or if the opportunity arrises when the button passes to you just do the same to the others and get your blinds back

[deanp27]

depends on stack sizes of both players, speed of the blind increases etc. Also may depend how confident you are postflop vs him

[antthecat]

we were both quite stacked compared with everyone else and the blind level, i felt confident that i could out play him on the flop even though i would have probably missed, i just could not call, i wanted to take a stand against him but was not inspired by the cards. would you go all in OTT with  qs td as it was the best hand when i was on the bb, i could not

[monkeyman]

If you"ve got 15xBB or less, shove with any two cards

[antthecat]

will try a blind shove next time im playing, see how it goes,

[treydj]

seeing are you say your both pretty deep, u have some play.

He has targeted your blind and will continue to steal as long as you show no interest in defending.

All I would say is that you need to mix it up to make HIM think about his move.
I.e Flat call and bet any flop.
Flat call and check raise any flop
3 bet pre flop

keep him guessing as otherwise you will just bleed chips.

I am not saying just donk a big chunk to him, but as soon as he is unsure as to where he stands or tags you as a tricky player - he will look elsewhere.

Jas

[Baldus New]

Ant, patience is probably key and if the blinds are quite small I"d just let him take them and wait for a big enough hand to come back over the top.

Not much value doing this with junk in case he calls you but once the blinds get bigger, one or two re-raises should more than get back any chips he has stolen from you and hopefully more besides.

Although at Walsall I did make a point to call a constant all-inner on my big blind with   ::.

Unfortunately he did have  jh js the time I did but at least he was aware that my calling range was quite wide and I think he got the point that I was prepared to call with almost any two cards, just to try and bust him.  

[antthecat]

he did this raise quite a lot and during this time the blinds went up, i lost half my stack on a missed flush draw(not against this player though) and when this player raised my bb once again, i did call as i needed to do something as i was short at that point, i got another flush draw and up and down straight draw on the flop, i checked, he bet (about a 1/3 of my stack) and i insta shoved(with nothing i felt) and he called with top pair, i missed and was gone(with a big protest from a few players who like me at the table)

i am very greatful of the advice given and if i play him again ill mix it up when i have a chance and not when im desperate

[AMRN]

The hand doesn"t start until after the blinds are posted, therefore by the time the cards are in the air, the blinds are not yours anymore. Don"t think of it as him stealing YOUR blind - he is simply stealing the pot, and doing it from the best position on the table, which if course is pretty standard stuff.

I don"t hold with any need to defend a blind with bad cards - it"s a -EV move.  If this happens every time you"re in the BB, you just need to find a hand once and move over the top of his raise.... not only will you then recover some chips, but you will make him think twice about doing it again.  Personally, I would not move back over the top with junk from the BB unless I had a decent read. The last thing you want is for him to call with ATC and have position on you post flop when you have rags.

[antthecat]

i see your point but it appeared that he was not getting any resistance from any of us. when i have chips invested in a pot i have a contract to win the chips no matter what lol. i am not faulting his play, it was correct, im faulting my play as i think that from everyones opinion i should have at least showed resistance once or twice when i had a stack to attack and not a stack that will get instacalled.

[George2Loose]

The hand doesn"t start until after the blinds are posted, therefore by the time the cards are in the air, the blinds are not yours anymore. Don"t think of it as him stealing YOUR blind - he is simply stealing the pot, and doing it from the best position on the table, which if course is pretty standard stuff.

I don"t hold with any need to defend a blind with bad cards - it"s a -EV move.  If this happens every time you"re in the BB, you just need to find a hand once and move over the top of his raise.... not only will you then recover some chips, but you will make him think twice about doing it again.  Personally, I would not move back over the top with junk from the BB unless I had a decent read. The last thing you want is for him to call with ATC and have position on you post flop when you have rags.

I agree with this for to some extent however if you are constantly seen as an easy blind then people will exploit it and take it. Countless times I will target weak players who give their big blinds up with alarming frequency

TBH I would not have let him get past the 4th time- I"m re raising with any 2 if I sense weakness and if he has it, he has it. Obv depends on stack sizes, reads etc but u can"t let someone run over you.

One powerful tool can be to actually comment on it. U"ll be surprised how many times people will then fold the button on the following occasion when you"ve noticed him raising so much in position. You"re basically giving him a warning- mess with my blind too many times and I"ll re raise you.

[TopPair2Pair]

Was he the 2nd big stack at table? Sounds to me like he felt he wanted some action with you and prolly as you had the biggest stack and sat 2 spots to his left was very interested in your chips!

I would be comfortable reraising this guy OOP after 2nd or 3rd time, min raise, we know his agenda, we know its ATC, 72o isn"t great but we disguise our hand well if we hit 2pair+ plus we get great bluffing value on scary boards that he misses(if his paying attention that is).

If we control pot and it goes to a show down our future 3bets get called light or 4bet when we have a bigger hand next orbit(in future) ideally allowing us to extract the most when we hit. Thats how I feel about getting 1 over on this player, just adjust amd use it to your advantage.

As for 72o yeah its foldable in this orbit but dont let him carry on gettin away with it.

[AMRN]

I would be comfortable reraising this guy OOP after 2nd or 3rd time, min raise, we know his agenda, we know its ATC,

I know why you need to make the raise to make him think twice about the steal next time.... however if you min-raise as you suggest here, you are guaranteed to get a call - he can never fold for the odds he would be getting. Then, you are playing a flop OOP with a rag hand, and even if you hit the flop and make your opening bet, you won"t have a clue where you are if he raises...... and you will lose more chips than just the BB you posted.

I much prefer to just let the blind go, then be the aggressor in later hands later when I have position, and take someone elses blinds.

IMO blind defence is expensive and over-rated. Just go nick someone elses rather than try and defend your own.



(Now watch then all try and nick mine on Sunday night - I"ll be waiting!!)