Some help with strategy please

[DemonSon]

I am hoping you guys and gals can help me develop a strategy. I play in a NL Hold'em tournament every week. It is a small buy in tourny,with an add on at the end of the 1st hour, or if you get cracked before the hour is up. The add-on/rebuy is a one time only thing. 1st and 2nd places get paid. There are usually about 10 players. Most of the players are mediocre. There is one super aggressive player, and one very good, very aggressive player, we will call him Burt. I would say that I am either the 2nd or 3rd best regular player in the game. I have made money at this game in the past month, but i think i could do better. The thing is, Burt almost ALWAYS wins. he has won 5 of the last 7, and I won the other 2. I know Burt is a better NL player then I am, so I usually avoid hands with him unless I have great cards. My general strategy against him is to either fold, or go all-in when heads up with him, generally preflop, or on the flop. I have come in 3rd the past 3 games, and as you all know being on the bubble sucks. I am wondering if it may be a better strategy to go after Burt right from the start, to play him aggressively, and try to knock him out early. What do you guys think? My thinking is this way either I will get rid of him, and be able to dominate the table, or get cracked early, and get some sleep. Any suggestions are very welcome!

[Sam T.]

Interesting question. I only play on-line, so it's a bit beyond my ken, but it does raise the broader question of how to play when there is a player at the table who clearly knows what he is doing, and is as good or better than you are. (Finally a post where Jason isn't the authority, because it's never happened to him! /images/graemlins/smile.gif)

Anyway, I'm not sure "going after" the good player will get you anywhere. Part of being good is staying out of situations that will get you in big trouble, so you could spend several hours attacking him, and never making contact. You also run the risk of having him playing back at you, which may not be the best outcome. Do you want him to make it his life's work to bust you? Or the six other people standing between you and the money?

That said, I think you can keep the cross-hairs on Burt without exposing yourself. Learn the situations in which he is aggressive, and figure out how you might take advantage of them. You probably won't beat him with a kicker, so you'll need hands that are disguised (a flopped set or str8 draw for example). Then the challenge is to get his chips in the pot along with yours. That is much more difficult, and depends on Burt's style.

I'd be curious to hear what other folks would do if, say, Fossilman sat down at your table?