Attacking large vs small stacks

[pergesu]

Voltran made mention in another post that he was having trouble playing a medium sized stack, and identifying which players he should go after, based on their stacks. I'd like to know what your thought processes when determining which stacks to go after when you're on/near the bubble and ITM.

The basic thing I know is attack the smallies. If you've got a bigger stack than someone, just push at em a lot. That's dumbed down a ton, definitely, but that seems to be a good general strategy.

How about when someone has a bigger stack than you? Maybe you're not shortstacked at all, but they still have more. Are you less likely to push with trash hands? How much do you tighten up, if at all?

And when someone has a really big stack compared to you, say 4k vs 1.5k, how does your strategy change?

How about when it's reversed? You've got a big stack and some small stack pushes into you. Are they usually waiting on a big hand to push with, so you should fold? Or do you jump on that opportunity to knock the opponent out because you've got enough chips?

Sorry, I know these questions seem kind of crappy, I'm having a tough time articulating this. Hopefully some of you guys understand the general meaning and can help out.

[Blarg]

It depends so much on the sizes of the blinds and on any possible reads. Sooner or later, someone's pushing standards are going to get looser, and then practically fall through the floor.

I don't know from experience, but I think this might vary a lot by the size of the SNG, too. At the 10's where I play, people call with ridiculous crap all the time, for no reason really. If you're 1.5k with trash cards and you bluff into a guy with 4k, he might be one of the guys who consider all their options, or the kind who calls almost randomly, or simply a guy who figures he doesn't care if he has a bad hand, because it's worth gambling on losing roughly only a third of his stack if it kicks you out of the game -- all the more so if he figures you're in a desperate state and might be pushing with trash and likely don't have an advantage.

So if the blinds let you, sometimes it seems better to wait a hand or two to steal. Folding a hand that, given your stack size and position, could be used for a steal attempt, also gives you more credibility when you do push. So if you wait, sometimes you wind up with both a better hand and enough respect on your side so that you won't have to show it down anyway. More credibility gained by the occasional fold can pay off big time, even your waiting means you've now actually got a worse hand than you did before. Winning even with a hand that's worse is a lot better than losing with a hand that's better.

As far as being pushed into, I try to remember to ask myself whether calling when you think you're fairly likely to be ahead will bring a greater amount of profit than the alternative of folding the best hand and raising with whatever magically turns up in your hands the very next deal.

This could be more profitable than fighting back from the big blind in the previous hand for several reasons. First, you might have lost even with the best hand when you were the big blind being pushed at. Second, if the blinds go up right when it's your turn to push, your push could gain more than the push you let the villain chase you off with just one turn ago. Third, you may get a great hand by waiting and easily win. Fourth, you may not need a showdown to win at all, but scoop up the blinds uncontested. Fifth, you may not get a great hand next hand to play legitimately or steal with yourself, but you could get a great hand on the hand after that one, and be bluffed into with garbage or just a hand not quite as good, which is pretty much the ideal situation -- the best hand, and, if you the SB merely completed or made a small bet rather than pushing, you're acting last, which can be a huge advantage. If an ace flops and AT bets at or pushes into you on the flop while you're holding AQ, you could win a lot of chips.

That's a lot of potentially positive outcomes, and they look pretty good next to fighting and losing with a decent but not spectacular starting two cards.

In general, as your stack's get more out of balance, pushing and calling pushes make more sense, and as they get closer in size, pushing has less utility. Eventually the blinds can get so high that even with equal stack sizes, you stand to gain or lose a lot of equity depending on who keeps the blinds. Still, it only takes one or two successful big pots to win a tournament, so sometimes it makes sense to lose a bit by folding on the off chance that you might get some good cards that could provide an almost inevitable victory instead of just a random coin flip. Even a stack that's a quarter of the size of the big stack heads up can still push someone off the occasional blind or by winning an all-in. Hero with t2500 going all-in vs. villain's t7500 and getting called and winning goes from way behind to dead even in a single hand.

Of course, reads always matter a great deal, too. Sometimes your opponent is so tight or so crazy loose that you have to do your best to adapt your play around his peculiarities(and how you think he has built up an image of your play in his mind) as much as around the stack and blind sizes.

[lorinda]

Rant 6 (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=singletable&Number=1542351 &Forum=All_Forums&Words=%2Brant%20%2B%236&Searchpa ge=0&Limit=25&Main=1542351&Search=true&where=bodys ub&Name=22&daterange=1&newerval=1&newertype=y&olde rval=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#Post1542351)

Just some general pointers in reply.

Not directly relevant to stack size, but is relevant to you looking for a magic formula.

Lori

[pergesu]

Nice post, and I think it supports what I'm looking for here.

Rather than looking for a magic formula and seeking what to do, I'd like to know what people consider in these various situations, what thoughts they go through to reaching a decision. Not "do this here" but "think about this" here.

That's how the 2+2 books work, and that's what I've come to expect from the forums.

[microbet]

The smallies can't bust you, but they are often the ones most likely to call you.