4-handed bubble aggression.

[nicky g]

Victor Chandler Sit and Go. I've just knocked out 3 players on one hand to make it 4-handed (3 get paid) and have 6000 of 18000 total chips. Someone else has 6000 too, and the other players have 3500 and 2500 respectively. VC has no hand history so I don't remeber all the details here. Blinds are 100-200.

First hand: I find KQo on the button, it's folded to me. I make it 800 to play. The SB, who has 2400 after posting, calls. Flop A K rag. He checks. I put him all-in (he has 1700 left, pot is 1600). He thinks for ages, and calls. He has A 5 and wins.

A short while later I am up to about 4500, and find K /forums/images/icons/heart.gif 9 /forums/images/icons/spade.gif on the button. One limper, I make it 1000 to go, only he calls, leaving him with only 900 or so left. Flop is all rag spades. He checks, I put him in assuming I'm behind. He thinks for ages and calls. He has A /forums/images/icons/heart.gif Q /forums/images/icons/diamond.gif and no king, 9 or spade falls. I sulk in disbelief that didn't raise with this preflop (in which case I would have folded). A few hands later I am the big blind and he is the SB. After posting 400 (blinds have just been raised), I have 1200 left. Folded to the SB, he completes. I have J8o and check. Flop K82, he checks, I push all-in. He thinks for ages again and calls. He has K4 and hits a 4 just to rub it in.

Obviously I played these very agressively - much too aggressively? - and blew off my decent stack on the bubble. I hate to play passively in these things, but have no idea how to handle passive players who limp with or check big hands to me short-handed. I mean I feel I have to bet 2nd pair if checked to heads-up - but they kept showing up with top pair. The K9 hand I suppose I should have just limped with - but all the same it's not a bad hand 4-handed and I assumed he didn't have enough to call for most of his stack, having limped to begin with. Was I unlucky or just pushing it too hard? How much should I tone down my aggression?

[Greg (FossilMan)]

Being very aggressive is good, as long as at least one of two things is true. Either they are likely to fold, or you are likely to be holding the best hand.

I have no argument with the KQ hand. He only called your preflop raise, and then checked the flop. No reason to put him on an A, and if you check he MIGHT catch a free card that beats you. Arguably you should check here because he is very unlikely to call your bet with worse hands, but might try to bluff you on the turn if you check. Similarly, if he does have you beat on the flop, you wouldn't ever expect him to fold. The only reason to bet the flop is so he doesn't catch something to beat you with that free card, and with that flop and your hand, he can't have many outs to catch up if he's behind.

I would've folded the K9 hand, unless I thought there was a very strong chance that everyone would fold to my raise. Even though he only limped, he could have a weak A or a small pair. Any hand he limps with 4-handed on the bubble is either a mistake or a trap. While you are going to beat a lot of his mistaken hands, you also need to avoid the trapping hands.

On the last hand, I think your play is good. No reason to give him credit for a K. If I were him, I'd most likely have raised preflop, even with a bad K like he had. K4 is better than a random hand, so why give your random hand a free flop?

In summary, I think the K9 was your only mistake, and it's not much of a mistake (nor a mistake at all if they would've folded most of the time).

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)