Fighting the bully with A-J

[kingstalker]

Pokerstars 3+0 rebuy
blinds 200/400 with 25 ante I have 5500 in chips, bully has 31,000
Bully(EP) raises to 1200,He has open raised 4 pots in a row and I didnt think he needed a good hand to do it, so I am in the SB with [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]J, I move in
BB calls with [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]J
Didnt like that I thought it would be just me and the Bully
Bully calls with [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]Q
I ended up winning with a pair of aces,w hat I am wondering is was my descison to make a move correct?

[SpaceAce]

The bully has a massive stack. You are pretty short-stacked. You don't think he needs a hand to raise and you actually have a hand.* Your play looks good to me.

SpaceAce

* As long as the bully is really raising light.

[Greg (FossilMan)]

Unless I was there, and felt your description of the situation was entirely mistaken, I would never fault you for the play you made. The best way to deal with bullies is to play back at them with a hand that figures to be a solid favorite, but NOT to wait for the nuts. The whole point of the bully strategy is to win so many chips while the opposition waits for AA to play back, that even if they lose when you finally do play back, they've already stolen more than that amount anyway.

Good play, glad it worked out also.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[Al_Capone_Junior]

I say nice play. Can't wait forever before you take a stand against these guys. AJ good enough for me!

al

[kingstalker]

Would you guys confront a bully with a hand like A-9,A-10,K-10 or Q-K?

[Al_Capone_Junior]

Depends on the situation, but with AT probably so. KQ quite possibly. A9, KJ, KT not as much but sometimes. It's fairly situation dependent, but as stack size relative to the blinds goes down, the chance of my taking a stand with such hands goes up.

al