Attacking the Short Stacks

[La Brujita]

I get super aggressive when there are 4-5 players left at PP and I am on a big stack. Not sure if it is a leak in my game or just solid winning play.

My thinking is usually if I have Q high or K high I am in the 60% range of hands so might as well put him on a decision. I am happy to fold trash but I get very aggressive with the top 40%. Is this a bad thing?

One thing you have to be very careful of is once they have enough of their stack committed in the BB they will be getting correct odds to call anything that is not an overpair, so is a raise all in a mistake according to the FTOP?

A concrete example. PP $30, 8000 chips in play. I am the leader in the SB with about 2350 and hold Q-3o with 5 left. Blinds are 100-200 and BB has about 280 left after posting.

Is this a call, raise or fold situation? I raised all in and am really not sure if this is a good, terrible or average play.

On a completely unrelated note, I made one of the worst plays I have made since I have become a proficient player. $20 nl multi, I have had cold cards and bad luck for an hour. One limper into me in middle position, I mini raised with AA (a play I literally never would make on a normal day). Four see the flop which comes KJ3 three suited. I check the flop and call an all in when a jack comes on the turn. I lose to QJ and just shake my head in disbelief.

The story has no point other than to say (i) everyone does horrendous things and (ii) once you get out of your comfort zone mistakes can really become compounded.

[CrisBrown]

Hi LaBrujita,

[ QUOTE ]
One thing you have to be very careful of is once they have enough of their stack committed in the BB they will be getting correct odds to call anything that is not an overpair, so is a raise all in a mistake according to the FTOP?

A concrete example. PP $30, 8000 chips in play. I am the leader in the SB with about 2350 and hold Q-3o with 5 left. Blinds are 100-200 and BB has about 280 left after posting.

Is this a call, raise or fold situation? I raised all in and am really not sure if this is a good, terrible or average play.

[/ QUOTE ]

I typically fold here, not because I'm worried about the short stack, but because of table image. I don't want the other players to see me steal-raise on Q3o. I want them to think my every raise represents a real hand, so they'll keep laying down those hands. So I try not to steal on absolute trash when I'm likely to get called by a desperate short-stack. I'd rather wait for a legitimate steal hand: Axs, Face-Face suited, suited connector, or middle pair.

Cris

[M.B.E.]

[ QUOTE ]
I get super aggressive when there are 4-5 players left at PP and I am on a big stack. Not sure if it is a leak in my game or just solid winning play.

My thinking is usually if I have Q high or K high I am in the 60% range of hands so might as well put him on a decision. I am happy to fold trash but I get very aggressive with the top 40%. Is this a bad thing?

[/ QUOTE ]
It's a good strategy if you are the chip leader but can be problematic if you are second. I definitely use this strategy if I am chip leader with five players remaining (assuming top three get paid? I don't play much at Party). The result is usually one of two things: either I will develop an overwhelming chip by the time we're down to three-handed, or I'll get called and lose a hand and move down to average stack-size.

One of the reasons this strategy works so well is that the other players have often survived to this stage of the SNG because they play tight -- they need a premium hand to play if someone else has raised.

A couple of other things: First, if one player is playing back at you often, you have to tighten up with your raises. Second, if a player who has always folded to your raises suddenly reraises all in (even from the blind), you should probably fold unless your pot odds are about 2.4:1 or better. If the player is not quite so tight, I'd say you can call the reraise getting only 2:1 pot odds with hands like 66, A8, or KT.

[ QUOTE ]
One thing you have to be very careful of is once they have enough of their stack committed in the BB they will be getting correct odds to call anything that is not an overpair, so is a raise all in a mistake according to the FTOP?

A concrete example. PP $30, 8000 chips in play. I am the leader in the SB with about 2350 and hold Q-3o with 5 left. Blinds are 100-200 and BB has about 280 left after posting.

Is this a call, raise or fold situation?

[/ QUOTE ]
I would say raise all-in, primarily because your opponent may incorrectly fold. Lots of players just cannot bring themselves to call a raise for their remaining chips with K6o. He may think that he's better off waiting a few more hands, in case two other people bust out.

If he does call you with any two cards, he's only a 52:48 favourite. That gives you positive chip-EV compared to folding. With Q3o I don't think it's an option to call preflop and then bet any flop, because your opponent is likely to call your flop bet with any ace or king-high (and any pair).