is this a correct strategy or did he just get lucky?

i was playing in 10K tourny last night with a 100 buyin.
56 players started and the top 9 get paid.
about 30 left in the tourny and i got moved to this table.
the average stack size at this stage was about 4K.
i had about 4.5K.
blinds were 200/400 and the rounds were 9 min each.
there was this player who had 4K in chips.
this player would go all in ever other hand and as a result every one folded to him.
one or twice he got called showing cards as low as 55 or A9 and he got lucky and won but he kept in all the way.
i mean he went all in about 15 hands out of 25 and he didnt play the rest of them hands.
even when his stack got to about 16k with 20 players left ,thats all that he was doing.
near the end of the bubble with about 14 players left ,he did a bit more and he got his stack up to about 25k.
i could not make a move at all and nither could any one else at the table because of this.
i blinded my self to the final table eventually and went out at 9th place.
at first i was thinking that the player was no good and he got lucky ,but i watched him win the tourny with the same strategy and he was against stacks double or triple his at one stage.
i asked around about him and this guy has a reputation for doing this and apparently he wins a lot of tournies or at least finish high up in the money like this often.
any thoughts on this at all and how would you adjust your play at a table with some one like that?

[Matador225]

Uhhh...wait for the cards. Thats all you can do. Wait for a hand that is a big favorite against his range and call him. I would say AJ or higher and any mid pp or better, but that depends a lot on your stack size.

[nath]

Wait, did you say NINE MINUTE rounds? In a live tournament? Are they trying to see if they can fit three levels into one orbit?

With that kind of pace, I'd be moving all in pre flop a hell of a lot, too, with a large range of cards. I'm almost certain that after a certain point that's the only way to stay ahead of the stakes-- and that point probably comes a lot sooner than you think.

it was online on VCPOKER it wasnt live.
apart from how to defend against this ,which there really is not much defence then if i have to wait for the cards,
im wondering if this is a correct strategy to apply ?

[HammerinHank]

When it gets close to the money people often start playing very tight, trying to cash. This is the time for aggression to build your stack. With a short stack this player has only one move.... All In. If it's folded to me in LP or LMP 55 or A9 are good hands to push with. When the blinds and antes get high you can build up a good stack fairly quickly. Once you get a bigger stack the all in move isn't always best but you should still remain aggressive and build that stack. The real money is usually in the top three places and that is where you want to be.

There's a couple things you need to realize :
1) You have about 10 BB, therefore any good hands with position you should raise all-in. In tourneys too many people try to make the money, you have to try to win it.
Like Amir Vahedi once said : "In order to live you have to be willing to die."
You never want to have a small stack because other players will call you with relative marginal hands and could knock you out on a nice flop. Also it's a lot harder to built a stack with so little blinds.
2) Once you have more chips pick your spots against this guy. The whole tourney he was pushing you around. You have to push back with good hands. Personnaly I would raise him all-in with 66 to TT and AQ-A8 (in position) and try to trap him with any pp higher or AK. If you get to see a flop and you hit, let him bet into you. The best way to play against loose-aggressive players is to play passive.

BTW his strategy is very good and works really well against players that play too thigh. Even if he looses a hand, he has the stack to support the lost. Plus people will call him with worst hands then they would normally do. And it's really hard to put him on a specific hand, therefore once he hits, he will take someone out easier. A lot of players end up giving him chips on bad plays. Do you see why this strategy got him to win the tourney.