Satellite Situation.

[Wardonkey]

I'm sure I got my strategy wrong here but I can't work out what I should have been doing to maximise my chances of a seat.

We are down to the last 3 of a satellite on Blue Square. There are 2 seats on offer and a nominal cash prize for 3rd which does not cover my re-buys. There is one big stack directly to my left and I am one of two shorter stacks. The big stack is content to let us fight it out and fold into a seat, he raises infrequently and passes twice to re-raises from the other shortie. The other shortstack is raising all-in on from the small blind every time, and frequently from the button. He is willing to call my all-ins with king high, he called an all-in re-raise from me with KJ and doubled me up, at this point perhaps I should have put more pressure on him, later he knocks me out when he calls my all-in with K9, hitting his 9 to beat my 55. It doesn't help that I am card dead, but I am sure that I could have played this better.

I played very passively and was essentially waiting for the other fella to walk into a hand. There must be a better way of dealing with this situation does anyone have any thoughts?

Pab, you were watching, what do you think?   

[ACE2M]

2 seats?

[Wardonkey]

Yes , sorry I missed that out.

I'll edit.

[GlasgowBandit]

In situations like this I am not raising unless I have a hand or unless I hit the flop, I am content to check rather than raise and see many more flops and then let him bet and come OTT if i hit.

I hate it though whenyou are in this situationa nd you have a big stack who just wants to fold his way to the seat.

I take it theer was only one seat up for grabs??

[Wardonkey]

There are 2 seats and no flops...

[ACE2M]

Pray for a hand?

You can't steal his blind and he is prepared to risk all stealing yours. Hes unplayable and you simply have to take the best shot you find to take him out which may well be a coinflip type siutation.

I can't really see any way to counter his play and the big stack is rightly going to protect his way to a seat by not helping you. Take  on a reasonable gamble with the hope you may have him dominated, any ace, KQ, and any pair in the blinds confrontations would be adequate for me.

I am very intrested to see if anyone comes up with a different strategy.

[boldie]

Pray for a hand?

You can't steal his blind and he is prepared to risk all stealing yours. Hes unplayable and you simply have to take the best shot you find to take him out which may well be a coinflip type siutation.

I can't really see any way to counter his play and the big stack is rightly going to protect his way to a seat by not helping you. Take  on a reasonable gamble with the hope you may have him dominated, any ace, KQ, and any pair in the blinds confrontations would be adequate for me.

I am very intrested to see if anyone comes up with a different strategy.

I'd agree with that..any two high cards will do for me. Then again..I tend to be the guy that makes these plays and the only way to play guys like that is to call and pray that you atleast split a pot the first time.

or simply say.."Next time you do that I WILL call" and stick to it. if you don't loose a lot of chips the first time you call all momentum is with you.

it's risky but otherwise you could get blinded away completely while waiting for a hand to save you.

[Wardonkey]

I passed a pair of fives early on in proceedings before I realised what his game was, after that I was never dealt anything that was ahead of even a random hand. I did manage to double up thru the chipleader once when I pushed desperately with Q5 against his AJ.

I think maybe I should have been pushing more often, if not every time, when the chancer passed on the button.

[M3boy]

I think the only way to play here is to push against the big stack - when the other shortie has passed. This way, if you double up through him, you can now take on the short stack with any 2 cards knowing that you will not go bust.

But I agree, its hard when faced with that situation and totally card dead.

Just out of interest, what were the blinds and stack sizes?

[Wardonkey]

The big stack had between 35 and 40k

Myself and the other shorty had between 9k and 18k at various times.

I think we were at 600/1200 for most of time.

[marcro]

Ideally you should get your chips in first and put the decision on the others.  I would call the small stack with T K or better and hope for the best.  When the game reaches this level there is not much skill to it.

[SupaMonkey]

If the big stack is passing often then nick his blind. I would be moving in on him everytime the other guy has passed until my stack was big enough to gamble with the shortie. Ok he may wait and call me with a good hand (chances are that you're gonna be 60-40 if he calls anyway) but if i nick his blind 5 times in a row i'm laughing.

[Wardonkey]

I can't push on the button, because the chancer will call me with such a wide range.

My problem is that is easier for the big stack to call me than it is for me to call when the other shorty pushes on my big blind. Even if I push every time the button passes I'm still going backwards because I'm getting beaten to it about half the time. 

My best chance I think is just to start pushing when the button passes. If I'm lucky this might buy me some time and perhaps the other guy will run into a hand before I do.

If there was just one prize or it was a normal tournament then I would have been pushing more often. I didn't adjust to the peculiar dynamics of the situation and despite the fact that I didn't get any cards I feel that I could have given myself a better chance.