How to play a monster stack?????

[Newmanseye]

here goes, I was playing in a tourney tonight, 1st prize is £600 and is paid down to 4th, I find my self not long after the rebuy period is finished with 2 tables still playing with a monster stack, average stack is 15K I have 43K.

I move on to my new table and do what every poker book tells me to do, Bully!!, I probably have a loose aggressive table image anyways at this point.

Now in following the advice in every poker book i ever read and tried to bully the table, I managed to piss away my stack and crash out of the tourney in 13th place.

My question is this, As this is a common theme for me ( getting a big stack and pissing it away ) , should I not change gear   ( bully )  the table with my stack, and play my normal game which works on the whole for me, or am I not using my stack properly??

I really am perplexed as I have tried to play by the book and I am getting shafted in doing so.

Opinions please.

[Newmanseye]

I'm giving this a wee bump because I am interested to get some opinions.

[johnlarsson]

i was waiting for this.   

I aint no pro

but i would sit tight. play the good hands as if u were short stacked...

take a look at some flops u normally would becoz u have chips and see if you hit. if u do make it look like ure bullying


also maybe if youve foled 6 or 7 hands in a row. try and steel a wee one by raising pre-flop. see if u get respect

[AndrewT]

You've answered your own question. You said you probably had a loose/aggressive image, therefore people are going to call you down and, because you're playing lots of hands, the chances are their hands will be better than yours.

The key to bullying is selective, targeted aggression. You want your opponents to fold, so pick on the ones who are most likely to fold. When you sense strength, give it up.

Bullying doesn't mean trying to force everyone off every hand, it means using your power to be able to knock anyone out of the tournament on any hand as a weapon to make people not want to risk their tournament battling with you. You want them to fear you - when they see you playing rubbish hands they're not going to do that.

Remember, winning two sets of blinds every round is all it takes to increase your stack.

[elblondie]

Andrew's point is spot on, right on the mark.

I would add one thing. Being succesfull in poker is all about learning from what is going on around you. If you keep destroying big stacks by bullying, then don't do it. Not all the books suggest that once you have accumulated a big stack that you should use it. It's only the books that you want to listen to.

If I have accumulated a big stack in a big tournament, i would see it as an opportunity to sit back, relax, listen to some chilling music and just wait for the big hands or big situations. You usually find that no-one messes with your blinds, so you tread water, until I get dealt some quality hands (and I am not talking about A10 under the gun). This is the way I play big competitions 80% of the time.
If you see me down the club battering away and bullying with a big stack, it's because I want to finish the tourney as quickly as possibly, or I feel I am surrounded by complete rocks who are letting me get away with it. But for example I wouldn't dream of trying to bully players like Alan Rennie, bader or let's say yourself. Players who are suspicious of you have to be avoided, and the bullying has to be very selective.
I would suggest the next time you reach triple the average stack, you rock up, throw all your KJ type hands in the bin and watch the TV for a few hours. relax and let the tourney come to you.

And of course when you get to the last 4 or 5 you can then let rip. Use your flair when players are under pressure and scared of making a mistake.

 

[johnlarsson]

lets see what steven has to say...............

[Timaloy]

2 very good points, and Dave did get "away with it" last night, would have loved an Alan Rennie on my left

"And of course when you get to the last 4 or 5 you can then let rip. Use your flair when players are under pressure and scared of making a mistake."

Thats golden, and would suit you playing style to a T.  Its harder to put as much pressure on people when they can see flops without commiting there tornement life, and when they hit against you while you are trying to bully without the timing just dosnt have the same effect and you start to leak chips.  I dont think you have to play very aggressive with the big stack to steal the odd pot, quite easy to play against peoples draws and pick up pots that the table is allergic too and if you get resistance from a solid player you just give it up, its not like you have to fight over every chip, pick the right situation.

[Newmanseye]

Cheers for the posts guys, Your input is greatly appreciated.

 

[allym]

If you're talking about last night (tuesday) then u didn't piss anything away! You went a bit on tilt after the dealer made a mistake and forgot to ask you to act in your big blind and carried on with the flop. After the reshuffle and new flop you went all-in and ran into Speeros' trip , I think! Which left you short stacked. If this never happened I think you would've had a good chance to reach the prizes!

[Newmanseye]

Yes i pissed that away but only because i was trying to bully the table, I was tilted a wee bit but even after that I still had 20k in chips so in no way a short stack. I did not post this based solely on last night, as I said before this is a common theme for me, I usually build a good stack and manage to piss it away by playing overly aggressive.

I just need to recognise it and change my strategy.