Blind thieves, what to do about them?
 

if it becomes a pattern, re-raise him and he'll almost certainly fold.

I believe this is a a fairly strong, and correct, play on his part for him for the reason you state. You are playing tight and have shown that you will not defend your blinds without a hand (corretly, IMO, if those have been your cards). So, why wouldn't he do it every time? If you play back at him he MIGHT back down if he doesn't have a hand.

IMO, the best response to this is to look to the other side and see if you can in turn take advantage of the players YOU have position on (are they playing tight too?). I would not suggest trying to defend with inferior cards lkke 2-6, 3-9, 7-9, etc. Even if you win once with this type of hand, it would just cause him to do it more, because he would know he got you to the point where you will call with anything, and that is even worse.

I have no problem admitting it was good play on his part, very good play, but I am just looking for a way to respond to it. Frustrating to be in that spot, but if he's just gonna bleed me to death I guess I should have taken a stand somewhere along the line, the end result could only have been better than it actually turned out.

By the way did anyone notice I made a typo spelling "do" in the subject line and spelled if "fo", I edited to correct it and it is correct in the heading for my post, but not corrected in the actual title of the thread itself. Kinda a strange little bug in the software I would say.

The only thing you can do is reraise him. Hopefully he'll fold right there (if you raise enough). If not, the same logic he is using to steal applies - he's forced to hit a flop. And if he's stealing your BB form the SB, you even have position on him. He checks the flop, you bet and take it down.

if you have only 900 chips in sb, i would wait for a suited connector and go all in. I mean, your not gonna make it into the money with that amount of chips if you wait for a monster. might as well gamble

Wait until you get a good starting pocket and make them pay through the nose.

Danger of reraising with nothing is he might not be bluffing this time.

Do this early ...
 

No matter what position a player is in, you must protect your BB at least once. Do it early with a any connectors if necessary. Just call the table and see a flop. No hit on the Flop, fold. BUT don't let this guy or any other continually steal your Blinds.

Wait til another full round and see what he does. Try and find him in Cash or MTT game. Do it there if necessary. But do it and early as possible before trhe Blinds get to hi. :)

4Flusher

Got to mix it up a little
 

It's very difficult without the hand to back it up, but you can't roll over like that time after time, especially when the blinds are creeping up. Plus, if you've folded to his steal attempts the first three times, odds are he will respect your re-raise the fourth time around and you win the pot right there. Better to have gone down with a fight -- and a chance -- rather than to have been blinded off.

....wait for a suited connector? terrible play.... suited connectors come along about the same amount as ace/x hands do, and when you go all in with an ace, you might have the best hand if someone calls you with ace/lower kick or with KQ or some weaksauce like that... if its a partypoker sng people WILL call your all in with KQ... but WAITING to gamble with suited connectors is just terrible... id rather steal or re-steal with Q4 than 56 suited.. plus if youre stealing or restealing you dont want a call... if you get called you're beat, and it wont matter if you have suited connectors or 9 2 offsuit, because a caller is going to have a pair or overcards, and you're screwed anyways. having suited connectors adds like 3% to your chances of winning, so dont wait for them... you fool around with suited connectors when the blinds are small and your stack is large, not when you want to double up...

-jB

Hey,

When I figure someone is going to be doing this to me repeatedly, if I have a reasonable stack (compared to blinds) I'll often call his bet, check to him, and then raise.

It's riskier of course, but if your stack can handle it... :). If he checks after you, then I'd bet on turn.

Again, this's very risky...

Cheers,

Gutzz

This may sound simple and naive, but I wouldnt overreact. It seems like you just ran into a bully, who probably was getting decent cards, was on your right, and you were getting rags. If it were a continuous problem, in tourney after tourney, then of course you would have to make adjustments, but as long as you are aware of it, I dont think it is an epidemic. Next time you will bust someone who keeps trying to do this to you.

I had a problem like this in a tourney and I decide to defend with a bad hand (wont say what) but figured he would fold and he ends up having JJ... so I guess just bad luck for me.

Sounds like a good smart play on his part since you never called him. I have had this problem sometimes and instead of callling him (Chip leader), I did the same thing to the guy with the lowest chip stack and he folded pretty much every time as well.

dude, read my post, if you have 900 ish in chips and just paid the blinds @ 150/300, you gotta crapshoot it. mid suited connecters have a 25% chance of flopping a hand or a draw to a hand that will beat pocket pairs. and its not about if you want a call or not, because they will. Especially if your on PP, they will usually want to knock you out regardless if they have the stack to do it.