Hi,

I’m wondering how common this is or if it is something that only happens at low stakes….

The majority of time over the last few weeks, when I get down to the final 3 or heads-up in a 9-45 SnG, I encounter players that will literally only fold or shove. I’ve been on a string of bad run-outs that leave me going out second or third after coming in with the big stack. Sure there is variance that will come back my way, but I’m still interested in playing more effectively in these spots.

I’d love to hear some counter-strategies.

When stacks are still deep, or I am way ahead, I tend to just min-raise everything and let them pick off as much as they want until I have something good. I’ll pick up a good % of pots in the mean time as they fold. I think this forces them to open up their shove range as well. They’ll have to shove any pair, any A, possibly any K (definitely if suited), any 2 Broadway. I’ve even caught people with hands like J7s and worse if they get caught in a rhythm and get too confident in my folding. When I’m doing this my shove-calling range tends to be any pair, A9s+, KJ+, down to other Broadway if things are getting desperate, ideally if suited.

When stacks get shallow I start to have a lot of trouble since folding a bunch of hands, or worse getting shoved on after min-raising light a few times can really hurt. I feel like I am forced in to a situation where I have to play Russian roulette with any two cards just to stay alive long enough to have a chance at being dealt something worth a shove.

I’ve also occasionally limped with AA, KK, AK, AQ hoping to induce a shove. While this has worked at times I don’t feel like it should be in my game. I regret it most times. I guess it could have some balancing value if I am covered and V shoves and actually gets to see my hand? My gut says no…Limping really only serves 1 purpose here. To get V to play a hand he would otherwise fold, get sucked in and lose some chips.

Thoughts or ideas?

From a mental game standpoint I have to say I get kinda mad at people when they do this even though it should make me happy in many situations. It’s like those action movie fight scenes where the opponent won’t fight back At least I stopped typing in chat, “Are you scared to play poker with me?”, hah.