Playing the super aggressive big stack.

Played the $11 buy in big tourney last night on pokerstars, and made two mistakes in the same hand that cost me about 70% of my stack.


Against an aggressive big stack.

A super aggressive big stack is in 50% or more of the pots, they always raise pre-flop, and will usually raise post flop. The size of their raises means the number of decisions you will make are greatly reduced, but the importance of those decisions is also greatly amplified.

Hand selection is critical. Establish range early, of course they will raise on any premium hand, but as they get more aggressive, mid to low pairs come in, suited connectors, ace anything,

And sometimes outright bluffs on 10 7 of or similar.

A super aggressive big stack will give you two criticial decisions, one pre flop, one post. Thats it. You must decide what you are going to do with BOTH decisions before you call one of their be pre-flop raises.

On drawing hands, you will just call, to see the flop.

On made hands, you will re-raise or go all in. But which hands?

That depends somewhat on their range but I definitely will go all in against a super aggressive big stack pre flop raise with a pair of 9s or higher. You are looking for the situation where your pair is at least higher than their kicker, so that you hand odds are in the 70% win range. Mid to high pairs are easy decisions against hyper aggressive big stacks, you go all in against a big pre-flop raise.

As tempting as it may seem, you don't want to go all in against the big stack with hands such as A 3 pre flop. They may have you dominated on a higher kicker, not good, most likely you will be in a drawing situation against two live cards where your odds are closer to 50/50. Pre-flop with nothing committed, those odds are not high enough for an all in.

So, you have two decisions to make, yes, you have to call their big raise, but you also have to decide BEFORE you call what you are going to do in these three situations:

1. You hit your high card.
2. You hit your low card.
3. You hit nothing.

If you have A 3 and you miss the ace (only about 20% odds on flop) what will you do when you hit the 3? Make that decision before you call pre flop.

The mistake I made last night is not making that decision pre flop. I had K J off, not a bad pre-flop CALLING hand against the over aggressive big stack. The flop hit the K. I foolishly had not thought about this situation and was not sure what to do when he bet enough to put me essentially all in (a little worried about kicker trouble).

I should have gone all in. I didn't. Second mistake as a result of the first.

So, from tonight I learned:

1. Go all in pre flop on made hands against the super aggressive big stack.
2. Decide before the flop what you are going to do after the flop if you hit on one or other of your drawing cards. Always check post flop if you hit since they will always raise. Execute your pre flop decision based on the flop.

One final word, the only time super aggressive big stack players just call big bets is when they have the nuts.