Avoiding and abusing "3S Syndrome"

I've been pretty much exclusively playing Sngs lately, and I've noticed a trend in players that can be profitable to take note of, so I thought I'd share. Don't know if this has been covered before, but if it hasn't... oh well.

In SNGs, particularly early on, I've noticed a funny trend amongst players. Let's say a player is in a pot. He Starts with nice raise... and plays the hand properly, and one of a couple things happens.
1) He was beaten the whole way by a slowplayer
2) He was the recipient of a bad beat
3) Or he was bluffed out of a big pot...
4) Or He Thinks he was bluffed out of a big pot, but doesn't know because there was no showdown.

This leaves the person shortstacked, and somewhat on Tilt. I cal this 3S Syndrome, or "Sudden Short Stack Syndrome." Great players avoid it, and Good players can recover from it, but there's a window of opportunity where you have to decide to either exploit it or avoid it.

You're in fairly late position, and the person with 3S Syndrome is to your left, or in the blinds. You look down and a 10-J suited, which could easily be limped from where you're at. You have to do two things for the next 4-5 hands when analyzing.

1) You have to look at the stack of the tiltee.
and 2) You have to decide if you're willing to call for that amount of chips.

People who are suddenly short stacked develop an immediate sense of desperation, more often than not. Any decent cards, and I'm talking pairs, connectors, big faces, anything... and they WILL move all in on you about 70 percent of the time, and more often than not, you're gonna have to muck your marginal limping hands. This is true of any big raise, but you can be more certain that one is coming if you watch out for the symptoms.

That being said, more marginal hands like a KQ might be worth a call, because he could be shoving with anything... and your Massive hands... They SKYROCKET in value here.

By being aware of this simple factor, I've saved myself some chips, and I've won myself some nice pots by capitalizing. I've found that if he survives 4-5 hands, they'll USUALLY settle down and play more rational poker, so your window of opportunity is small.

Avoid and Exploit.

Thoughts?

i don't think someone has to be a "sudden" short stack to start moving all in. anybody with a short stack, for any reason, has to start making some strong moves to stay in the tournament. by going all in, that player will either double up or get eliminated. either is preferable to sitting around getting blinded to death.

so bottom line, you have to be cautious about *anybody* at the table who is short stacked, because they are going to make it expensive to play. and you should not feel that their all-in on the flop means they connected with anything better than bottom pair. call them down.

ChezJ

You're right that anyone shortstacked can move... and they should... but a tilted short stack is MUCH more prone to making rash moves. That's why I call it "Sudden."

I see this happening a lot in SnG's when the person loses about 50% of there chips in the first levels. They got plenty to play with still, but often will go all-in with small pockets, or they will tilt and go all in with middle pair and such. This is a lot different when the blinds are 1/5th their stack though.

In addition to sudden short stack syndrome there is another syndrome among the larger stacks. I call it the "short stack feeding frenzy syndrome" It involves larger stacks calling huge raises or all-ins from short stacks when the larger stacks have crappy hands. Usually syndroms arn't contageous but this one is. Sometimes players that would otherwise fold end up raising and calling large bets from each other with hands like K9.

short stack feeding frenzy syndrome"

I like to call it King kong mentality and it is my favorite opponent in poker. When I get a good hand and raise his blind I know that he might not only call but raise me considering that i mean nothing relative to his immensely large stack. These oppoents allow for easy double ups and can easily be exploited for all of there chips.


As far as the tilted short stack reffered to in your post as

3s Syndrome

should be given some time to calm down. I have gotten hands that I would love to limp in with K10s,KJ,QJ etc. but when i know there is a tilted short stack I fold. Heres why...

It might just happen that a player who lost a big hand fires away with a big hand like AA,KK,AK or QQ wanting a call because they know that you think there on tilt. IT is a classic maneuver in which many people bite upon.
The only exception would be early in the tourney that you might want to contest a tilted short stack in which you consider to be a bad player. (It is more then likely they do have crap). Yet, make sure you can handle a loss. I advise that if your late in a sng or mtt to not take the chance(atleast for high buyins). The players survived a good portion of the field and most likely have something semi decent to push there chips in.

That being said, more marginal hands like a KQ might be worth a call, because he could be shoving with anything... and your Massive hands... They SKYROCKET in value here.

KQ is a hand I want to see the flop with not call an all in preflop! Think if they have Ax or pocket pair why risk your chips on a coin flip unless you need to. Put your chips in the pot when you are favored. Find a better time.

Originally Posted by loanhorse

It might just happen that a player who lost a big hand fires away with a big hand like AA,KK,AK or QQ wanting a call because they know that you think there on tilt. IT is a classic maneuver in which many people bite upon.

I love when a monster pocket follows a tough beat. Love it! I'll even chat something obvious, like XXXX, or a$$, to add to the illusion.