the 'bully'

[naturaltan]

I play 5.5 SnGs on Pokerstars. My usual final table tactic is to be what I always viewed as a bully. Last night, one of the three final table characters made mention that I was a bully. How did that come about? I raise each and every hand 3X until someone plays back at me. Last night it took more than 6 hands before either one of them played back. I folded when they did. The next hand I started again with AQ. I got raised and raise the one fellow allin - he had AJ. I had only a 1000 left after calling him. On the turn, he found a J and that held.

This bully method works well at this level. Just wondering, should I try and back up when I get a decent hand and play it? When I'm 'bullying' the table, what I have doesn't even matter until someone plays back at me. When they do, I slow down a bit and then back to bullying. What are you thoughts on this? If no one plays back at you, I'm collecting the blinds on a consistent basis.

[GatorJH]

the only problem with this as any smart opponent will start pushing back with just about any two cards, which makes it hard to get a read on their hand.

How does your play change when they start pushing back?

[naturaltan]

Interesting point ... once they push back and I don't have a hand, I do fold and then slow down for a few hands and then get right back on the bully track. I have found that very few will play back again until they have a good hand (AJ AQ +). In my very limited 5.5 experience, I have only run into one opponent who won't fold time after time after time. That one time I had to adjust the hands I'd raise with. I had one opponent whom I was able to raise him right out of the game until he had to call because of the blind limits.

Should I maybe play a few hands instead of just 'taking' the blinds? To me, it is very strange to let someone steal your blinds hand after hand when it's only the two of you. One must know that the hands are not that good all the time.