Sequence of hands 3 handed leading to exit

[GaF]

I'm not happy with the sequence leading to my exit on Betfred tonight. The lobby is here (I know it gives the result, but it also shows the tournament structure) The standard in the tourney was generally poor, but from the last 10 down I felt it really changed. Up to the bubble, we were extremely slow losing players - not so much because players were scared of the bubble, but more because no-one was prepared to put chips in to take on the short stacks. I respected my two opponents and felt that they were pushing me around a bit. I'd started 3 handed level(ish) on chips with Jardemyren (25K each)and with a little less than half the chips of cecka1 (59k). This is the hand where I feel that the sequence really started - although it doesnt show it, Jeremyen966 in this first hand showed a bluff - I think he had something like Q7o (so an inside straight draw). I had felt cecka1 had been at it more than Jarde, and by showing the bluff, Jarde was saying to cecka "I know what you are up to and I can play that game too" Seeing that bluff made my play in the next hand easier - it was probably a reraise shove anyway? However the shown bluff last hand, in my mind, made the shove easier. We raced and my marginally better hand held up. :) So now the dynamic of the tournament changes totally for me. For the first time, I'm not the short stack. I'm the mid stack with 37k. The short stack with 16k plays before me. The large stack with 56k plays after me. It's a bad situation. From what I've seen I'm expecting the big stack to pressure me and push me around relentlessly every hand. I'm expecting the short stack to do the same. The prize distribution for top 3 is $70, $115 and $168. Moving up 1 spot wins me $45 extra. Moving up 2 spots (winning it) will win me another$53. At the time I was thinking that I didn't want to just level up, but I thought I would take advantage of their loose aggression if I had the chance to put myself in a dominant tournament winning position. Looking back at it now, I think that was wrong - I should have tried to ladder up. As I recall, my gameplan at this stage was to sit tight for a couple of hands to double check that they were both looking like playing with loose aggression (and maybe ladder up), but to then try and take advantage by 3 betting fairly light. This next hand I bet folded from the small blind. My raise size was an error (momentary lack of concentration) - my standard raise from the button had been 4000 (2.5xBB), but from the SB I would have preferred a slightly larger raise - maybe 4800 (3xBB). This might sound strange, but I dont mind bet folding here (and would "happily" invest 8k-12k in doing it 2 or 3 times) - it is the first piece of evidence for me that the big stack is playing the way I'd expect. It also starts to establish a dynamic whereby he feels he can raise me and push me off of my raises - I want him to be re-raising me light because I think he's going to double me up soon when I have a mid-strong hand. Next hand I make my standard raise from the button with A4s of 2.5xBB. The big stack reraises and the short stack folds. What now? If I call, we're both committed. If I raise, surely he must call with any 2. It's either play for my tournament here or fold? Although A4s is a strong hand 3 handed, is it a hand you want to play for your tournament with? Especially when there's a shorter stack than you? So I fold. Again, like the last hand, I'm not too bothered to have bet folded - I had leverage - I invested 4k for the chance to play a 60k+ pot. I can bet fold a few times quite happily like that so long as I maintain my leverage. Even though it's as I expected, and even though I feel I had good leverage, I think folding the two hands did impact me emotionally and I think I started to become a bit frustrated by it. The big stack folded the next hand, the short stack completed and I let us see a flop. Shortie checks into me and I bet to take the pot down. Now we come to what was the final hand. Short stack folds and in the small blind, I deliberately put in the same "error" bet that I did from my last small blind deciding that if the big stack comes over the top again, then I will play my A6s against his random 2 cards. He did what I kindof wanted and I induced him to come over the top of me again. As planned I called. He had me crushed with a better Ace. So my questions I suppose: Was my A6s strong enough to want to induce the big stack to go all in with any two? (I think I know the answer to that, and it's "no" - A6s is probably ahead of his range, but probably not far ahead of most hands he could have?) Should I have been more cautious as the mid stack and "allowed" the big stack to push me around to see if I could ladder up before I tangled with him? How should I have played my Ax hands in the SB? 3 handed you cannot open fold them can you? If you know that the big stack is pushing you around, how do you respond? If I'm going to commit all of my chips anyway, should I just open shove? Maybe limp to control the pot size? (though I'm out of position post flop) Any other thoughts? What would you have played differently in this sequence?

[glceud]

Re: Sequence of hands 3 handed leading to exit

This next hand I bet folded from the small blind. My raise size was an error (momentary lack of concentration) - my standard raise from the button had been 4000 (2.5xBB), but from the SB I would have preferred a slightly larger raise - maybe 4800 (3xBB). This might sound strange, but I dont mind bet folding here (and would "happily" invest 8k-12k in doing it 2 or 3 times) - it is the first piece of evidence for me that the big stack is playing the way I'd expect. It also starts to establish a dynamic whereby he feels he can raise me and push me off of my raises - I want him to be re-raising me light because I think he's going to double me up soon when I have a mid-strong hand. Any other thoughts? What would you have played differently in this sequence?

I would definatley have called the reraise here with a view to shoving after the flop. You could even have chanced it re-re raising preflop.