If you see this kind of play I think it is pretty easy to counter. You continue three betting your super strong hands on most occassions but also just call every once in a while for deceptive value. You quit three betting with A9 and such all together but go ahead and call with it. That way you still retain some strength because you have position and might have a wide variety of hands (your sponge guy) that they will have to be scared of particularly when you raise them on the flop or turn with or without a hand. Most of the time time the hand is still only going to be max 3 handed and if the SB comes he may have well came along for a 3 bet anyway.

Good idea piers... I was definitely thinking that i wanted to incorporate the SPONGE strategy into my own game, at the risk of screwing up my wonerful PT numbers, just because i figured hey, if all the decent players find the sponge to be one of the most annoing players to play against, then i might as well try and pull off a spongey maneuver or two, particularly if an aggressive player tries to buy my button, etc.

There are a few adjustments i want to try to make to my game, but the problem is that i dont really want to start twaeking and tinkering at the 10-20 level because that could get pretty damn expensive, and i dont really want to do it another level like 5-10 or god forbid, 1/2, because by most accounts, the games are different there and what works there isnt always the same as what works in the 10s. At the same time, i find 1.5 BB/100 not to be a very respectable winrate in the 10 games--so as usual, i will continue to spout off ideas that might be decent, and play utterly out of accodrance with them, most likely.

ANd yes Bri, the fourbet with Ax is about the mizorliest play ever, except the one with KQ, which is....well, the misorliest play ever. One such mizor raised my BB when i had A8s, and i three bet and he four bet. The flop came raggedy with i think a jack, and I three bet him on the flop and kept on betting and he called me down and showed me A9o no pair/better kicker and took the pot...At which point i told him its just a damn good thing that i killed his mom already, because if she'd lived to see what a bad poker player he was, she'd have died of shame anyway. I then explained that i was sooted, and not exactly connected but still closer than he was, and thus i went from a significant dog to approximately a 422:6 favorite. So i am hoping maybe this had some effect on him, although i doubt it because he kept pounding away at my blinds, and i had 92o's just never held up.

In any case, yeah the four bet and the sponge-play i think are decent ones to use as supplements to a generally solid playing style--and i am going to try to incorporate them a bit.

Ya know, this is the only time I support weak-tightness. We all know that the way to beat a maniac is to isolate them, and beat them to death with your stronger hands.

But what about a table full of them?

The sponge idea is great. But just calling (showing 'weakness'), you keep the pot alive, and you maintain your favorable position on the nut case(s).