$2/4 on UB, 4-handed.
Player A is sitting to my right and is very LAG. He must raise at least once in every hand, but he can lay down a hand on later streets if it is obvious that he is losing.
Player B is to my left and is straightforward, but a bit too tight.
Player C is a complete calling station, and will only raise when he has a monster on the river. He does some hand selection preflop and will not play total garbage for a raise, but once he's in he stays in.

Due to the LAG, most pots are of decent size, and due to the calling station, most hands go to the river.

My basic strategy was to play hands like tptk or better fast and try to isolate the LAG player, unless the calling station was in. The problem was that I had a hard time winning at showdown; most hands that are usually decent for shorthanded, such as top pair, did not hold up often enough to compensate for the times they didn't. Stealing pots was virtually impossible, so I was paying my share of blinds as well.

Example hands: I'm SB with ATo. B limps, LAG raises, I reraise in an attempt to isolate LAG, BB folds, both call. Flop is T95 with two spades. Check, check, bet, so I checkraise, but both call. Turn is a 4, no spade. I bet, both call. River is another 9. I check, calling station bets, LAG calls, I fold, and calling station wins with a 9.

Or: I have AQ on the button. LAG raises, I reraise, fold, fold, call. Flop is QT6r. Lag checks, I bet, lag raises, I reraise, lag caps, I calll. Turn is a 9. Lag bets, I call. River is another Q. Lag bets, I call. Lag shows Q9 for the boat.

My problem was definitely not in the starting hands, since I got more than my share of high pairs. The problem was simply that one pair was usually not enough at showdown.

So, what's the right strategy for this type of game? I can't wait forever for monsters, or I'll be eaten by the blinds. Should I try to keep pots as small as possible and only build pots when I have a monster? Should I shift focus from hands with high-card value to drawing-type hands, since the pots are sizable and hands go to showdown? I find it much harder to exploit a calling station shorthanded than at a full ring game, and I'd like some advice on how to deal with it.

Pieter

Pieter:

These games are the only ones i play in (short handed games). I prefer 4 handed to the six i usually sit in too- fast and furious games those are.

It sounds like your strategy was probably pretty close to the proper one...The only problem is that TPTK in a game like that is a monster, and when it loses, it hurts- Ive been runnin that way too recently, and theres not alot yo do about it.

One thing you can do in a situation like that, if you are afraid of your hands getting drawn out on, is dont be afraid to raise the turn with a decent TP hand...If you got a LAG on the left and a station on the right, if you smooth call the LAGs flop bet with a TP hand, you can probably get the station out on the turn with a raise when the LAG bets again...Its pretty handy to have that arrangement that you had.

Unfortunately, when it comes to blinds, having a LAG to your left and a station to your right is pretty much not the optimal place to be. Stations never let you steal-they call your raise, and call the flop pretty much always, and you never know where you are at in a hand...and LAGs of course, come after your blinds with 84o, which is also annoying.

Anyways if you want to read my short handed with and wisdom theres a thread in the SH section "Shart handed 6 max, plan of attack". I wrote that stuff for 6handed tables, but the same general stuff applies...

But all else aside, the fact is that if one pair is not enough at showdown in a four handed game, then you are just runnin bad, and theres not a hell of a lot you can do about it, except wait for your bad streak to end.

When i played last night, thats exactly how i was running...My overpairs were losing to rivered aces, my KK lost to Q4 soooooted, I flopped a flush, and someone with the ace rivered me, everytime i got PPs under Js, the flop would come AQx and id get bet into, and i mustve had AJ-AK a hundred times, and everytime the board would come 789suited, none of mine. Thats just how it goes sometimes..

Problem is in a shorthanded game, it hurts alot worse to run bad than it does in a full game.