There's 2 hands below. Both w/ near-nuts starters HU against 2 loose short stacks at the same table. I'll re-post them separately if I'm out of line, but I'd like your input on sizing and strategy as playing short stacks implies commitment so the hands have that in common.

H1


MP: Villainess ~57bb. 30's Asian woman. Sat down ~2 orbits ago w/Villain. Don't remember specific showdowns at the moment, but had her pegged as the type to want to buy every pot she's in. PF either raises 5x+ or limps. Small sample size, but around 55/35 so far. She'd led out flops for nearly pot-sized bets OOP multi-way. Donked & c-bet most of the flops I'd seen her in. She committed around 2/5 of her stack only to fold on later streets a few times. Haven't seen a solid showdown I remember. I know it's only been 2 orbits, but I have a strong hunch she's spewing trying to bully the table.

MP2: Villain ~160bb. Friends w/ villainess. Same age/race. Joked about how she probably lead out one of those flops w/ OESD. Texture had 2 face cards.

HJ: ~50bb Random reg fishing. Has been at table w/ me for a while.

CO: Hero ~140bb. Haven't played a hand yet that the newcomers saw. (maybe a bb..?) Rest of table sees me as nitty pf, aggressive post. Have gotten $20+ pf to go HU/3way ~40% 60% folds. $15-18 has gotten 4+ consistently.

folds, MP min raises $6 (1st time she'd done this), MP2 calls, HJ calls, Hero QQ 3! $30 (seems low in retrospect, or ok?), folds to MP who calls, rest fold.

Flop $71 after rake.

AJ7r

V (~$140 behind) leads out for $40. Hero? It's hard for me to find a fold vs. this player. People who'd lay this down, share your thoughts. For any who think we're ahead, what would be your plan? Calling, we enter the T w/SPR of 2/3. Should we just flat & call anything after? Is AI borderline spew if we think we're ahead? Any chance lower PP, Jx,& KQ/T call? Could an AI fold out weak A or KK?


H2

EP short-stack limps, folds to Villainess in HJ limps ~33bb this time, Villain ~167bb limps,

BTN 33bb, limps. New to table, but not to me. Type of guy who'll sit down & waste 5 too many $100 min-buys playing lotto. maybe 50/1 pf. Semi-aggro/sticky post flop. OK at hand reading. Not sure if he remembers me or sees me as an unknown. Likely to call pf 2bet w/ 22+, J7o+ , suited connectors/gappers.

SB, Hero, 167bb, AK raises $27, folds to BTN who calls.

Flop: $60 after rake.

953

SPR 1.22, Hero? Any c-bet commits us, & a check can lead to us being pushed off the best hand. Thoughts on planning..? Is it possible to make more open shoving? Will he fold enough enough times to show profit in the cases we're called & beaten?

H1: certainly calling flop if she bet and gave up on turn before. Probably folding almost any turn if she keeps barrelling, which may be a mistake vs this player.
Pre i'd make it like 35, but whatever.

H2: pre is fine, although i couldn't fault you for going bigger. Shove flop now. Vs a 50% preflop range we are a solid favorite on that flop, we can get called by the Ah/Kh/Qh and we can get him to fold hands with decent equity.

Would it not be best to fold flop then?

H1: Without a read on villain this is a difficult situation. There are villains I fold this flop, ones I call down and ones I raise now. It is entirely villain dependent. The min raise has a decent chance of being a pair but villain lead into an ace high flop after calling a raise pre. All in might fold some hand that beat hero but it's really uncertain.

I like the call flop and give up on turn if villain continues, represent AK on the flop and see what villain does. If you think villain is aggressively bluffy and will continue with air then decide now if you want to call down or fold. Absent any information I would lean fold because of the ace high board, which should be minimizing villain's bluffs.

H2: Preflop probably should be a bit bigger. A flop shove is more bluff then value. When your called you are mostly going to be slightly ahead to crushed but you should be able to fold out a lot of hands that have one heart and decent equity that are priced in if they knew you didn't have any hearts. It ends up being a judgement call on how sticky villain will be, if he stays with single hearts that might be crushed then you need to give up but otherwise he should be folding enough of his range that shoving is +EV.

I know I only have 2 orbits on V in hand 1, but from I did write about her, are you saying that's still not enough to try to categorize her as one who'd donk wide?

If she has been donking and trying to buy pots I'm already putting her in that category, but I'm not sure I would be convinced enough to stack off on an ace high flop. A 3 bet preflop and the ace high flop would be enough to get most donks to slow down.

Hand 1. Agreed it's hard to fold to this player if she's got a habit of donking out everytime. Definitely smooth call OTF. Revaluate OTT. You mentioned her giving up in later streets - so probably fold to barrel.

Hand 2. He's so short and there's a great chance you are ahead. c/call.