This guy was one of the tougher guys I've played, and that's saying a lot considering this is the lowest level HU SNG on Stars. Guy was classic TAG, very tight OOP, almost always folding or 3balling. In position he mixed up limping and raising, with an occasional fold.

Hand 1

Poker Stars $2.00+$0.20 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t10/t20 Blinds - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BTN/SB: t1460 73 BBs
Hero (BB): t1540 77 BBs

Pre Flop: (t30) Hero is BB with 3 3
BTN/SB raises to t60, Hero calls t40 This is the 3rd hand he's raised out of the first 12, so a call seems standard.

Flop: (t120) 6 9 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN/SB bets t80, Hero raises to t220, BTN/SB raises to t840 Obviously fold to the Cbet is standard this early, but I'm trying to work on picking off Cbets when I feel the flop has hit my range harder than my opponent's. Here I can call with SC's, pocket pairs, and broadways. I figure his raising range has a lot of broadways that missed, and less often low cards and pairs.

Hand 2

Poker Stars $2.00+$0.20 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t10/t20 Blinds - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BB: t1780 89 BBs
Hero (BTN/SB): t1220 61 BBs

Pre Flop: (t30) Hero is BTN/SB with A 5
Hero raises to t60, BB calls t40

Flop: (t120) 7 8 Q (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t80, BB raises to t400 Just showing he was capable of picking off Cbets (though it seems likely that he just hit hard)

Hand 3

Poker Stars $2.00+$0.20 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t15/t30 Blinds - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BTN/SB: t1830 61 BBs
Hero (BB): t1170 39 BBs

Pre Flop: (t45) Hero is BB with 9 9
BTN/SB raises to t90, Hero raises to t250, BTN/SB calls t160 Second hand I've 3bet him, first was 73c as a bluff about the 20th hand. This is the 31st hand of the match, he's raised probably around 40% on button.

Flop: (t500) A 7 8 (2 players)
Hero bets t270, BTN/SB raises to t1580 all in Pretty easy Cbet for me, guess not much I can do when he shoves over?


Hand 4


Poker Stars $2.00+$0.20 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t15/t30 Blinds - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BTN/SB: t2115 70.50 BBs
Hero (BB): t885 29.50 BBs

Pre Flop: (t45) Hero is BB with K J
BTN/SB raises to t90, Hero raises to t290, BTN/SB raises to t2115 all in The third hand I've 3bet him. I have 30 bb's, is this standard, or should I just be looking to shove?

I got eaten in most of the big pots; like I said I'm not sure if I got outplayed or just ran into his hands at the wront times. Any analysis appreciated.

Hand 1 looks okay, based on your range analysis. He just had a made hand that time. You can also check/call instead of check/raise bluffing and then stab on a later street (or even check it down) if the board remains ugly relative to his probable range and he shuts down.

Hand 2, I wouldn't cbet that texture against his OOP flatting range.

Hand 3 looks fine as played. You have other options pf, but what you did is acceptable vs him, unless your read of his style and capacities is way off.

Hand 4 looks pretty bad. Call pf > shove pf > than what you did. I'd base my pf decision on his raising frequency (and related tendencies.) Is he still being really nitty pf? I suspect so. In which case, I'd call pf and go from there. If he has for some reason started raising his BTN more actively, I might shove here sometimes. Because this is the sort of villain (based on your description) who I think we have decent fold equity against -- maybe he lays down A2-A6 to a shove. Whereas he's not the sort of loose tard who opens wide and will flatcall your huge 3bet to 290 with a weakish range and then have to check/fold a bunch of flops when you auto-shove postflop.