Bullies are players who love using a large stack to push people around. They enjoy the thrill of a large pot and have no problems with a pure gamble on a showdown. Like any ultra aggressive player, they will experience rapid swings in their holdings. Cards are only of passing interest and you'll find bullies contest a very high number of pots. Worst of all, they'll probably take your money and have you crying foul! While playing against a bully can be nerve-wracking, you will find that with the right approach you can consistently defeat this strategy.

A Bully's Style

Bullies like to raise on every round of betting, and only fold a very limited selection of hands. Bluffs rarely work as the bully will just raise those as well. They can be found at no limit and pot limit tables. Whereas an aggressive strategy has merits, bullies will find their style to be extremely limiting.

Of primary interest is that bullies play far too many hands. In fact they play 40%, 50% or even 60% plus hands. Even when they don't make the draw, or when the table shows scare cards, they bet and raise. This makes it rather difficult to determine what cards they have. This complete obscurity is their primary advantage.

Without knowing their cards, it is difficult to determine what hand would beat them. This makes expected value calculations a bit unusual. Any player facing a bully is forced to calculate as though their opponent has a completely random set of cards. Such odds can be calculated, but you must become accustomed to it or risk playing far tighter than needed.

Bullies come to the table with a large stack. It can't be a limit table, and is more likely no limit than pot limit. They can't really work any other way. By making pot size and larger bets on a constant basis, the pot odds always seem poor, except for the rare monster flop in hold'em and omaha. Furthermore, the implied odds of any drawing hand will tend be bleak as well. A bully forces these terrible odds on other players in order to have them fold their hand.

Against cowards and inattentive tight players this strategy works rather well. The cowards will tend to fold decent hands and thus rarely get a chance to see the showdown. A multi-tabling player may similarly not notice what the bully is doing. This causes one to interpret raises incorrectly and also to fold decent hands. To the chagrin of the other players this rather simple strategy can appear to work.

Take a stand

Playing weak hands is the bully's only real weakness. They will also play out of position a lot, but since they play so often, that's really just incidental. Bullies don't like to fold, thus beating them almost always means a showdown. With continued bets on each street, this also means large pots.

You should only enter such a contest when your initial hand has a premium value. The game must also become a heads-up match. Having a third player is dangerous. The bully's bets will mask a lot of information needed for two non-bullies to play against each other. In this sense your position as a challenger is at least relevant for the first round of betting, just to ensure you aren't betting into a multi-way pot.

That strong initial hand will also need to improve immediately. Since the pot odds are always going to be poor, a drawing hand will never be worthwhile and low valued hands will simply be too risky. How much improvement depends a lot on the game and the stack of the contestant. In hold'em, top pair top kicker might be enough, though it will also result in many losses. It will always require a lot of courage; the bully wants his opponents to fold and thus tries to offer unfavourable pot odds.

Waiting for those certain monsters will also fail. A player waiting too long will lose a significant amount from pre-flop calls. That rare monster hand will win, but it simply won't recover enough chips. This means you have to play more hands than you may normally be comfortable playing.

Given that the bully will always bet, a player with a possibly winning hand need only call to showdown and hope it works. Raising on marginal hands is not recommended since it only increases the stakes and not the chance of winning. If you wish to take on a bully you will need to consider your own position and to focus on the strength of your own cards.

The Selective Bully

Given that bullies ultimately lose their money to tight players, it is only natural that some of them start to adjust their strategy. A common adjustment, and a reasonable one, is that of player selection. The bully knows that their strategy doesn't work against really tight brave players and so chooses simply to stop playing them.

Anytime the bully is up against such a player they change their style, checking and folding rather than betting and raising. In essence they end up playing like a coward to these people. There are still however many other players at the table whom they can exploit.