This player had stolen my blinds the first time around, both of them. It folds to him in the sb. He's seeing about 20-% of flops but raising about 16% of them. I decide to make a stand. This is only my second orbit on the table.

Party Poker 2/4 Hold'em (8 handed)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , .
6 folds, SB raises, Hero calls.

Flop: (4 SB) , , (2 players)
SB bets, Hero raises, SB 3-bets, Hero calls.

Turn: (5 BB) (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, SB raises, Hero calls.

River: (9 BB) (2 players)
SB bets, Hero raises, SB folds.

Final Pot: 12 BB

Results in white below:
Hero has 2d 3d (two pair, threes and twos).
Outcome: Hero wins 12 BB.

After this hand, i type in the chat box, "don't f with my blinds". The next two rounds it happens to put him in a steal situation both times and he folds them instead of raising. i guess he got my message. How do you think I played this? Should I have 3 bet preflop if I wanted to play back? Was this reckless, a good read or both?

Bri,

I think that, if I decide to take a stand, I 3-bet preflop; showing him that you'll occasionally call isn't enough, you need to show him he's risking more than just 1.5 small bets any time he tries to steal from the SB.

Post-flop, whether you called or 3-bet, I think you have to go the showdown once you've paired up, albeit a small pair . If he lets you take the lead, you keep it; otherwise, I'd back down and just play to get to the showdown cheaply. My main concern is your river raise. To me, his bet is almost always either gonna be the straight or a busted draw, so raising with bottom two seems to be negative EV; if he missed a draw, he'll fold, and if he made the straight, he'll at least call.

As far as "reckless or a good read," I'd say definitely a good move; you can't consistantly let yourself be run over in the blinds, nor can you afford to wait for a strong hand to defend with; it's certainly ballsy to defend with the worst heads-up hand in poker, but that doesn't really matter, because at this point, you're playing the man more than the cards.

-TW

The turn check-raise after he 3-bet the flop is pretty suspicious -- I would have considered 3-betting there.