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[holman3rd]

I continue to work on my short-handed game, but ran into some difficulty in a 1-table SNG the other night. It was down to 3 players and we were all pretty much equal stacked. Our stacks were roughly 20-25x the BB. The was a Level 2 step on Party, so only the first 2 spots won seats in the Level 3 tourney. I ran into a problem almost every time I was the SB and the button had folded to me. The player on my left (BB) was very aggressive. If I limped, he raised. If I raised, he either re-raised big or folded. He never just checked to see a flop.One strategy might be to wait for a strong starting hand and then trap him. But, since this was a tourney, I couldn't really just sit there and wait. Also, if i folded hand after hand, then decided to play a hand, i got the sense that this player was a "thinker" and would sense a trap.On the other hand, I could just raise every hand. But, as I said, this player was very aggressive and wasn't afraid to play back at me. If I just called every hand, I knew he was raise me everytime and then back off if I re-raised him (if he was weak).Finally, the other player (the one on the button in these situations) seemed very weak tight, and it almost appeared as if he was just sitting back waiting for me and the BB to fight it out.Sorry if I'm not articulating this situation very well. I was appreciate your thoughts.

[Absolute]

My immediate reaction here would be to smooth-call a very strong hand, and then let him raise you as he was doing every time. By doing so, you are trapping him while he thinks he has you trapped. Even a re-raise after his raise would steal the pot, but I am guessing he is going to bet whatever flop comes if you smooth call. As for the person on your right, it sounds like you need to take on the approach of the aggressive player more with him, force his blinds from him, and let him get frustrated with the lack of flops he is seeing, and when the time is right, move in.