Heads-up pushing standards

[edge]

Hypothetical situation, but one that is fairly common for me.

Heads-up, blinds are 400/800 ante 50, both players have around 6500 chips. You're in the button/SB position, and you get dealt Q5s. Push, fold, or something else?

[adanthar]

With 9K/4K chips, I'll raise. With 3K/10K, I'll all in. At 6500 apiece, giving up the blinds in a marginal situation won't kill me.

I never push unless shortstacked. I consider myself a good NL HU tournament player, my raising standards are just high enough for resteals not to work on me, and generally, I like to be all in as a 3:2 favorite (big card, small card against 2 cards in the middle). If my opponent is a LAG, which 90% of them tend to be HU, he will give me plenty of chances to make that happen.

[edge]

What about a hand like K8o, or A5o? I'm just asking because I push with all three hands (all above 50% against a random hand), and I've won 2 of the last 11 times I've been heads-up, and at least half the time, I have the chip lead going into it. My ROI is still positive over that stretch, but I could have made a lot more money with a few more wins.

In this situation, both players are under 10 BB stacks, so I think it's really push or fold time.

[adanthar]

Those are both raises and push autocalls for me. Too many people resteal with low kings and other trash HU.

[BrettK]

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What about a hand like K8o, or A5o? I'm just asking because I push with all three hands (all above 50% against a random hand)

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I may have misunderstood, but if the fact that a hand is better than 50% against a random hand is the reason that you're pushing, it may be the minor leak you're looking for. It's not how a hand will do against a random hand that matters as much as it is how a hand will do against the range of hands that your opponent will call with.

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In this situation, both players are under 10 BB stacks, so I think it's really push or fold time.

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Agreed.