HU against super aggressive strategy

[Marlow]

Hello. What would you suggest doing as a defense against a player who constantly tries to steal your big blind in a HU situation? I mean literally every time.

Last night I was in that situation, and I would re-raise with my legit hands, and fold the garbage. But what about the hands that you would consider to be borderline? I don't like re-raising with these (not ALL the time, anyway), but I was uneasy calling with them, too. And after folding BB after BB, I started to worry that I was really hemmoraging.

Does anyone here have good guidelines for playing against super-aggressive players HU?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Marlow /images/graemlins/spade.gif /images/graemlins/diamond.gif /images/graemlins/club.gif /images/graemlins/heart.gif

[bighomage]

I would re-raise about a quarter of the time and call most of the rest. Then I'd try some big bets on the flop and see how he responds to that.

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
Hello. What would you suggest doing as a defense against a player who constantly tries to steal your big blind in a HU situation? I mean literally every time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Read the SH section of HPFAP.

[fnord_too]

In HPfAP this exact point is addressed. You have to loosen up considerably. I think the recomendation is seeing at least 60% of the flops in the BB (I don't recall exactly). Unforutunately, I think that hyper aggressive play is not too far from optimal HU. Trying to steal everytime is too much I think, but I could be wrong. If you are folding your BB more than 2/3 of the time though, you will eventually loose everything if he just raises and folds to any further bets. Add in the times he has a hand strong enough to play further and you can see why you need to defend much more.

[Kaz The Original]

Call alot more hands and check raise every hand you hit on the turn.

That will send the fear of jebus into him.

[Marlow]

LOL

that's exactly what I'm shooting for!!! Not only is this a starting hand problem, but a "how to best punish him post-flop" problem.

Thanks for your reply...

Marlow /images/graemlins/spade.gif /images/graemlins/diamond.gif /images/graemlins/club.gif /images/graemlins/heart.gif

[Kaz The Original]

Here are a few examples of heads up play vs aggressive players that will respect (not neccessary fold to but slow down when faced with fire).

You have J10o. He raises, you call.

Flop comes 784. He bets, you raise.
Turn comes x, he checks, you check.

78 looks like nothing on the flop right? Wrong! You infact have likely 10 outs! As many as a flush draw. Vs a crazy lag a J, a 10, and definitely a 9 will be good. Raise for a free card on the turn.

Hero has J10 again. Villian bets, flop comes J52.
Villian bets, hero calls.
Turn = random card
Villian bets, hero raises.

Cha Ching! Of course can be done out of position with the check raise. This has the added advantage of allowing you to play draws cheaper out of position if you hit him a few times with the check raise. Mix it up and check raise the flop as well so he doesn't just bet flop check through turn.

These players are everywhere... and fairly easy to beat.

As for hands to fold : Watch out for high card no kicker... K2, Q2 etc. And dont forget to bet out sometimes so he can never be sure!

[tripdad]

try this. 5/10 SH. offender is an auto-raisor when folded to him. unfortunately, he is on my right. unfortunately, this was an unusually tight table.

i am BB w/J /images/graemlins/diamond.gif3 /images/graemlins/club.gif. action folded to SB, who raises. i call.

flop(2BB): K /images/graemlins/spade.gifQ /images/graemlins/diamond.gif5 /images/graemlins/club.gif

SB bets. i call.

turn(3BB): 8 /images/graemlins/club.gif

SB bets. i raise. SB folds.

i show my J high...he never steals the rest of our session.

cheers!

[Charon]

[ QUOTE ]
You have J10o. He raises, you call.

Flop comes 784. He bets, you raise.
Turn comes x, he checks, you check.


[/ QUOTE ]

Bleh. bet the turn. good raise on the flop though, but he didn't 3-bet you. so you often win it on the turn if you bet. a check leaves you vulnarable to a steal on the river.

[ QUOTE ]
Hero has J10 again. Villian bets, flop comes J52.
Villian bets, hero calls.
Turn = random card
Villian bets, hero raises.


[/ QUOTE ]

if he's really overaggro, raising the flop cant be too wrong; youll likely get 3-bet by a 5 or pp between J and 5, allowing you to still raise the turn. if he's somewhat of a reader he'll let go on any bad hand that could have called you down (like A high, or a third or low pair). also against an overaggro you'll be raising the flop a lot. cover that up. raising the turn is rather obvious. and what will you do if an overcard to a j hits?