Heads up vs. hyper aggressive opponents

[LokiV]

So I've taken a liking to the heads up low limit matches offered on Pokerstars lately...

Say anywhere from the $5-20 limit I'll often run into Timmy the Hyper Bettor who I can't make heads or tails of. When I finally expose him by calling down a hand I'll see he raised me a hell of a stack on 4/9 offsuit, kept running with it and inevitably lost to my top pair.

That's cool and all but I feel like I'm doing these matches incorrectly. When I try to run right back over them, they'll sometimes just leap right back over the top of me all in and I'll fold it down. I will take a big hand eventually, be 2:1 then slowly he'll work me a bit back down and maybe even make me fold a probable winner with an all in. Then it'll repeat and I'll keep taking a chunk, then give it back slowly.

I'm talking HYPER AGGRESSIVE, throwing 500 chips into a pot of 80 or coming back over my 40-60 raise with 500 again at the river.

Can anyone give me some tips or an optimal strategy here? I win the majority of these (thanks for calling my all in w/ ace/3!), but I feel I could be doing better.

Thanks guys.

[golden goose]

ON pokerstars you get 1500 chips and the blinds start 10-20. Thats 75 big bets. BEware of anyone that overbets the pot early. ASsume they are not a complete idiot, i know its hard but try to think of them as someone who knows what the're doing in heads up match.

The goal of someone who is doing this "responisbly" is to get you into the mindset that you apparnetly are in. The "I got to get this idiot" mindset.

IN heads up the "i got to get this idot" mindset is slowplaying every hand hoping you catch him on one of his large raises. Problem is he may actually have hand each time and is just making non-standard rasies to throw you off. while he's raiseing with probable made or semi-made hands you might be constantly checking YOUR good hands and winding up with small pots. Bet when your confident with your hand and if he really is a maniac bluffing you'll catch him sooner or later.

I guess the sum of this ramble is dont focus on catching the maniac in a bluff so much. Focus on YOUR cards. Thats the only way ive ever really had good luck. THe other option is to move up to the 50$ buy-in if you can avoid it. there are signifcantly less maniacs there.

[LokiV]

You misunderstood me... they really ARE idiots. I win when eventually I get a great hand and go all in and they call and show me ace/2 or king/6.... EVERY. TIME. This is not a thread about playing tricky people, I have the ability to distinguish them.

It's waiting for that hand that is maybe not the best.

I am not trying to catch him. I'm trying to figure out how to not slide so many chips back at him while waiting... just fold into infinity and only play hands I'll take to the finish?



ALSO NOTE THIS IS NOT BAD. I LOVE THESE PEOPLE. Every time they show me they were betting $200 each round on a gutshot draw to hit... it's a thing of pure beauty and I am thankful.

[sabre170]

You are playing well. These are my favorite opponents.

Let's say your opponent is pushing 2 out of 3 hands, over the last 9 hands. You can be sure his raise/push standards are, shall we say, more lax than yours or mine.

What he doesn't understand is that the blinds are small compared to the stacks starting out.

Let him "steal" your blind 10, 15, 20 times. He will convince himself you are weak tight. Call his all-in with QQ, KK, AA, or AKs.

You only have to win the first all-in you call to take control of the match.

Be patient. Once you have 3/4ths of the chips or more, the rising blinds will apply pressure.

I have had guys start going all-in every hand when the BB was still 20, 30, or 40! This gives you a lot of hands to select from, and a high confidence that he is pushing with any two!

Sabre170

[SixgunSam]

I'm not really sure what the problem is, if they are paying off your big hands. Just accept you're going to lose small pots along the way because you're smart enough not to turn it into a lottery.

Through level 3, the blinds are really low in comparison to your stack, so it wouldn't bother me to fold. I would let him get in the habbit of making big bets and me folding, then when I made something decent, I would play it really weak and get him to try to buy the pot. Players like this, you can set up by playing weak, maybe calling here and there and then folding when they really make a huge bet. It doesn't bother me to lose small pots and you should be prepared to "slide" some chips his way in the process. The secret against these players is being comfortable giving up hands when you're not so sure and letting them risk their chips all the time. If they win 5 small pots, you can double that with one key pot where they're trying to buy you out. I think losing some chips along the way is just part of the process.