jwvdcw
09-08-2004, 12:06 PM
I find that I'm pretty much a 50/50 winner when it gets down to heads up at these. I'd like to improve on that. I think that I am able to win about 50% of them simply because I am usually very aggressive. However, I don't think I have a lot of skill at them. Really, though, its hard with the huge blinds to outplay your opponent. It seems to me that whomever gets the better cards will win, and theres not a lot that you can do about it.
Heres the deal: Theres 10,000 chips in play, so for simplicity's sake, lets say its 5000 chips per player. And the blinds are usually at 300/600 by that time. The blinds don't go up any more than this. What would your strategy be for this situation?
Heres my general strategy:
I am usually very aggressive preflop, especially if I'm shortstacked. If I have 3000 or less chips, I'll push with any ace, any pair, any high suited connectors(T-J or bigger), and any K-x where x is higher than 9. I'll also generally be rather aggressive like this if he is shortstacked as well because I figure that hes gonna be aggressive and the only way to counter this is to beat him to the punch. If we are even in chips, I'm willing to see flops on a lot of hands.
Post flop, I will occassionally bluff small amounts if he checks to me or if I'm first to act and theres a pair on the board. I'll usually back off pretty quickly against aggression if I have anything less than top pair, although I'm willing to semi-bluff all in on draws if I feel like hes a tight player.
If I flop top pair/good kicker or top pair/good flush or straight draw, I may check to try to trap, but usually I'll just bet out good hands so that I can also bluff at times. I'm not big on getting fancy, and I'll usually just bet out my hands.
My frusteration is this: I'm a good tourney player, but I feel like I'm very average at heads up play. I'm willing to improve, but it seems hard to outplay people when one round of blinds takes up nearly 1/5 of the average stack(blinds are 300/600, average stack is 5000 at this point). Any advice is greatly appriciated.
Heres the deal: Theres 10,000 chips in play, so for simplicity's sake, lets say its 5000 chips per player. And the blinds are usually at 300/600 by that time. The blinds don't go up any more than this. What would your strategy be for this situation?
Heres my general strategy:
I am usually very aggressive preflop, especially if I'm shortstacked. If I have 3000 or less chips, I'll push with any ace, any pair, any high suited connectors(T-J or bigger), and any K-x where x is higher than 9. I'll also generally be rather aggressive like this if he is shortstacked as well because I figure that hes gonna be aggressive and the only way to counter this is to beat him to the punch. If we are even in chips, I'm willing to see flops on a lot of hands.
Post flop, I will occassionally bluff small amounts if he checks to me or if I'm first to act and theres a pair on the board. I'll usually back off pretty quickly against aggression if I have anything less than top pair, although I'm willing to semi-bluff all in on draws if I feel like hes a tight player.
If I flop top pair/good kicker or top pair/good flush or straight draw, I may check to try to trap, but usually I'll just bet out good hands so that I can also bluff at times. I'm not big on getting fancy, and I'll usually just bet out my hands.
My frusteration is this: I'm a good tourney player, but I feel like I'm very average at heads up play. I'm willing to improve, but it seems hard to outplay people when one round of blinds takes up nearly 1/5 of the average stack(blinds are 300/600, average stack is 5000 at this point). Any advice is greatly appriciated.