Short-Handed in NL Hold'em - Best Strategy to Adopt?

[Scotch]

I started playing poker about three months ago. With the exception of one live game, I tend to play low-stake NL Hold'em on the internet both tournaments and cash games.

Recently, I have done well in single-table tournaments on Paradise and expect to be in-the-money around 1 game in every 2 or 3. Usually these games commence with a flurry of betting as players gamble the majority of their chips with less than optimum hands, hoping to get lucky with the board. I try to stay out of these early battles without a premium hand. As the tournament progresses, I drop my standards gradually and seem to come out quite well. However, in several cases, I have been down to the final two and feel that I have completely lost control of the game. I have no idea what cards to play, whether to raise and whether to call. I have won a number of single-table games but cannot help thinking that in the majority of these cases, I have been lucky rather than clever - I may as well have called, raised and folded randomly. Can any of the more seasoned players out there give me a few pointers to strengthen my end-game?

Advice much appreciated.

Scotch

[exist]

i'm not much of a no-limit player, but i suggest you read "Tournament Poker For Advanced Players" by David Sklansky for tournament specific advice. for material focused on no-limit poker (rather than tourneys) read "Pot Limit and No Limit Poker" by Bob Ciaffone and Stewart Reuben. also "How Good is Your Pot Limit Holdem?" by Stewart Reuben has many useful points since no limit and pot limit are quite similar in many situations.

in addition, try posting some hands that you have trouble with in the tournament sections of 2+2.

[ethan]

TPFAP has some good information, but most of what I think that book gives to people is the "gap concept". There's been plenty of discussion of this on these forums, I'd suggest searching and reading up on it. Basically, it says you need a better hand to call a raise than to make one. This has a lot of implications. Particularly as a newer player, the book's probably still worth your time. More experienced players seem to get less from this one than they do from some other 2+2 titles, because they've already discerned a fair bit of what it says.

PL&NL Poker is an excellent book...the most popular recommendation for someone wanting to improve their NL/PL game, but it's not particularly targeted at shorthanded play. I haven't spent much time with HGiYPLH, but I'm guessing it's not much aimed at heads-up play either.

Reading the 1-Table Tournament forums (and archives) and posting hands you're having trouble with is really the way to go. You may even want to post an entire heads-up battle looking for comments on the whole thing.

Also, anyone playing low-limit SNGs would probably benefit from reading this thread (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=602767&page=2&view=collap sed&sb=5&o=14&fpart=all&vc=1).

[Scotch]

Thanks for the recommendation. Bought 'Pot Limit and No Limit' today on Amazon.

Thanks again.

[Dov]

Heads up is all about high cards. They will often win, even unimproved.

That said, it is important to consider the size of the blinds relative to your stack. Usually, by the end of a tournament, the blinds are so high that there really isn't much you can do but get lucky.

You can, and should learn the range of hands that do well all in. Also remember that the big stack has a huge advantage, especially if your opponent is playing too tightly.

Aggression is the key to HU play. Just keep pounding and assume your big cards (or pair) are good until you are shown otherwise.

Dov