Tom Bayes
02-22-2005, 01:27 PM
This is reposted from the Heads-up/Short-Handed forum-it didn't seem to fit in there, so I'll try here. I'm hoping to get input from experienced HU players, which I am not.
I have never played a HU tournament or SNG before, so all of my HU experience has come from the end of normal SNGs or (rarely) the end of multi-table tourneys. When I played Party 10+1 NLHE SNGs regularly (about a year ago), my modal finish was 2nd place, so obviously I wasn't finishing the job enough. I think I was way too tight-passive in short-handed and heads-up situation back then and vowed to try to be more aggressive because I know that's what it takes to be a good HU player. About a year and a half ago, I was HU in a MTT for my first time, got ran over and finished 2nd, and posted about it in the MTT forum. Some guy named Greg (Fossilman) told me "when in doubt, be aggressive".
Last night, I decided to enter the PokerStars World Cup Qualifier for my home state. This is a strictly HU tourney. There were 127 entrants, so since 2^7=128, it would take 7 matches to win the tournament and make your state's squad. One player (not me) received a first round bye.
I decided that I would almost never fold from the SB. I never min-raised but instead came in for a 3xBB about 75-80% of the time, limped occasionally with my best and worst hands. I defended the BB every time I was min-raised and often against 3x or 4x BB raises with a reasonable hand. I seldom checked the flop, but tried to win lots of pots without a showdown. When put to a big test, I'd pass unless I had the goods since I figured the less aggressive opponents were trying to trap me when they had a big hand. To those who play HU, what do you think about this? OK, too predictable? Obviously in a long match against a good player you'll have to "change gears".
I ended up winning 3 of my 4 matches and getting down to the final 16. My first two opponents were easy to push around-they folded a lot preflop and both let me build up a big chip lead. I had opponent #1 down to a few hundred chips, semi-bluffed with a flush draw, he had bigger flush draw, but I sucked out by pairing on the river. Opponent #2 was eliminated when I had A9. Flop came A55, he bet, I raised, he called, which worried me. Turn was a beautiful ace, I checked, he raised, I put him all-in, he went into the tank for most of his time bank and finally called. His 54 was no good.
The next two opponents were quite a bit better in that they didn't let me steal so many little pots and would play back. I got very lucky against opponent #3-I semi-bluffed all-in with an OESD, got called by pocket aces, but caught my straight to take the lead. I then got a huge run of cards to win.
Opponent #4 was also pretty good. I got all-in preflop with JJ against A5s. I was through to the final 8 if I win this hand, but the ace hits on the flop. A few minutes later I'm short-stacked and push with A8s, run into AQo, and IGHN.
I looked at my stats after each round. I noticed that I was winning far more than my share of hands w/o a showdown-about 75-80% against the first 2 poor opponents and about 60-65% against the tricky and better final 2 opponents.
Is this a valid stat to look at HU-% won without showdown. I realize, of course, that it only takes 1 or 2 big hands to kill you even if you win lots of little pots, but I think that a successful HU player will tend to have this stat well over 50%.
Any other stats I should look at or other advice? I realize the opposition in the PokerSTars FPP tourneys for the World Cup is mostly people like me who don't normally play this format. I did find it a lot more fun that I thought and might try some more HU MTTs. What's the caliber of opposition like-is it all HU sharks or are there plenty of poor players?
I have never played a HU tournament or SNG before, so all of my HU experience has come from the end of normal SNGs or (rarely) the end of multi-table tourneys. When I played Party 10+1 NLHE SNGs regularly (about a year ago), my modal finish was 2nd place, so obviously I wasn't finishing the job enough. I think I was way too tight-passive in short-handed and heads-up situation back then and vowed to try to be more aggressive because I know that's what it takes to be a good HU player. About a year and a half ago, I was HU in a MTT for my first time, got ran over and finished 2nd, and posted about it in the MTT forum. Some guy named Greg (Fossilman) told me "when in doubt, be aggressive".
Last night, I decided to enter the PokerStars World Cup Qualifier for my home state. This is a strictly HU tourney. There were 127 entrants, so since 2^7=128, it would take 7 matches to win the tournament and make your state's squad. One player (not me) received a first round bye.
I decided that I would almost never fold from the SB. I never min-raised but instead came in for a 3xBB about 75-80% of the time, limped occasionally with my best and worst hands. I defended the BB every time I was min-raised and often against 3x or 4x BB raises with a reasonable hand. I seldom checked the flop, but tried to win lots of pots without a showdown. When put to a big test, I'd pass unless I had the goods since I figured the less aggressive opponents were trying to trap me when they had a big hand. To those who play HU, what do you think about this? OK, too predictable? Obviously in a long match against a good player you'll have to "change gears".
I ended up winning 3 of my 4 matches and getting down to the final 16. My first two opponents were easy to push around-they folded a lot preflop and both let me build up a big chip lead. I had opponent #1 down to a few hundred chips, semi-bluffed with a flush draw, he had bigger flush draw, but I sucked out by pairing on the river. Opponent #2 was eliminated when I had A9. Flop came A55, he bet, I raised, he called, which worried me. Turn was a beautiful ace, I checked, he raised, I put him all-in, he went into the tank for most of his time bank and finally called. His 54 was no good.
The next two opponents were quite a bit better in that they didn't let me steal so many little pots and would play back. I got very lucky against opponent #3-I semi-bluffed all-in with an OESD, got called by pocket aces, but caught my straight to take the lead. I then got a huge run of cards to win.
Opponent #4 was also pretty good. I got all-in preflop with JJ against A5s. I was through to the final 8 if I win this hand, but the ace hits on the flop. A few minutes later I'm short-stacked and push with A8s, run into AQo, and IGHN.
I looked at my stats after each round. I noticed that I was winning far more than my share of hands w/o a showdown-about 75-80% against the first 2 poor opponents and about 60-65% against the tricky and better final 2 opponents.
Is this a valid stat to look at HU-% won without showdown. I realize, of course, that it only takes 1 or 2 big hands to kill you even if you win lots of little pots, but I think that a successful HU player will tend to have this stat well over 50%.
Any other stats I should look at or other advice? I realize the opposition in the PokerSTars FPP tourneys for the World Cup is mostly people like me who don't normally play this format. I did find it a lot more fun that I thought and might try some more HU MTTs. What's the caliber of opposition like-is it all HU sharks or are there plenty of poor players?