HU agression

[NoBrains]

I have real trouble with my HU game. Is this a brain dead move?

PP 11’s. Villan was pretty stable player, but I had just traded chip lead with him on the hand before with an AKo to his 55. My hope was that the sting would put him tilt with a weak hand, or passive and let it go.

The QTo was a lame hand but, as I said, my HU sucks. Any comments regarding the big push here?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t300 (2 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

BB (t2320)
Hero (t5680)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Q/images/graemlins/heart.gif, T/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
<font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t2000</font>, <font color="#CC3333">BB raises to t2320 (All-In)</font>, Hero calls t320.

[wiggs73]

I would have done the same thing, so I'd be interested in what others have to say.

[lorinda]

My chips hit the middle before I see my second card.

Lori

[eldyna]

I disagree; I would make a more modest raise here, say to 750.

QTo is only a slight favorite against a random hand. Pushing will probably fold most really trashy hands, meaning that if he calls, you will have the worst of it most of the time.

I would make the same bet with a monster, so it is risky for him to come over the top. I want to increase my lead without taking the risk of losing it.

What are his options if I raise it to 750? Any raise on his part pretty much commits all his chips. If he does that, I can fold and retain my lead. It's very hard for him to bluff, because he knows you can call without the risk of getting badly crippled.

I don't need to take him out on this hand.

Just the opinion of this novice.


Tim

[NoBrains]

eldyna, you may be correct here. Imagine my horror when the villain turned over K/images/graemlins/heart.gif, J/images/graemlins/heart.gif

and the flop came:

Flop: (t4640) 2/images/graemlins/heart.gif, T/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 7/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

I sucked out the miracle runner-runner and decided I really have no-brains.

Turn: (t4640) T/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

River: (t4640) Q/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Final Pot: t4640

[Phil Van Sexton]

[ QUOTE ]
eldyna, you may be correct here.

[/ QUOTE ]

Unlikely.

You have a big chip lead. The villian needs to double up twice to beat you. Push with any reasonable hand in this spot.

Any smaller raises can easily be thwarted by the villian if he pushes. If the villian is smart, he will come over the top with any 2 cards.

If you keep the pressure on by pushing a lot, the villian has no viable counterattack.

[curtains]

Raising to 750 and folding to an allin is just bad poker. I would open allin.

[gasgod]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
eldyna, you may be correct here.

[/ QUOTE ]

Unlikely.

You have a big chip lead. The villian needs to double up twice to beat you. Push with any reasonable hand in this spot.

Any smaller raises can easily be thwarted by the villian if he pushes. If the villian is smart, he will come over the top with any 2 cards.

If you keep the pressure on by pushing a lot, the villian has no viable counterattack.

[/ QUOTE ]

My first post -- go easy on me. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

I'm not sure I understand. You seem to be saying that it's +EV for both players to go allin here.

You say that hero should push, but that villain can counter a smaller raise by pushing. How can it matter who does the pushing?


GG

[gasgod]

[ QUOTE ]
Raising to 750 and folding to an allin is just bad poker. I would open allin.

[/ QUOTE ]


Would you push with all hands better than QTo? Are there any hands that you would raise to T750? Are there any hands that you would just call with?

I'm interested in the reasoning behind bet selection HU.

GG

[ChrisV]

He was talking about the strategy of raising small and folding to reraises. Raising small intending to call any reraise is bad earlier in a SNG because really you want to avoid confrontations. Here I actually think it's quite good. Villain is going to call your push with any ace, good kings, QJ and pairs anyway, so the only time you lose is when he decides to reraise allin with king-rag. Stacks are deep enough that him reraising allin with anything worse than you is a bad deal for him. If villain calls, he will be out of position so that isn't a great option for him either.

[sofere]

The blinds are huge right now compared to stack sizes. There are no hands worth raising less than all-in with (except premium hands where you think he'll come over the top with a small raise). The reason being that any raise will commit you to the pot and it would be incorrect for you to fold to any reraise. Might as well get as much fold equity as possible.

[microbet]

Mostly because of the blinds you will push or fold. Betting less than a push would be an option for a trap. You will have to decide if your opponant is more likely to think a smaller bet is weak or is a trap.

If both parties are fairly deep stacked for being HU and my opponant is limping or miniraising A LOT, I might do it once or twice just to make him a little more likely to fold on my pushes.

IMHO

[sofere]

So are you saying that you should raise any two and fold to a reraise until blinds go up or you lose a significant amount of your stack (2-3 BBs from where you are now)?

[curtains]

Its ridiculous to raise to 750 and fold for the rest. I believe there is about 3000 in the pot at that point and it'd cost you 1600 to call. People play much looser heads up, so for your opponent to move allin after a raise to 750, they simply don't need a huge hand. Often you'll have no less than a 40% chance to win the pot. Sometimes, but rarely, you will even be ahead with QTo

If your opponent had 4000 chips instead of 2300, this play is much more reasonable, because after they move allin you aren't getting obvious pot odds to call.

It's always important to ask yourself what you'll do if your opponent moves allin. If the answer is that you'll end up calling their allin with QTo, then I believe it's best to move allin to begin with.

[curtains]

You seem to be not accounting for the times that the will just flat call your 450 chip raise with a hand they would normally fold and end up hitting the flop, or bluffing you out.

I really don't think QTo is the kind of hand to encourage action from weaker hands.

[gasgod]

That makes sense to me. Thanks to all three for the help.

GG

[gasgod]

[ QUOTE ]
I have real trouble with my HU game. Is this a brain dead move?

PP 11’s. Villan was pretty stable player, but I had just traded chip lead with him on the hand before with an AKo to his 55. My hope was that the sting would put him tilt with a weak hand, or passive and let it go.

The QTo was a lame hand but, as I said, my HU sucks. Any comments regarding the big push here?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t300 (2 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

BB (t2320)
Hero (t5680)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Q/images/graemlins/heart.gif, T/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
<font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t2000</font>, <font color="#CC3333">BB raises to t2320 (All-In)</font>, Hero calls t320.

[/ QUOTE ]


I have a final thought about this hand. The OP raised to t2000, which is virtually the same as pushing. There must be some minimum bet that has the same effect. Let's suppose that in this case a bet of t1500, which leaves him with less than 3BB, is a bet that forces him to push the remainder of his chips. I'm assuming that there are no hands where he can profitably call and fold after the flop.

Obviously, this bet has the same EV as pushing, but since it gives him something more to think about, it gives him an opportunity to make a mistake. Of course, if he's a good player, he will recognize this bet as a virtual push, just as villain did in the above case.

The point in doing this is to tease him with the possibility that I might not call an allin. If he takes this bet as a sign of weakness, he might push with hands that he would fold to a push by me.

It's a little like betting the river when there is a rainbow broadway on the board. It can't really gain, but it gives the opponent a chance to get really stupid. Any merit in this, or is it just a waste of time?


GG