3 handed/heads up play in SnG

[mithong]

I know that this is very situational, but Im having a LOT of trouble getting 1st or even 2nd when im ITM. Is it just purely luck once u get to that stage or what?

What strategies do you guys use...? I know theres different things you have to do for different situations, but what are general guidelines u follow/

THanks.

[Freudian]

If you aren't winning more blinds than you are posting, you are too tight.

For me it was a huge mental barrier to get over, to force myself to start pushing with hands that I wasn't reasonably sure was the best hand (and in extension, sometimes pushing with a hand I have every reason to believe is the worst).

I'm probably far from being optimal ITM, but at least I feel I give myself a better chance to win them now.

[Benoit]

Ditto. Plus you have to get really aggresive and steal pots before you get into the money too. If it pays to 3 then get really aggresive around when there are 4 or 5 left. Everyone else is trying to survive and will avoid confrontations to finish 3rd or 2nd. This works for me because when it gets to 3 then 2 left, I am at least even or ahead in chips.

[raptor517]

push every hand when you get heads up. push almost every hand 3 handed. holla

[mithong]

by push do u mean all in or raise

[raptor517]

if u have around 7-8x the BB you can push every hand and not be too far off. like say everyone has 3300 and the blinds are 250-500. pushing every hand will do you a lot less harm than good. and by push i mean go all in /images/graemlins/wink.gif holla

[kyro]

all-in. he's serious too. you should be pushing every frickin hand possible. even if somehow party screws you over and only deals you one card. PUSH.

[microbet]

You could do worse than pushing every hand HU, but you could also do better.

[mithong]

such as?

[microbet]

Lots of things.

HU in the lower buyins sometimes has both players with 20BBs. Pushing every hand there is not right. Your opponant will beat you by folding crappy hands. The blinds just won't cost them as much.

Optimal play depends on your opponant. If your opponant is folding a lot of his SBs, you should not push all of your SBs. You will convert them from passive to aggressive. You will be able to be a little more selective with your pushes and you will still have the edge as long as you are stealing more blinds than they are.

I'm no expert in this, but I think standard theory is more like push top 70% from the SB and call pushes with top 30%. No simple formula, however, will be optimal against every opponant.

The best percentages for pushing/calling hands will depend on stack sizes and blind levels as well.