PULLING MY HAIR OUT!!!!! CAN'T WIN TO SAVE MY LIFE!!!!

[Degen]

Ok gotta vent then ask for some help. I've been making loads of cash at the 55's, but its due to my HUGE ITM%....the problem is that I can't take it to the house!!! I almost always arive ITM w/ a lot of chips and I get to second A LOT....but here is where i break down....i win less than 25% of these showdowns. I'm sure a lot of this has to do w/ luck as I know its been said a monkey who pushes all in every hand is only a 45:55 dog (or something).

Though I'm certain my HU play is not optimal for the 55's. A the 33's I just pushed and pushed and pushed and it worked very well. Thought i'm getting destroyed doing that here.

Please help!!


Any advice on optimal 55 HU play would be greatly appreciated.


Degen

[TruFloridaGator]

Are there any practice HU tables out there? I know you could hook up with a 2+2er & get some good practice in. Otherwise you could play some of the HU SNGs out there, or just post some hands that you're talking about as well.

[Degen]

HU play in general isn't the problem..its at this level with these blinds against these players...at the 55's. I did very well heads up at the lower levels but it seems these guys are a lot better and possibly i'm being too agressive/risking too much for too little.

Degen

[TruFloridaGator]

Oh ok, definately play some more flops, shrink your raising hands slightly. Keep at it, post some HH. Try & out play them on the flop more often.

[pbutkus]

im w you degen
im having a hrad time stepping it up to the 55s, and hu is much more difficult
id love to hear some more opinions
i just run over peole hu in the 30s and have a great hu record
struggling w the move up

[The Yugoslavian]

Since you're being a big baby, have one of these:
http://www.kidspriorityone.org/teens/images/pacifier.jpg

Yugoslav

[Benholio]

[ QUOTE ]
.i win less than 25% of these showdowns. I'm sure a lot of this has to do w/ luck as I know its been said a monkey who pushes all in every hand is only a 45:55 dog (or something).

[/ QUOTE ]

BE the monkey.

[TheUsher]

[ QUOTE ]
HU play in general isn't the problem..its at this level with these blinds against these players...at the 55's. I did very well heads up at the lower levels but it seems these guys are a lot better and possibly i'm being too agressive/risking too much for too little.

Degen

[/ QUOTE ]

What's different at the 55's when you say you push most every hand? Blinds should be higher when you get HU at the 55's. More starting chips the problem?

[Apathy]

If you wanna play Heads up 1000NL I could teach you a few things...


Its probably just a bad streak , I wouldn't worry about it quite yet.

[Mr_J]

"but its due to my HUGE ITM%"

Then be happy with your lucky run. Doesn't matter if you have been unlucky HU, because your luck with getting ITM has easily more than made up for it.

You can't complain about any bad luck you are getting when you are getting so much good luck. That's like someone giving me a ferrari and then for me to complain that it's not red.

[pshreck]

If you cant understand that winning only 25% of your showdowns is bad luck, then you shouldnt be playing poker.

[TheUsher]

[ QUOTE ]
"but its due to my HUGE ITM%"

Then be happy with your lucky run. Doesn't matter if you have been unlucky HU, because your luck with getting ITM has easily more than made up for it.

You can't complain about any bad luck you are getting when you are getting so much good luck. That's like someone giving me a ferrari and then for me to complain that it's not red.

[/ QUOTE ]

But it's not a REAL Ferrari if it's not red. That's like getting a Fiero or something. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Degen]

Don't know the problem really. The problem is i keep getting second. I have plenty of chips and my strategy is pretty much to push every SB and re-raise the majority of min raises. This strategy kills the 33's HU but i keep losing hard core here. Getting called by all kinds of trash.


Degen

[Degen]

lol

the only thing that deserves that is the title...i want help on how to beat the 55's heads up.

But thanks.

Degen

[Degen]

the problem is that the ITM luck is gonna come back down to earth and my ROI is going to depend on me not just getting into the money always, but on maximizing my earnings when i am there.

I am grateful, i'd probably be in the 33's if not for the rush, but i want to perfect my game. Plug the leak.

Degen

[Degen]

so the strategy i'm using is the correct one for the 55's?

Push all the time?


Degen

[Benholio]

Here are a few questions that should ask before trying to 'fix' your heads-up play.

1) What is your average stack size when entering heads-up play? (% of all chips in play)
2) What is your win % heads-up?
3) How many tournaments is this.

If 3 is small, 1 and 2 are useless, as is this thread.
Otherwise, if 2 >= 1, then your heads-up play (or result of, anyway) is fine.

Alternately, if 1 is too small, your heads-up results could be due to your 3-4 handed play.

I have a feeling, though, that 3 is just too small.

[Mr_J]

"but i want to perfect my game. Plug the leak."

The thing is it may not be a leak at all. Could EASILY be variance. Just keep playing. The longer/more you play, the morely results are going to reflect your true return.

[Mr_J]

"so the strategy i'm using is the correct one for the 55's?"

It should be pretty close. You're focusing too much on shorterm results. Don't get frustrated when the %s don't balance up after 100 sngs. Chances are they won't. Just keep playing knowng your game is solid (I assume it is) and things will sort themselves out in the longrun.

[raptor517]

bwahahaha, i smell a challenge!!!! im a huge fan of heads up battles.. i dont care who its against, im fairly stubborn about playing good people, and people i dont know, and find out later its el diablo.. holla

[TheUsher]

[ QUOTE ]
bwahahaha, i smell a challenge!!!! im a huge fan of heads up battles.. i dont care who its against, im fairly stubborn about playing good people, and people i dont know, and find out later its el diablo.. holla

[/ QUOTE ]

I really need to hear this story. I doubt it has a happy ending though... /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[TheUsher]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't know the problem really. The problem is i keep getting second. I have plenty of chips and my strategy is pretty much to push every SB and re-raise the majority of min raises. This strategy kills the 33's HU but i keep losing hard core here. Getting called by all kinds of trash.


Degen

[/ QUOTE ]

You probably don't have that big of a problem HU. You just might need to adjust your push/fold strategy on how your opponent is playing and how they're adjusting to you to fully maximize your potential HU. Why don't you post HH's or email some tourney summaries to someone here? It'll be best to actually have someone view results instead of trying to answer questions based on incomplete info.

Something to think about... do you really want to do coinflips HU when you KNOW you could outplay your opponent when you see flops? The losses I hate the most are when I choose the coinflip route when I should have maybe just tried to out-play an opponent. This is all bull when the blinds are huge, but there might just be a little credit here when your opponent doesn't push tons of times and you could see flops.

[J-Lo]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
bwahahaha, i smell a challenge!!!! im a huge fan of heads up battles.. i dont care who its against, im fairly stubborn about playing good people, and people i dont know, and find out later its el diablo.. holla

[/ QUOTE ]

I really need to hear this story. I doubt it has a happy ending though... /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Raptor was playin in the $25 NL 2+2 game, and challenging anyone to a HU match. Well El Diablo came by, and as usual, started berating players for fun. Well anyhoo... he accepted the challenge-- so D wanted to go HU for 5k on stars. Raptor said he doesn't have money-- fine let's play $1000 at party. They sit at a 1k table and start playin'. Some random guy sits down and starts playin with them. D gets AA and the other guy pushes 1k into D w/ KTo. So D wins an easy 1k. D complements raptor on the fact that he isn't a fool, but should know who he is playin against. Raptor wins ~$300 D walks away ~$800 ahead. So you see, there is a happy ending-- not like a japanese masage.

[valenzuela]

I have a ROI of 8% and a ITM of 32% after 93 sngs in the 11s, or I have tooooooooooooo many leaks or Im on a bad run, at least u know is a bad run.

[tjh]

There is a series of article by Jon Vorhaus on Ultimate Bet's site. I found useful advice for heads-up play there.

http://www.ultimatebet.com/learn-poker/strategy-tournament.html

[valenzuela]

that article is useless for party structure just push any 2. It doesnt mean the article is useless although.

[valenzuela]

btw I retract myself from the push any 2, however I like pushing any 2 on the 11s because ur oponent is usually someone who is too tight.

[microbet]

No. If you get all you chips in preflop every hand you are going to win HU something less than, but close to 50% of the time against a perfect player (assuming equal stacks to start). Eastbay and dethgrind did some work on this problem and you can find some info on dethgrind's web page (http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~sharnett/poker/) .

I believe the best unthinking strategy is to push a fairly high percentage of your SB's and call a lesser, but still over 50% of pushes from BB. The exact numbers depend on the blinds and stacks. The best thinking strategy is certainly to take your opponant's play into consideration.

On those rare occassions that the blinds are not huge compared to one or the other of your stacks, you should probably be willing to play postflop.

[Degen]

awesome...great site Micro!

Thanks!!!

Degen

[EasilyFound]

I know your pain. Four heads up confrontations this weekend at $11 SNGs, and no first place finishes. Guess I ain't as good as a monkey.