bholdr
05-22-2005, 04:48 AM
Hi. i usually play 3/6 and 5/10 stud and stud 8 online, mostly in full games, but i've always liked playing heads up.
i just got into the HU stud/8 SnGs on stars, and i love the structure. i've played a dozen or so (mostly $20), and have thus far won a large majority of them. (I used to play a lot of NLHE HU SnGs, forgot how much fun it is).
Tonight i played my first $50 match, and my opponent was noticably WAY tougher than anyone else i've played yet- but he had a couple of habits that i think i adjusted to pretty well, though i'd like some imput:
A: every time he had an ace on the door, he raised my bring in, and amost every time, i folded. he got a lot of aces on the door. I reraised him twice, and never just called. i don't feel that i lost very much by adopting this strategy, though the rare reraises weren't enough to stop him from completing every time. how to deal with this? (i also started raising every time I had an ace on the door. heh.)
B: he was very difficult to trap on fifth- if i offered a free card in an attempt to check raise, he'd take the card, and often lead into me on the next street, punishing me severly when he hit. i adjusted by playing more drawing hands and taking the free cards myself. correct? (he would often check behind, but, if out of position, he would usually lead out)
C: the pots were mostly either very small or very large. we were either folding to the first bet or jamming the hell out of the pot. i tightened up even more, but all that did was make it even more fold-or-jam, should i have loosened up instead? i have no real idea how to handle this aspect of HU play, as i'd never run into it before. perhaps this is just the result of the structure of stud, given that if it's checked on fourth, there's little reason to call a BB without a pretty damn good hand, since your opponent would be betting 3x the pot. maybe raise more bring ins? or does the fold-early-or-jam tendancy favor the more skillful player? i am stumped.
also, is there a good book, site, post that all HU SnG players should read? TYIA.
i just got into the HU stud/8 SnGs on stars, and i love the structure. i've played a dozen or so (mostly $20), and have thus far won a large majority of them. (I used to play a lot of NLHE HU SnGs, forgot how much fun it is).
Tonight i played my first $50 match, and my opponent was noticably WAY tougher than anyone else i've played yet- but he had a couple of habits that i think i adjusted to pretty well, though i'd like some imput:
A: every time he had an ace on the door, he raised my bring in, and amost every time, i folded. he got a lot of aces on the door. I reraised him twice, and never just called. i don't feel that i lost very much by adopting this strategy, though the rare reraises weren't enough to stop him from completing every time. how to deal with this? (i also started raising every time I had an ace on the door. heh.)
B: he was very difficult to trap on fifth- if i offered a free card in an attempt to check raise, he'd take the card, and often lead into me on the next street, punishing me severly when he hit. i adjusted by playing more drawing hands and taking the free cards myself. correct? (he would often check behind, but, if out of position, he would usually lead out)
C: the pots were mostly either very small or very large. we were either folding to the first bet or jamming the hell out of the pot. i tightened up even more, but all that did was make it even more fold-or-jam, should i have loosened up instead? i have no real idea how to handle this aspect of HU play, as i'd never run into it before. perhaps this is just the result of the structure of stud, given that if it's checked on fourth, there's little reason to call a BB without a pretty damn good hand, since your opponent would be betting 3x the pot. maybe raise more bring ins? or does the fold-early-or-jam tendancy favor the more skillful player? i am stumped.
also, is there a good book, site, post that all HU SnG players should read? TYIA.