how would you play heads up stud high against this guy?

[bigredlemon]

His style:

3rd:
will almost always bring in and almost never complete
will almost always complete if you bring in and his upcard is a broadway card
will usually (75% of time) complete if you bring in and his upcard is higher than a 6

will usually (75%) fold if bring in and you complete.
will sometimes raise if you complete (25%)

4th:
will bet if was aggressor on 3rd
will check/call if I was the aggressor and he didn't reraise me

5th-7th:
will play according to his cards and my probable cards. Very aggressive and somewhat loose.



is he using a good HU strategy? How would you try to counter it?

[Roland]

[ QUOTE ]
How would you try to counter it?

[/ QUOTE ]


I would go find myself a fishy $10/$20 table /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[MrBlueNose]

Become passive. He wants to be the aggressor? Nothing wrong with that. Let him be aggressive, and just set trap after trap after trap.

[bholdr]

In a nutshell? I'd try to be more aggressive than he is- maybe much more, depending on his willingness to three bet and cap.


[ QUOTE ]
Become passive. He wants to be the aggressor? Nothing wrong with that. Let him be aggressive, and just set trap after trap after trap.


[/ QUOTE ]

this is totally wrong- you'll get killed trying this. if he completes, raise him with the better 50% of your hands or more, fold only garbage hands.

[ QUOTE ]
will usually (75%) fold if bring in and you complete.
will sometimes raise if you complete (25%)

[/ QUOTE ]

BINGO!
Here's where you beat him: assuming that you'll fold to a raise every time, he's still folding way too often. I'd start completing EVERY SINGLE time, if the ante is normal or large. 75% of the time, you'll win the antes and his bring in (at 3/6 this would be $2) and 25% of the time you'll lose your completion- $3, for an avarage profit of $.75 (and that doesn't even consider the times when he raises, you call, and go on to win the hand)- this is a major weakness in his play- exploit it till he catches on, it's an almost insurmountable edge unless he pwns you on later streets. Also, don't be afrid to re-raise or cap with the best 15% of your hands or so.

[ QUOTE ]
will bet if was aggressor on 3rd
will check/call if I was the aggressor and he didn't reraise me


[/ QUOTE ]

use the check-raise freely. automatic betting is easy to punish. check-calling if you're aggressive is a leak, too- he's letting you control the action- take advantage and value bet or take free cards as appropriate, sometimes wait till fifth and the big bets to steal the pots.

[ QUOTE ]
will play according to his cards and my probable cards. Very aggressive and somewhat loose.

[/ QUOTE ]

well... that's not much info, buut it looks like he's tough to deal with after fifth. he has some pretty big leaks on third and fourth, though, so I'd base my counter-strategy on exploiting those- if you feel that he's too loose, value bet him to death. In stud, some aggro looking players like to bet/raise a lot, but they'll never three-bet or call one, and are therefore pretty easy to subdue with timely aggression- you don't have to be a mainiac to be more aggressive than a seemingly aggressive opponent.

I don't know if any of this is right, but it seems to work for me when faced with this kind of opponent.

[Bartholow]

Good advice bholdr. Setting traps too often gives him too many chances to hit something without charging him the max.

[bholdr]

slowplaying and trapping are generally bad ideas even in ring stud games- too much can backfire as you unintentionally give out free cards- and position is fluid, which can really screw up a trap when you're suddenly first to act- when playing HU, it's death, plain and simple.

I do like to check-raise a lot HU, though- it's my main tool for taking control of a hand, and i do it when i'm behind as often as when i'm ahead, but if and only if the opponent is predictable enough to make it work almost every time.

[bigredlemon]

Sounds like good advice. If I ever get stuck in that situation I'll definetly have to get more aggressive. I don't try to play HU stud but through a sheer miracle in a stud tournament, I managed to elminate almost everyone the table and get 2/3rd of the chips in a single hand on level 2. I'm neither good at stud high nor good at HU nor good at stud tourneys so he proceeded to run over me for the next 5 levels. Quite the experience I have to say.

[MrBlueNose]

[ QUOTE ]
this is totally wrong- you'll get killed trying this. if he completes, raise him with the better 50% of your hands or more, fold only garbage hands.


[/ QUOTE ]

Have to disagree. If he wants to be the aggressor, let him be and let him think he's taken control of it. Let him complete and take control with his 34Q for a few streets, rather than scare him off on 3rd. There's different ways to play heads up, but to say my strategy is "totally wrong" is actually...totally wrong. I don't mean to sound bitchy btw, I'm just pointing out there's various strategies against this type of player, and I have had a lot of success with mine.

[CarlosChadha]

just a quick comment because my battery is dying. I used to think that raising every hand was the correct strategy vs a tight player HU, because the hands run so close. But after several thousands of hands playing 30/60 and 40/80 heads up I realized that a tight agressive player will just slaugter you by folding all the time and reraising you a fair amount. It is occasionally correct to fold to the bring in. Have to run, I'll write more later.

[SittingBull]

Hello,Big!
Best strtegy against this player is to find a table where he's NOT playing.
SittingBull

[clutch]

[ QUOTE ]
In a nutshell? I'd try to be more aggressive than he is- maybe much more, depending on his willingness to three bet and cap.


[ QUOTE ]
Become passive. He wants to be the aggressor? Nothing wrong with that. Let him be aggressive, and just set trap after trap after trap.


[/ QUOTE ]

this is totally wrong- you'll get killed trying this. if he completes, raise him with the better 50% of your hands or more, fold only garbage hands.

[ QUOTE ]
will usually (75%) fold if bring in and you complete.
will sometimes raise if you complete (25%)

[/ QUOTE ]

BINGO!
Here's where you beat him: assuming that you'll fold to a raise every time, he's still folding way too often. I'd start completing EVERY SINGLE time, if the ante is normal or large. 75% of the time, you'll win the antes and his bring in (at 3/6 this would be $2) and 25% of the time you'll lose your completion- $3, for an avarage profit of $.75 (and that doesn't even consider the times when he raises, you call, and go on to win the hand)- this is a major weakness in his play- exploit it till he catches on, it's an almost insurmountable edge unless he pwns you on later streets. Also, don't be afrid to re-raise or cap with the best 15% of your hands or so.

[ QUOTE ]
will bet if was aggressor on 3rd
will check/call if I was the aggressor and he didn't reraise me


[/ QUOTE ]

use the check-raise freely. automatic betting is easy to punish. check-calling if you're aggressive is a leak, too- he's letting you control the action- take advantage and value bet or take free cards as appropriate, sometimes wait till fifth and the big bets to steal the pots.

[ QUOTE ]
will play according to his cards and my probable cards. Very aggressive and somewhat loose.

[/ QUOTE ]

well... that's not much info, buut it looks like he's tough to deal with after fifth. he has some pretty big leaks on third and fourth, though, so I'd base my counter-strategy on exploiting those- if you feel that he's too loose, value bet him to death. In stud, some aggro looking players like to bet/raise a lot, but they'll never three-bet or call one, and are therefore pretty easy to subdue with timely aggression- you don't have to be a mainiac to be more aggressive than a seemingly aggressive opponent.

I don't know if any of this is right, but it seems to work for me when faced with this kind of opponent.

[/ QUOTE ]

gold..TOP 101

[TheShootah]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
this is totally wrong- you'll get killed trying this. if he completes, raise him with the better 50% of your hands or more, fold only garbage hands.


[/ QUOTE ]

Have to disagree. If he wants to be the aggressor, let him be and let him think he's taken control of it. Let him complete and take control with his 34Q for a few streets, rather than scare him off on 3rd. There's different ways to play heads up, but to say my strategy is "totally wrong" is actually...totally wrong. I don't mean to sound bitchy btw, I'm just pointing out there's various strategies against this type of player, and I have had a lot of success with mine.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's all fun and games until you let him hit two more queens or three more hearts, etc.......I think if this guy is folding to that many completes on third, you should be completing more. Not too many more to let him know, but more certainly.