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View Full Version : HU Do you make this call?


miami32
09-07-2005, 09:17 AM
If you are down to heads up and are roughly equal in chips. You know you can out play this player because you have grinded your way back from being a very low stack when heads up started. You get dealt A-9 and the button moves in preflop. You are pretty much sure you either have him high carded or out kicked. Do you make the call and gamble knowing you have the best hand or do you take a safer route and muck and wait for a better spot?

Thoughts?

Nicholasp27
09-07-2005, 09:21 AM
if u are a better player, then fold

u'll surely find higher ev situations than calling with a9 (which may be -ev depending on opp's pushing range)

tigerite
09-07-2005, 09:21 AM
If you muck A9o here, he is correct to push with literally any two every single hand.

Call.

fnord_too
09-07-2005, 09:31 AM
Of course I call there. *Big assumption: blinds are at the 300/600 level.

First, the notion that you can outplay him becuase you came back from a small stack is silly. Maybe you are a better player and maybe you aren't, but luck dominates this phase of the game. If you are saying he will do something utterly stupid, like fold his big blinds to mini-raises unless he has an ace, PP, or KJ+, well, then it is clear you can outplay him, but fish of that calliber are few and far between and rarely make it to HU.

Second, the notion that you can grind it out when the blinds get this high is equally silly. Luck dominates this phase, fold here and get a couple of hands you cannot play and villain is close to a 2:1 chip lead. When the blinds are this high, THERE IS NO SAFER ROUTE.

Now if you each have T5000 and the blinds are something like 50/100, sure, muck away. My assumption that you are on level 10 comes from you being HU and already having played a bunch of HU hands to work back up to even.

miami32
09-07-2005, 09:32 AM
Well I did make the call and I was right I did have the best hand. He had qjo. I did end up losing the hand but that doesn't bother me so much except for the fact that I feel like I made a fatal error by calling. By calling I'm gambled with what I'm pretty sure was a 75% chance of winning away on a hand where I was only a small favorite.

Freudian
09-07-2005, 09:38 AM
Unless blinds are very low I call with A9.

I have learned the hard way that waiting for the right spot to outplay your opponent HU more often hurts you than helps you. Suddenly you have 1/3 of his stack because you got a stretch of horrible hands (75o, 52 etc). When you think you have the best hand HU, get your chips in.

Nicholasp27
09-07-2005, 09:38 AM
i doubt u were a 75% fave to win hu with even stacks...u aren't THAT much better than him

what are the blinds? that makes a big difference...the higher the blinds, the more +ev it is to call this push both due to the % of stacks that the blinds represent and the fact that he 'should' be loosening his pushing range as the blinds increase

if it's 200/400 or 250/500, then definitely...50/100 or 75/150, i think u'll get in a >ev situation soon

miami32
09-07-2005, 10:22 AM
The reason I say I was such a big favorite was two fold-Each hand went as so-I raise he calls, I bet he folds. Or he went all in and I folded. He was on pure auto. I feel like I do pretty well against said players unless I take a beat. Also I think he was annoyed and wanting to get this over with. But I guess that argues for me making a call more then ever. I don't know...

durron597
09-07-2005, 10:58 AM
[ QUOTE ]
If you muck A9o here, he is correct to push with literally any two every single hand.

Call.

[/ QUOTE ]

durron597
09-07-2005, 10:59 AM
[ QUOTE ]
Well I did make the call and I was right I did have the best hand. He had qjo. I did end up losing the hand but that doesn't bother me so much except for the fact that I feel like I made a fatal error by calling. By calling I'm gambled with what I'm pretty sure was a 75% chance of winning away on a hand where I was only a small favorite.

[/ QUOTE ]

You do not have a 75% chance of winning if you are going to be folding A9o here.

09-07-2005, 11:02 AM
On this particular hand, you are about a 57% favorite to win the hand preflop. Heads up is often very luck oriented, but getting your chips in with the best hand definately improves your luck. Results aside, this is still a call every time for me.

Nicholasp27
09-07-2005, 11:07 AM
57% against any 2?

but they may not be pushing any2

we still don't know blind size and his opp doesn't sound like a good player that would loosen up range as the blinds went higher anyway

very possible if it's bad player that u have reads on and the blinds are <200/400 that the sb push has 2 broadways or pocket pair as the majority of their push range, so a9 could be dominated or a decent dog

hockeyf
09-07-2005, 11:21 AM
I call this every time, you have a monster when the blinds are high.