Final 2 players- Need help when going head to head

[AA suited]

Party $10/1

This is what I do when it's down to the last 2 players. It is mechanical play since I don't know how to read players and at head to head, players style probably changes anyway.

1) if short stacked (less than 4BB):
go all in with marginal hands (Ax,Kx, small suited connectors like 78 or smaller)

2) if stack is about even:
- SB: raise preflop with the above marginal hands to steal blind (ie: semi-bluff). call if BB goes all in
- BB: Fold with marginal hands if SB goes all in, but call a small raise with marginal hands.

3) if big stack:
- SB: raise preflop with the above marginal hands to steal blind (ie: semi-bluff). fold if BB goes all in , but call a small raise
- BB: Fold with marginal hands if SB goes all in, but call a small raise with marginal hands.

This doesn't seem to work based on the 20 or so times I've made it to final 2 since i've only won 5 times. But since it's a small sample, am i doing it right and i just need patience for the statistics to smooth over?

Or is there a flaw in my plan? If so, what/how to fix?

THX

[Hood]

A few points:

- Disagree with the 'go all in with 78'. Small suited connectors are worthless HU. I'd go with high cards (Qx) than 78s.

- Definately disagree with the 'raise preflop semibluff, call if BB goes all in'. If you're definately going to call, then you should push your whole stack in to start with.

- When you're big stack, if you semi-bluff raise pre-flop and get raised all in, a lot of the time you're getting odds to call depending on exact stack sizes.

- Your mechanical play doesn't include any out-right bluffs. If I have a mid-to-large stack I generally bluff a lot if I think I'll get a laydown.

[adam61]

My question here is what are the blinds? That would have a big impact on my play. If it's party for example and blinds are 200/400 250/500 or 300/600. You're gonna have to be ultra-aggressive. If it's stars and there's 13500 on the table with 100/200 a25 you can poke around more and look for weaknesses in your opponent.

Since it's party what blinds are you generally looking at? Usually I start 3-handed around 200/400 and am 250/500 or so HU. I'm a little under 50/50 right now so maybe I'm not the one to ask but I'm pushing with a ton of hands from the small blind.

[adam61]

Here's a more specific list although it isn't that specific. If the blinds are 250/500 or higher (meaning 10% of the tables chips are on the table in blinds) I go pretty crazy. If my opponent is likely to fold AT ALL I'll push with any PP, any connected cards, any suited cards with 1 gap or less, any 2 cards 9 or higher, any ace, any king. This may be too over the top. But the idea here is if you both have around 4k, and you do this twice 25% of his stack is gone. If he calls you still have a good reasonable chance to win and end the tourney right there. Again I'm about 40/60 on Party 60/40 on Stars so I expect corrections below this /images/graemlins/wink.gif Another reason I do this is I play pretty tight in general so it sometimes catches the opponent off guard. I may go all in the first 4 hands HU and they fold all 4....That's 1500 in chips to me plus any min raises he may have folded. So if it was 4000/4000 going in. I took 1500 in blinds plus he raised once to 1k and I moved in and he folded, I've gained 2250 up to 6250 and they haven't even played a hand yet.

[Phil Van Sexton]

Your sample is too small. I put $50 into Stars just so I could play their 5/.25 headups matches. It takes a long time to get adequate heads up experience if you only play heads-up at the end of 10/1 tournaments.

There is no "system" for heads up play since your opponents are so diverse. Once you understand the fundamentals, experience is what you really need.

Here are the fundamentals that I try to follow...
- shortstack. You are going to need to get lucky to win, so the only "wrong" move is to allow yourself to be blinded off. I'd much rather move all-in for $1800 with a 40% chance to win the hand, than wait until I have $900 and a 60% chance to double up. This being the case and given that your opponent will often fold to an allin, it wouldn't be wrong to push your $1800 from the SB with anything.

- even/big stack. From the SB, raise a lot, raise the same amount every time, raise the minimum that will get them to fold. If you steal more than they do, you can tighten up your calling requirements from the BB. Raise often enough to slowly chip away that their stack. This will require bluffs if you cards are awful, and conversely, you can tighten up after a run of great cards since he will soon play back at you.