Thanks! and a question...

[Colby818]

I wanted to say thanks to Strasser and DDubois. You guys have both been advocating getting more aggressive with pushing late here, which usually isn't really my style.

I've been struggling a bit lately, and had started to come out of my slump and string together cashes, but was still not hitting any 1sts, which was kind of frustrating. I've been on the board a lot this week, and trying to find just a few things to tweak my game, since I feel like I'm close to really stepping may game up to a higher level.

Last night, I found myself heads up with about $3k and my opponent at $5k. Normally at that point, I vary my play between folding, call/checking, min.raise, 2x raise and 3x raise. Well, I decided it was time to try out pushing a few. I pushed like 2 of the first 4 heads up hands and he folded one of the other 2 hands preflop. I had gotten to even and then slightly ahead. The game went back and forth until I got to about 6k, he pushed and it just reaked of desperation/bluff, so I called. he turned over 8-To and I had 8-Qs. tourney over and I finally got back into the win column.

My question is this. To those of you who are agressive with pushing, I know a lot of that is feel, but all things being equal are there certain types of hands you are looking to push with? It's an easy decision with two overcards or a pair, but obviously more often than not, you aren't going to be looking at that. Just wondering if it's all a feel thing or if any of you have found in your experience that certain groups of hands are best in that situation.

Thanks again.

[Sam T.]

Heads-up is a bear to play. As someone noted on in an earlier discussion, you have the best hand half the time!

I am so absolutely at sea when it comes to HU play, I am most comfortable going on auto-raise pre-flop unless I've got complete garbage. (In HEFAP, Sklansky notes that raising every hand is very close to being the correct strategy.) Within a few hands you should have a feel for your opponent's style, and can adjust. Has he gone limp for fear of calling your raise without a pair or two face cards? If so, you've stolen a few blinds and know to watch out for the reraise. Or does he play the same way as you, in which case it is more likely to come down to who catches cards first.

The other option is to randomize your play so that your opponent can't get a sense of what you're doing. Limp some, raise some, fold some. In either case the idea is to keep your opponent off-balance, making it impossible to put you on a hand.

(What you don't want to do is exactly what I did a couple days ago. I was raising like crazy from the SB, and then caught KK. What do I do? I call. What does he do? Folds as soon as I reach for my chips. I might as well have waved a flag that says, "I really want you to play this hand.") Ah, well.

[Colby818]

Yeah, I'm a bit of a randomizer when I get to heads up. I will vary between raising the 'good' hands and raising the 'bad' ones. just call/checking them. and varying the size of my raises. I know this last time I really had him flustered. it was obvious in the way he was playing back at me. of course I really crippled him on one hand that he raised me and I came back over the top of him with a much bigger raise and he folded. I'm sure that was more luck than anything, him bluffing a raise with nothing on a hand I had two overcards on and was willing to bite back.

I was pretty sure the answer to this was going to come back to its all a feel thing and there really isn't any strategy per se to this. I guess since so few of the late hands ever go to showdowns, I spend a lot of time wondering what other people are playing in that situation.

[Jason Strasser]

Firts of all, I appreciate the thanks. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

My heads up play depends on my opponent usually. Against your average tighter opponent, I will usually just push any 2 cards, and hope that he doesn't pick up a hand he can call with. Against maybe an opponent who likes to call a lot, and is very aggressive like me (these HU matches usually last 4-5 hands), I will be a little more patient, pushing any pair, any ace, any king, any 2 broadway, Q8-Q9, J8-J9, and suited connectors down to 56s.

Eastbay once pointed out that pushing on every hand is very close to optimal strategy in a sit and go.

This stuff has been discussed before, so you can search for a more indepth discussion on the matter.

Gluck.

[Jsb]

i actually found this thread to be extremely helpful to my game (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=736307&page=3&view=collap sed&sb=5&o=14&fpart=1#736307) for heads up play. /images/graemlins/smile.gif
so i should be saying thank you too. before i read that thread, i wasn't nearly as aggressive as i am now. of course its read dependent as you say, but i find myself in all-in or fold mode for the most part now when i get heads up. so yeah, that thread helped my game alot.

[Colby818]

Thanks guys. Those last two posts were exactly what I was looking for. I'm a pretty good feel player most of the time(and my feel is definitely working well if I'm around at heads up), so I'm just looking to add a little something extra to the arsenal so I've got one more way to play when I get down to heads up.

In my own limited heads up experience, the biggest advantage I have(and I'd assume most of the posters on here) is to be able to play many different styles. That way, once you find your opponent's style, you can try to play in a way that takes the greatest advantage of any holes you find in their game.

I'll post back one more time after the weekend to let you guys know if these posts have improved my heads up game even further.

[SpeakEasy]

Something to try against the right opponents in heads up play . . .

Sometimes its helpful to initially lull your opponent into believing that you have a pattern -- play in such a way as to lead your opponent to believe that he's instantly "figured you out." For example, for the first 6 to 10 hands or so (if the blinds are low enough for this strategy), fold or just call every hand pre-flop (the "passive" mode) -- no raises preflop. Feign generally weakness and predictibility.

THEN, shift gears. Amp things up with 2x raises to 4x raises every hand regardless of the hand strength, and mix these raises up with varying hand strengths (the "aggressive" mode). In the suddenly aggressive mode, this gives you a better opportunity to steal with weak hands (and we all know that that most of the heads-up hands are weak hands). Now you opponent is thinking "he must be catching some cards now that he's throwing some chips in there."

THEN vary your play, shifting between the passive and aggressive mode. At some point, hopefully you can catch the Mother Hand that you're waiting for to close out the game.

Often there is not enough time for this strategy (blinds are already too big in relation to the stacks), but sometimes you can get to head-up play earlier in the game and you will have enough chips to try this strategy.

[Colby818]

Anyone ever get to heads up REALLY early? The other day, we busted out 7 players before the end of level 3. I was the biggest stack when we got there and I busted out 3rd. I started out varying my play, then got a bad wave of cards(yes, I realized later I was playing WAY too tight). I just couldn't draw out enough chips when I had cards and lost a couple of hands where I thought what I had would hold up.

Anyone ever have this experience where they were either heads up or 2 handed when the blinds are still very low in relation to stack size? I'd be interested to know how someone else attacked that.

[Colby818]

I have had two heads up tourneys now in two tries tonight(playing flat out drunk, that can't be too bad). The first one, I ran into someone who actually had a good hand one of the times I pushed. The second time, I started pushing from 3 handed. I had 4k in chips when I started pushing and the other 2 had 2k each. I pushed on 33 and someone who had beaten me w/ A5 when I had AK called me. He ended up w/ trip 7's, but I ended up catching a 3 on the river for 3's full of 7's and I went on to win the tourney easily.

Thanks again Strasser and those who suggested adding this to the arsenal. I think this was one of a few pieces of the puzzle that I was missing, and perhaps the biggest piece, since I cash pretty regularly anyway.