horrible heads-up play

[dfscott]

In my last SnG, I had a commanding lead in chips going into heads-up play and managed to really muck things up. This is one area where I really feel lost, mostly because a) I don't get much practice at it and b) I'm not sure what concepts are key (except for the "push a lot" strategy in HEPFAP). Here are 3 hands in a row where I just got lost...

Hand 1:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t400 (2 handed)

Hero (t9854)
BB (t3646)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 2/images/graemlins/club.gif, 7/images/graemlins/club.gif.
Hero calls t200, BB checks.

Flop: (t625) 9/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 6/images/graemlins/heart.gif, Q/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">BB bets t1200</font>, Hero folds.

Hand 2:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t400 (2 handed)

Hero (t9429)
Button (t4071)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 2/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 8/images/graemlins/heart.gif.
Button calls t200, Hero checks.

Flop: (t625) 6/images/graemlins/heart.gif, Q/images/graemlins/club.gif, 8/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets t800</font>, <font color="CC3333">Button raises to t1600</font>, Hero folds.

Hand 3:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t400 (2 handed)

Hero (t8204)
BB (t5296)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 5/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif.
<font color="CC3333">Hero raises to t1200</font>, <font color="CC3333">BB raises to t2000</font>, Hero calls t800.

Flop: (t4000) A/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 6/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 3/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">BB bets t800</font>, Hero folds.

At the end of this mess, I'd lost the chip lead. Am I being too passive? Should I be in raise or fold mode? Can anyone point me to some good tips on heads-up tournament play?

Thanks in advance...

[Jason Strasser]

I don't play on stars, but to me it looks like you are not really in all-in or fold mode yet with stack size vs blinds.

Hand one:
I fold preflop.

Hand two:
Pefect, I make a slightly smaller bet and fold to a reraise against a typical opponent.

Hand three:
Also looks fine to me. I probably make a smaller raise preflop though, but not by much.

I think you played fine, this will happen sometimes. Unless your opponent is super tricky, it seems ok to me. A 10K to 4K chip lead is nice, but you are going to blow it once in a while, its definitely not something unheard of /images/graemlins/grin.gif.

[nwaddell]

i was a horrible heads-up player until i did two things. 1) i read TPFAP, and; 2) i went to bugsy's club and played in their heads-up tournaments. even if you play with play money, you'll learn something. very rarely do i call in the SB heads-up...raise or fold. raise or fold. and if i'm holding something (Ax or Kx) i'll raise...enough to make my opponent fold or reraise all-in. (this is, of course, assuming i have the bigger stack, which in most cases is closer to the end as i usually start out SS.) but that's just how i play it. and i'm pretty successful heads up. let me know if i'm wrong about anything.

[skierdude1000]

Hand 1 you hsould've folded preflop,

Hand 2 you should've bet a little less to test the waters,

Hand 3, you should've probably min-raised or at most 1k raised

Other than that, seems ok.

[DrPhysic]

I think Jason and Skierdude have your hands sorted exactly.

I was the world's worst heads up player. Kurn suggested in response to a post of mine that I should spend some time playing the HU SNGs on Stars. They start at $5.25. They go up as high as you want. You can also play 4 player match HU that is considerable fun. HU you make $20 for beating one player on a $10.50 investment. 4 player match you make $40 for beating 2 players for the same investment.

I played at least one HU SNG (usually 3 or 4) every day from mid February to early June. (Quit when I went on vacation. Prob should start in again.) It was late in the game that I started tracking results. That also helps. I recommend Stars because I feel the competition is a little stiffer even at the lower levels than some other sites.

Try it. You may lose a little at first, but the experience is worth the investment.

If you study the game, here is my list of short game and heads up references:

Brunson, SS NLHE “Short Handed play” P510.
Ciaffone, Improve Your Poker, “Shorthanded Poker”, p36.
Ciaffone, Middle Limit Holdem Poker, “Shorthanded Play”, P306.
Sklansky, Theorey of Poker, ch 21 “Heads Up on the End”, P199 (Only partially applicable to HU play, read in context).
Sklansky &amp; Malmuth, HEPFAP, Part 5, “Playing Short Handed”, p183.
Sklansky, HEP, “Head Up vs Multi-Way”, p70 (this is really about multi-way, you have to invert his logic).
Suzuki, Poker Tournament Strategies, “Playing Short-Handed Poker”, p103.
Sklansky, TPFAP, “Down to 2 Players”, p86.
Malmuth, Poker Essays, “Playing Short-Handed parts I &amp; II”, p151.
Malmuth, Poker Essays II, “A Few Simulations”, p81.
Malmuth, Gambling Theory &amp; OT, “Skills Required to Hit the Big Time” p94.
Feeney, Inside the Poker Mind, “Short-Handed Play: Don’t Miss Out”, p90.
There is a reference in Vorhaus, Killer Poker, but at the moment I can’t find it.

Today when I get in a short game or HU situation in an SNG, I have considerable confidence that I never had previously. (Edited Note: Within my choice of games and limits! Game selection is very important here.)

HU? NOW we're playing MY game, bubba... let's get it on!

GL

Doc /images/graemlins/smile.gif /images/graemlins/wink.gif /images/graemlins/cool.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[gergery]

Looking at these three hands, it looks like your opponent is either pretty good (aggressive/willing to bluff), or caught good hands and put pressure on you.

Personally, I would have folded 72s and 82o preflop. Those are only good to play against an opponent that folds too much. You have the worst of it for sure so while you might have +EV given pot odds on this specific hand, you have even more +EV on the next hand, and by playing every hand you encourage him to call more on your J6 kind of hands where you want him to fold. If you are going to play them, I’d bet them instead of calling for greater deceptive value and to give him a chance to fold.

I might have reraised my opponent on the 3-flush flop depending on my read of how tricky/loose he was. That underbet of only 800 into 4000 felt like no spades and putting pressure on you. A big raise from you to say 2700 should be enough to get him to fold if he has a weak ace, KK-TT or no spades (&gt;50% likelihood). You’re risking 2700 to win 4800 so it only needs to work 60% of time to be effective

Head to head is all about aggression. I rarely call preflop

--Greg

[gergery]

[ QUOTE ]

Hand one:
I fold preflop.

Hand two:
Pefect, I make a slightly smaller bet and fold to a reraise against a typical opponent.


[/ QUOTE ]


Why fold 72s but play 82o? That doesn’t make sense to me – they are both about as terrible, have similar deceptive value, but 72 should actually win more. Does his call really make him that weak?

--G

[Jman28]

He was in the BB with 82o. There was no bet to call.