weird pf behavior HU
 

I was sitting HU with a guy who was fairly aggressive, but I don't think he was a very good player or anything.

One thing that he was doing that was starting to get under my skin, though, is raising whenever I would complete the small blind (this happened fairly often, but since his pfr was something like 20% it could have just been coincidence during this sample size).

How do you fight this?

I mean, for the most part, we were playing an honest game preflop, with the occassional move from each of us, but I hated calling two bets with something like 85s.

So I can think of two ways to fight it (to prevent him from stealing all my completions):

1) limp-re-raise with good cards
(unfortunately, this means that I'm limping good cards [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] )

2) limp-re-raise with bad cards
(over the long term, this is -EV)


Any ideas?

Re: weird pf behavior HU
 

I'm assuming he's in the bb. Anyways, you should be raising him a lot infact. And if its just you 2, hands that require implied odds to do well (ie-> when people complete any 2 suited cards in the sb) go down in value, since you dont have other people calling with you.

Just raise him with good hands, almost as much as you would from the button. If he plays back at you, dont be afraid to punish him with 3bets.

Re: weird pf behavior HU
 

hes making a good play and you should be doing it yourself. the first adjustment is that you should play tighter against a bb that raises frequently.

depending on how he plays one plan is to continue to limp, but work in some reraises with your good hands as you suggest. but you dont want to become predictable, you still have to raise good hands sometimes. limp rereaising with bad cards isnt going to work, but work in the occasional curveball with something like 98s or whatever.

another option is to always openraise as the sb. hard to give guidelines as to when to do what as its a complicated situation. you have to consider how the postflop situations are working out.

Re: weird pf behavior HU
 

i never complete from the SB heads up, so this is never an issue for me. what kinds of hands are you completing?

Re: weird pf behavior HU
 

You should consider completing less often, and instead choosing to raise or fold. I think, (but am not sure) that it would be difficult to start implementing a limp reraise strategy on the fly. this is mainly b/c the type of hands that you want to lrr dont come very often => thus opponent doesnt really perceive the lrr as a danger to his current strategy. with maybe some practice and analysis off the poker table, i think it would be more effective.

i am just theorizing here though, i dont have much experience in the area.

Re: weird pf behavior HU
 

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i never complete from the SB heads up, so this is never an issue for me.

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Re: weird pf behavior HU
 

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i never complete from the SB heads up, so this is never an issue for me.

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Are you guys saying that at a heads-up table, whenever you're in the SB, you're NEVER completing?

I'm not sure if that's a correct play.

Re: weird pf behavior HU
 

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i never complete from the SB heads up, so this is never an issue for me. what kinds of hands are you completing?

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85s, for example.

I'm playing any suited, any connected, any high cards, any pair. Pretty loose, maybe 40%... so not quite ANY suited, but getting there.

Re: weird pf behavior HU
 

HU where the button is the BB, completing in the SB is pretty bad.
Basically, you are OOP for the rest of the hand, telling him that you don't really like your hand, and giving him a free look at the flop with whatever garbage he's holding.

Re: weird pf behavior HU
 

In NL HU vs an aggressive player you fold your crap hands (J2o, 93o, and so on) You limp 2/3 with premiums, raise 1/3. The rest you might call or might raise.

I wonder if a similar principle applies at limit. The OOP is what really hurts.

If he is aggressive and a bad player then limp reraising, and check raising him a lot will get him to change speed. If he is a good player I would just move to easier pickins'.