always a bridesmade

[reddred]

Looking for some tips on how to play heads up.......found myself in a heads up situation quite a few times on a single and 3 table SNG tourny, with the chip lead, even chips and the underdog, and have come in 2nd place every time. For instance I might have a hand like A9, raise preflop, then a K or Q on flop and I get raised. Basically if I don't have anything on the flop and the opponent bets, I find myself just folding, even w/ an Ace, trying not to chase or get caught bluffing and lose a lot of chips. Would seem like getting strong cards is even a bigger factor in heads up. Wondering if any of you have a process, or have acquired a skill for heads up that can help me. Thanks.

[Roman]

practice and be more aggressive.

[FISHLOVER]

I think headsup play is my strongest part so lets try something. First of all chips vs. blinds is the most important thing, sometimes there is a situation in SNG where blinds are example 640/1280 and you have 7k chips and opponent 3k chips you simply cant let him have free BB, raise him allin what ever you have. I saw well respected cash game player loosing a tournament when he was in 98k-11k chiplead in tournament because he kept giving opponent free big blinds at 2000/4000 level.

But if blinds are like 100/200 and you have 7k against opponents 3k, you can offcourse play little more solid.

2nd you shouldent never limp from SB, unless you are going to trap agressive opponent then you can limp with big pairs and AK, but this work only against stupid&agressive opponent.

And if you have bet preflop you must bet flop in headsup there is little chance that your opponent have catch anything. I think you can calm down after that if you dont have anything.

But most important thing in headsup play is read your opponent well, i think its pretty easy to read players at low limit tournaments they bet with good and fold bad cards. Against these guys you just keep firing and making them to fold all the time, in the end they will see that they are lowstacked and do pathetic allin.
But via-verca someone are overly agressive these guys you just have to trap, i think one of best plays against these guys is that if you call a preflop raise and flop something good go ahead and bet dont do a check-raise, but when you bet flop leave them space to think they can bluff you out when you actually hold good cards.

I strongly disagree what you said about catching good cards in headsup, in headsup its all about chips, blinds and reading your opponent.

Good luck in future.

[tdp]

I feel that your cards don't mean that much in heads up play.It's more of a mind game of representing cards.If you can get inside of your opponents head,you shouldn't be seeing that many showdowns.
The first thing I do when reaching heads up is test if my opponent is playing a game of cards or heads.If he's playing cards,I win period.You need to shift your plays up frequently to keep them on thier toes.

[Bakified]

Generally when I get heads up at the end of sit and gos, I go with some general guildlines.

1. If you got a A raise

2. If you got a K raise

3. If you got a Q in the BB and he just fills the bet, raise

4. If you make a pair on the flop, raise

5. If you have a PP raise

6. If you miss the flop and he checks, bet.

7. If you've got a significantly shorter stack then him, at any point where I said raise or bet go all in.

8. Just raise with absolute garbage sometimes just to keep them on their toes.

Basically I try to keep constant pressure on them, and get them into a subdued position where they are folding their blinds to you a lot waiting for a decent hand so they can "catch" you. While you should be aggresive, don't be suicidal. If you find the person has been folding a lot, and then they come back over the top of your K 7 raise, lay it down, at least the first time they do it.

The constant aggresion is a bit risky, but especially at high blind levels stealing a few blinds can make a decent shift in the balance of power. It also works nicely to disquise when you really do have a strong hand. Many times I've pushed someone around, and when they finally stand up to me they find out I had KK.

If you are on pokerstars the 5 dollar heads up matches are good places to get some practice playing heads up.

[reddred]

Thanks for the tips....one of the biggest hurdles I have to overcome is being more aggressive in short table situations..I seem to do much beter at a full table where I can just blend in and pick my spots..the times I have tried to play aggressive, and posture with hands I don't have, I've gotten burnt bad. The point you make about not limping from SB I have some questions about.....seems like about 75% of the time in poker, you get a garbage hand, maybe 20% a marginal-decent hand and 5% a really good hand. Do you always(or most of the time) fold w/ garbage hands from SB? Seems if you raise from SB more times than not, your oponent will think your full of sh**. I realize my very unscientific assessment of good and bad hand distribution applies to my opponent as well. And I know in my heads up matches I've had my blinds stolen more than a few times by opponents using your techniques. I guess I just have a hard time bluffing and acting aggressively when I know I've got absolutely nothing. I know I have to just switch gears in heads up. I'm actually good at extracting $ when I have a strong hand, It's just folding too much when I have nothing that I need to work on. I've only been playing for a short while, and just need to be in this situation more times so i can get a feel for it. Thanks for your tips......

[reddred]

Thanks alot.....hoping to get heads up again so I can try this out.....

[z32fanatic]

When I get it heads up at the end of a SnG, I usually am just pushing or folding. I find the blinds are usually 250/500 so I have less than 10BBs. I usually push with 2 cards 10 or higher, any Ace, and K8 or higher. It puts a lot of pressure on the opponent and he will often times fold his SB to you for fear of you pushing all in. If I'm in the BB, I will fold a lot of hands to any raise, basically reraising all in with A10 or higher or a pocket pair. I find this strategy pushes small edges, as low buy in players will call often times with hands such as KQ or QJs, which any ace is a favorite over. I have about a 55% win rate in SnG's heads up, but I'm happy with it because I am almost always the shorter stack.

[SossMan]

[ QUOTE ]
sometimes there is a situation in SNG where blinds are example 640/1280

[/ QUOTE ]

do they do some funky currency exchange for Finnish tourneys? 640/1280??
That's like playing $7.50/$15 limit.

[cferejohn]

[ QUOTE ]
Looking for some tips on how to play heads up.......found myself in a heads up situation quite a few times on a single and 3 table SNG tourny, with the chip lead, even chips and the underdog, and have come in 2nd place every time. For instance I might have a hand like A9, raise preflop, then a K or Q on flop and I get raised. Basically if I don't have anything on the flop and the opponent bets, I find myself just folding, even w/ an Ace, trying not to chase or get caught bluffing and lose a lot of chips. Would seem like getting strong cards is even a bigger factor in heads up. Wondering if any of you have a process, or have acquired a skill for heads up that can help me. Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm, when I play Party sit n goes I find that when it is heads up is is nearly *always* all-in-or-fold preflop time. Usually one player or the other has <10x the BB. Depending on your stack sizes, there's a pretty reasonable chance you should have pushed preflop.

Unless you are playing limit tournaments of course. All I can say about that is sometimes you need to keep pushing with ace high heads up against an aggressive opponent (sorry not more informative; haven't played a limit tournament on purpose in several years).