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  #11  
Old 08-01-2005, 10:00 AM
Maulik Maulik is offline
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Default Re: Need advice on HU play

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And if its not suited?

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I still push!

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I concur.
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  #12  
Old 08-01-2005, 10:02 AM
tigerite tigerite is offline
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Default Re: Need advice on HU play

Does anyone like the call by Villian with 22, by the way? I really don't. I want 44+ to call in his spot.
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  #13  
Old 08-01-2005, 10:06 AM
45suited 45suited is offline
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Default Re: Need advice on HU play

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Does anyone like the call by Villian with 22, by the way? I really don't.

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Neither do I. I fold and push the next hand.
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  #14  
Old 08-01-2005, 10:24 AM
Uppercut Uppercut is offline
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Default Re: Need advice on HU play

I stopped reading after your first action on your first hand history. I know 32o is the worst headsup hand there is, but you are on the button and in position after the flop, which is a huuuuuge advantage. I always complete my small blind PF when headsup, UNLESS my opponent always raises his BB pre-flop. Only then I will throw trash like 32o away. But, the first decent hand I get (top 30%), I'm completing and then going all-in to his inevitable BB raise.

PS I've only played 97 SnGs, but my headsup record is 17-2.
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  #15  
Old 08-01-2005, 12:47 PM
DrPhysic DrPhysic is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: San Antonio, Tx
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Default Re: Need advice on HU play

Wevie,

“So, what I'm seeing is that my medium suited cards need to be played more...”

Yes, depending on circumstances. Your stack, his stack, and position primarily. T9s, J8s, Q3s, and K2s are the lowest of the top 40% of all hands and usually not bad plays esp if you are first in. They are 52% or better to win played to the river against a random hand. Lower suited connectors are only 50% or worse against a random played to the river.

“...Kx isn't always a good push.”

Any king hand in HU play is not a bad hand but not all kings were born equal. KK – KJs are in the top 10% of all hands, K8s, KTo and up are in the top 20%, K5s, K7o and up are in the top 30%, K2s, K4o are top 40%, and K3o, K2o are only top 50%.

Your K6s is in the top 30% of all hands and 56.6% to win against a random hand. (If you don’t have PokerStove poker calculator, get it. www.pokerstove.com) You have a 10BB stack, therefore you are OK, not desperate yet. He has 9BB and is in about the same position, but you have him covered. This is a pretty good place to get all his chips in the middle. Don’t be led down the garden path, however, by the push/fold crowd. Is pushing the best way to get the chips on the table? I don’t think so in this case. Bet 1200 or 1600, to see if you can get a rise out of him. If he raises, you have all the chips in right then. If he calls, you put him in on the flop because you now have him pretty close to being pot committed. By raising instead of pushing you give him an opportunity to play a bunch of medium hands that he would probably have folded against a push.

“From the SB I should be raising more with 10-7 suited and other similar hands?”

Let’s start lower than that: On your first hand, 32o, he put 200 in the BB, you put 100 in. There’s 300 in the pot and it only costs you 100 to call. 3-1 pot odds. Any 2 cards are no worse than 2-1 against a random hand. So you always have pot odds to call from the SB. If he catches on and starts coming over every time you limp, you’ll have to back off and not do it all the time. You’d be amazed how many people playing HU, never get it.

Now, from SB should you be raising with T7s etc? Here is a place where you use the “Any 2 cards can win” philosophy. The lowest hands that fall in the top 50% of all hands (even money to win against a random played to the river) are Q2s, Q5o, J5s, J8o, T7s, T9o, and 98s. But you can even dig deeper than that if you want. The super aggressives like Hanson and Ivey do it all the time with hands like 86s (or worse). He who bets first has the advantage. The gap concept says the other guy has to have a hand he thinks is enough better than your opener to call. Bob Ciaffone calls it “Right of first bluff.”

Another way to look at the same thing is: “Did you give him the opportunity to fold?” If you don’t raise, he does not have the opportunity to fold. Every time you just call PF from the small blind, you let him look at 3 free cards.

“How about the suited connectors?”

You already have this right. Suited connectors play well in hands with lots of players. They need big wins for a small investment to pay off the few times they actually win. Heads Up is a big card game.

Please don't take my word for it. Here are some heads up or shorthanded references that may help.

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 & 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 Shorthanded, Part 1&2, p151.
There is a reference in Vorhaus, Killer Poker, but I can’t find it.
King Yao, Weighing the Odds in Holdem Poker, p250 (this is a limit holdem book)
Brunson SS II NLHE “Short Handed play” p618
Harrington, Harrington on Holdem Vol II, Part 11 Short tables, p275
Harrington, Harrington on Holdem Vol II, Part 12 Heads Up, p363

Some of these are short references on HU, not worth the investment just for the HU information. Read if you have it. The one I would buy just for the HU section is HOH Vol II.

Doc [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]
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  #16  
Old 08-01-2005, 07:13 PM
Wevie Wevie is offline
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Default Re: Need advice on HU play

Great post Dr.

I'll definitely go back and re-read some of those book sections. HoHv2 should be here this weekend.

Give them a chance to fold. Guess I never thought of it that way. A concept I'll have to ponder.
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  #17  
Old 08-01-2005, 08:09 PM
DrPhysic DrPhysic is offline
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Location: San Antonio, Tx
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Default Re: Need advice on HU play

If you thought HOH VI was good, and you want to know how to play HU, you're going to LOVE VII.

BTW, I also am still a learner. I only placed 11th in the 128 player HU Holdem Matches on Stars yesterday. I'll try to do better in the 256 player HU match tonight.

Doc
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