HU Strategy

[kleraudio]

how bout this scenario

HU blinds = 300/600

You - 4500
Opponent - 3500

You are in SB and hold K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

what is your play now??

[rachelwxm]

a typical 70/30 rule calls a push here.
But if your opponent do not defend his blind well and only reraise w absolute mosters, you might try to steal with min cost. HP play is very player/flow dependent.

[DrPhysic]

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 as it is not indexed, I can't seem to find it.

I second the notion of playing HU games at stars starting at lower buyins and moving up as you become comfortable with the game. That is what I have done over several months thanks to some input on 2+2. My short table and HU game has improved considerably from that practice.

Doc

[rachelwxm]

thanks, how is the blinds increase for HP there? And how long does one typically last? I guess once blinds are sizable, it gets closer to normal SNG HPs?

[DrPhysic]

Rachael,

The early play can be very conservative or can end in one hand. A HU game will normally last 15 or 20 minutes as an estimate. You need to read your opponent as quickly as possible. I often throw in a minraise bet just to see if he will fold. I often throw in a more than 4-5bb bet with a half decent hand just to see what he will do. I often call an early 300 bet, just to see what he has. Sometimes I find the player is extremely loose and adjust accordingly. If I throw in that 300 call and find out he had KK rather than a bluff or semi-bluff, I have to tighten quickly.

You are right that as the blinds increase, the game becomes more like the last two at a SNG table, because the stack/blind ratio has become somewhat the same, and you hopefully have a decent read on the other player which should be true HU in a SNG. This starts to occur at 50/100 and is certainly true at 100/200.

Remember in your play that, unlike a full table, he also only has one person to read, therefore, you must learn to change gears quickly.

Doc

[RacersEdge]

That would be the kind of hand I can't see pushing...K4o is a 52% fav against a random hand, so I see that meaining the only calls you are going to get are from someone in that huge 48% zone that has you beat.

[rjb03]

[ QUOTE ]
That would be the kind of hand I can't see pushing...K4o is a 52% fav against a random hand, so I see that meaining the only calls you are going to get are from someone in that huge 48% zone that has you beat.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good luck waiting for a hand that is a big favorite against random hands at these blinds. Also, who said you want a call with K4o? Picking up the blinds here would be great and would happen much of the time. If you'll only get called when you're beat as you say, I would push much more often.

[TacoVendor]

I won a PL SnG last night with K3o as the last hand. It beat out QJo when neither of us paired up anything.

My stack at that point was at about 6500 and the blinds were at 400-800. I had posted in the SB and raised and he pretty much had to call with anything there.

We actually went heads up pretty early in the blind structure at Party so I was able to portray a very tight image early on by folding a few times in the SB (blinds were 100-200 at that point). I honestly had junk cards early on but was folding off the SB and just completing and then folding to a raise preflop. After doing this a few times and then us getting right about even in chips (he was less than 500 up on me) I took advantage of the blind increase and started pushing hard.

I find it typical at the Party low levels ($6 and $11) that once someone gets a 'read' about your play they don't notice quick enough when it gets changed up. With the way the blinds increase so fast in HU play you can take out a good portion of their stack before they accomodate the change in strategy.

[rachelwxm]

I did not advocate pushing 100% of time here. If you can steal cheaply, by all means. But I would argue pushing is not that bad. Let’s use a little bit math, shall we?

We know K4o is 1.1 against any two, 1:2.1 dog against top 25%.
According to ICM your equity
Before posting blinds 41.3
Push K4o and no call 42.8
Push K4o and lost all in 32.5
Push K4 and win 50

So if your opponent will call with top 25% of hands, your average equity is 41.6 and if he call with any two, your average equity is 41.7. Both are higher than 41.3!

This means it’s at least a slightly positive EV to push. The tigher your opponent the more positive EV push is.

If you feel you can significantly outplay your opponent, then you might want to wait for better odds. Simple strategy can only mitigate skill gap between you and expert player, not make you an expert player. The latter requires a lot of hard work.

Just my 2 cents.
[img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[eastbay]

[ QUOTE ]
I did not advocate pushing 100% of time here. If you can steal cheaply, by all means. But I would argue pushing is not that bad. Let’s use a little bit math, shall we?

We know K4o is 1.1 against any two, 1:2.1 dog against top 25%.
According to ICM your equity


[/ QUOTE ]

Just a little nit: you don't need ICM for heads-up. Prob. of 1st is fraction of chips, and there's only one other possibility.

eastbay