My heads up play is flawed..

splashpot · #1 09-02-2005, 01:05 AM

I have many more 2nds than 1sts. I attribute this to poor heads up play. I'm sort of at a loss about how to go about improving, so I guess I'll start by requesting any good heads up articles. Anyone know of any? Or are than any good posts here geared towards general heads up play? I'm just taking a stab in the dark because I don't know where else to start.

Karak567 · #2 09-02-2005, 01:07 AM

push every hand

btw there is a heads up forum <<<---

wiggs73 · #3 09-02-2005, 01:24 AM

First off, plenty of good posters here have more seconds than firsts over large numbers of SNGs. The structure of party poker SNGs sort of dictate that once you're heads-up, it's going to be a coin flip. If anything, I'd guess that you are playing too passively and not pushing enough.

Shilly · #4 09-02-2005, 01:35 AM

I think it's important to look at the amount you have in comparison to your opponent when you get HU. If you're losing a lot when you start with equal stacks, that could be a problem.

MegaBet · #5 09-02-2005, 02:40 AM

...or it could just be our friend "variance". I once went a whole day of 50+ tournies without a first (0-10). When I went over the histories, I couldn't see anything I did wrong. Just bad luck.

Scuba Chuck · #6 09-02-2005, 02:43 AM

[ QUOTE ]
push every hand

btw there is a heads up forum <<<---

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL, the headsup forum is for Limit players. Not much SNG or NL headsup advice there.

Profit · #7 09-02-2005, 02:45 AM

I don't consider myself a poor heads up player, but my numbers wouldn't indicated that I am a good heads up player.

2nd place > than my first place finishes by 4.1%

splashpot · #8 09-02-2005, 04:35 AM

I doubt my problem is not pushing enough. If anything, I think I push too much. My real problem is deciding when to call pushes when the blinds get huge enough.

Let's use an example. Even 4000 stacks. Blinds 300/600. Most hands thus far consist of the SB pushing, and the BB folding. What range do you call his push with?

HesseJam · #9 09-02-2005, 05:13 AM

[ QUOTE ]
...or it could just be our friend "variance". I once went a whole day of 50+ tournies without a first (0-10). When I went over the histories, I couldn't see anything I did wrong. Just bad luck.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this is correct. I am quite aggressive heads up and i have won 7 in a row followed by loosing 6 in a row. Not a lot you can do. Overall, I am 50/50.

As another poster said, stack sizes at the beginning of a match are crucial. But I guess you'll need more than 1000 tourneys under your belt to draw any conclusions. If you start the HU on average with significant lower chips than 4000 (let's say on average you have less than 3200) you should analize your ITM (last three left) play and maybe more important, your bubble play.

As long as you do not have the data rely on a very very aggressive strategy and you shouldn't lose much EV.

diebitter · #10 09-02-2005, 06:01 AM

If the blinds are not insignificant and you're reasonably matched, min-raise or raise x4BB 4 out of 5 hands (semi-random and about 50/50, but any good hands should always be x4BB). If he reraises and you haven't got any good, fold (take time to do so). Don't bother calling except maybe 1 in ten times just to give variety, unless you got AA,AK,KK, which can be slowplayed.

If he calls, raise the pot on the flop if it hits you, or you think it hasn't really hit him (low card flops for example), and fold to a reraise if it's not good for you. The exception to this is if there's a 2 flush - here you check and min-bet, and if card 3 of the suit hits, play it like you got the flush and pray he hasn't. Not every time though - cos he'll have the flush eventually [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] 2 in 5 times is reasonable.

Don't be afraid of a call, just bet the pot again at the turn if the card isn't too scary. Again, if he reraises, fold if you think you got the worse of it, call/raise/all-in otherwise.

This should drive his stack down so much, that he'll finally get peeved and all-in, but you should have plenty to cover it, so if you have anything reasonable, call. The odds arent that bad whatever you got IF he hasn't got a big pair.

Finally, if you realise someone is doing the above to you, you're strategy must be to reraise back reasonably frequently.

Ya got it - you win consistently heads-up by stealing (to be able to see all-ins and lose, but still have enough chips to play), not by the all-in on coin-flips.