(11s and 22s) Heads up Play

So I primarily play the 22s on PP after moving up from the 11s a while ago.

After PT my stats, i realized that i only win about 40% of my heads up. I consider myself a good HU player, as i used to win the HU matches on UB and just in B&M games and such, and everytime i go into a HU situation i usually consider myself the better player.

One reason i think my win% is so low is that i tend to take coin flips a lot in HU, especially when the blinds are high.
As we know, PP has a horrible blind structure where HU at the end becomes 4k chip stacks and 300/600 blinds. I constantly run into LAG pushbots who are pushing with everything, and many times after folding a couple consecutive hands i find myself shortstacked and then call with a losing hand. Usually my play is based off the HoH model with the 10%, 20%, and 30% hands and situations, but i find that i have trouble with large blind situations.

I think i can isolate my HU problem to that because I tend to be able to outplay my opponent when there is more flexibility in betting and soforth

any thoughts?

[bmxreed36]

When the blinds are 250/500, there is about 1/11 of all chips sitting out there before the hand starts and once it's 300/600, they amount to about 1/9 of the total chips making them very significant. With even stacks, if villian's calling range is any pair, any ace, KT+, and QJs, pushing any two cards is +EV. Basically, this just shows that when the blinds are high you can push ALOT of hands and you also have to loosen up with your calls somewhat. Many of them come down to getting lucky, but over time, if you are more aggressive than the other person and can steal those high blinds more than they can, it will pay off in the long run.

[HesseJam]

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...i tend to take coin flips a lot in HU, ...

...I constantly run into LAG pushbots who are pushing with everything, and many times after folding a couple consecutive hands i find myself shortstacked ...

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Now, what is it then?

[SonnyJay]

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I constantly run into LAG pushbots who are pushing with everything

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You should be one of these. The blinds are enormous, once it's at 300/600 more than 11% of the chips in the entire tournament are in the pot before your cards are dealt. You have to make pushes to pick these up. Maybe not necessarily every hand, but pretty damn close.

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I think i can isolate my HU problem to that because I tend to be able to outplay my opponent when there is more flexibility in betting and soforth

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Here's the thing...if you're playing with blinds this size and you aren't pushing a lot then you're being outplayed. You really can't fear getting called by a better hand, because you don't need them to fold all that often to make pushing the correct play. You absolutely have to do this. It'll be streaky, but your results will improve.

The correct strategy changes depending on the number of people left and the blinds (among other things). In a way, this is the easiest part of the tournament and you shouldn't be getting outplayed. Just push.

-SonnyJay

[KJ o]

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The correct strategy changes depending on the number of people left and the blinds (among other things). In a way, this is the easiest part of the tournament and you shouldn't be getting outplayed. Just push.

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The first part of your post is obviously correct, since we talk about HU here. I find that the number of players vary very infrequently in HU play, untill the tournament is over, in which case my strategy is either "start another one" or "go to bed".

But you are right in the second part. Push. Push everything. Against perfect opponents, you will win 47% of the time if you push *and* call *every* hand when blinds are as huge as they are at PP. Think about that figure a little bit.

The one piece of software that would dramatically improve everyone's play HU late in SnG's would be a superfast simulator where you play against someone who always pushes and always calls. You could probably play 500 tourneys in an hour and get a good grip on where you stand really quickly.

[Bluff Daddy]

I would recommend moving to another site with a slower structure or becoming a lag pushbot

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everytime i go into a HU situation i usually consider myself the better player.

[/ QUOTE ]Maybe if you're losing 60% of your heads ups you aren't actually the better player?

I think you've located your leak -- you aren't playing aggressively enough when the blinds are very high relative to the chips in play.

[playtitleist]

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You have to make pushes to pick these up. Maybe not necessarily every hand, but pretty damn close.


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How close? Seriously.

[ZeroPointMachine]

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Usually my play is based off the HoH model with the 10%, 20%, and 30% hands and situations, but i find that i have trouble with large blind situations.



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With the blinds this high you should be looking more at the 40%, 50% and 60% hands. If you are waiting for a top 30% hand then you are folding your first two hands on average. This is too big of a hole to overcome when the blinds are 250/500 or 300/600.

Push WAY more. There have been some nice posts on this topic in the past few weeks. Just search HU and heads up in the search function on this forum and you'll see.