any good resources on HU SNGs?

[Lurker4]

Hi, I play almost exclusively LHE cash games, full and 6-max, and have little real NL/SNG/MTT experience, and nearly no HU experience. A friend of mine wants me to play his first match for him in the WCOOP heads-up tourney b/c he will be busy for the first hour of the tourney. Are there any good resources/threads/websites/etc on playing HU SNGs? If not, any good tips, especially for someone who primarily plays LHE cash games? Any help appreciated, thanks

[bluefeet]

One of the most important things IMO is to MIX UP YOUR PLAY early. Picking up on your opponents betting/calling/raising patterns is paramount. Pay particular attention to his...make it as difficult as possible for him to do likewise.

Early in the match when the blinds are low is the time/place to change gears often. Alternate the hands you limp/raise with, lead/c-r with on the flop, etc. etc. Use this "cheap" time to cut of bluff attempts, occasionally calling down with less, raising hard occasionally his standard continuation bets, etc. While you don't want to dig yourself a hole too early...it is JUST as important that you create an image such that his 'standard' plays are constantly called into question.

As the blinds increase, so must your aggression. You'll find it a little easier to assert yourself later, when you've made the effort early to create the "formable+tricky" image. Of course when either of you get to the 10-15BB stage, you're done raising/calling PF...push,push,push.

There are some HU links in this thread, but most apply to the end of a SnG, when the blinds have reached the push/call point. Not too useful for the start of your HU match, but worth reading for your end-game.

Good luck!

[pergesu]

This is just an idea I had as I was reading TPFAP a bit earlier. I don't play any HU tourneys, so I'm just throwing it out, and hopefully someone can validate/invalidate it.

A key concept of tourney poker is that if you're one of the best players in a tourney, then you shouldn't take close gambles early on. This is because your stack compared to the stakes is pretty large, giving you plenty of room to play and exploit your skill advantage.

In a HU tourney then, it should be pretty easy to apply this, because you don't need to determine your edge relative to the field. You just determine if you're the better player or worse player. From there you can determine the minimum edge in a gamble you ought to take.

This is where it gets very subjective. What is the average skill difference in a HU tourney between two opponents? Edges of 55/45, 60/40, more? This will vary among different poker games, but I imagine NL hold'em would be fairly small - closer to 55/45 at best.

So this means that early on, you shouldn't take any gambles for your stack that put you at less than a 55% favorite if you're the better player. This is because you will almost certainly encounter a future situation where you can have a much greater advantage, due to your stack size. The higher the blinds, the less true this is - again, a fundamental tourney theory.

Perhaps then it's best to play a number of small pots early on to determine who has the upper hand, and play accordingly.

I think it could get a lot more complex than this, like determining minimum edges at various points in the tourney. But these are just some initial ideas that I had...you can probably find quite a bit of info in the HU forum.