Help a sit-n-go player who doesn't understand deep stack heads-up

[Skipbidder]

I play almost exclusively SNGs. I throw in the odd MTT to break things up (or when I find a reasonable overlay). I decided to take a break tonight and just play MTTs instead.

I find myself heads up in one tournament while the blinds are still very low in comparison to our stacks (well, at least compared to what I'm used to in SNG-land). We have roughly even stacks with about 65 BBs each. This guy has been sitting over me at the final table and straight up outplaying me. I had a pretty good chip lead and he really kept me from running over the table.

Obviously, in the future, my best bet would be to just get some practice heads up and try to outplay him.

For this tournament, I decided to do a lot of all-in pushing from the SB. Can anyone tell me how big an underdog I have to be before it is mathematically correct to push any two from the small blind given that we both have about 65 BBs? The play felt really absurd at the time, but there has to be a point where I'm a significant enough dog to make it right.

Thanks,
Skip

[Jman28]

You'd have to be something like a 30/70 dog for this to make sense. (total estimate)

Even with 65 bbs, I think you can do better than that.

[billyjex]

Play the heads up sng's on stars for practice. You're eventually going to need to learn how to post flop if you want to be a great player.

[DonHansen]

I am in no way a skilled HU-player, but in the low-stake STTs I play a lot of ($20+2 buy-in) I find that I outplay most of the players I meet HU. My experience is that there's one key-point in HU-play: See the flop.

If I'm SB I'll call with any two cards. If my opponent pick up on this and always reraise my calls, I'll throw away the worst hands like 32,42,73 and such, but call the raise with anything else to see the flop. I'll call an unraised pot with everything.

I'll raise with any A,K,Q or J, any two cards T and up, any pair, any suited connector down to 56. Big pairs I tend to slowplay or raise 50/50. I will call almost every standard raise with any two cards in order to see the flop. Heads-up you almost always have the odds to call anyway. If the opponent is really weak I will raise every hand. When he finally plays back at me I'll know he have something and fold, unless I've picked up a hand myself.

If I hit any pair on the flop I'll raise. Top pair any kicker is a monster heads-up. If I'm ten times or so the stack of my opponent I'll put him all-in with any two cards.

My experience is that a lot of players at this level don't grasp the fact that in heads-up almost any hand is playable. There's no bad startinghands in HU, only bad flops.

Aggression is the key: The most aggressive player will win the HU-play. Unexperienced players will put you all-in when they finally play a hand. This actually might not be a bad play on their part, because the longer a HU-match lasts, the more of a edge the better player have. Call the all-in with any A or any pair if you have them covered. Fold if you have a rotten hand and just keep on stealing. For every all-in from a rookie player you fold, you will steal four pot's, so just take your time. Eventually the other player will go in when you have a big hand.

And then it's over.

D.

Push pairs as if they were the nuts. If you get a pair pre flop it is so likely to be the best hand that you want to get as much money in as possible. Do the same with aces to a lesser degree unless the kicker is above average, in which case play it as if it were the nuts pre-flop.
You always have the odds to call from the small blind whatever two cards you are holding. Only fold the worst 20% when they auto raise a flat call. If they do this you can try limping with top 20% hands sometimes and try and catch them out.
I find deep stack HU to be pretty tricky myself and much prefer higher blinds. You have to find a good balance between patience and aggression, something only practise will teach you.

Deep-stack HU is freaking tricky. It's a lot less formulaic and a lot more player-dependant than regular SnGs.

I generally try to play position a lot. I will raise most hands from the SB, and fold a lot of hands to raises from the BB.

Other than that.. play HU SnGs on Stars. They are fun and interesting if you want a break from SnGs and will obviously improve your HU play.

[daveymck]

I am playing the hu sng's on stars for practice at the moment was all at sea in the first few but have reread the Harrington chapter and used that as a decent basic framework to give me an idea what to do.

There was a plan that HUSH would split and would be left with a HU forum but that seems to be going out of the window.

I find that the biggest thing that has impreoved my HU game is to raise with your trash cards preflop (hopefully ending the hand right there, if not and your played back at either pre or post flop then, its easy enough to let go since it is trash. there is the chance that your hand will hit and it will be beautifully disguised for big payday) and limp with your good hands. He'll get tired of your raises and when you limp, he'll want to put in his own raise. You will need to mix it up a little bit otherwise it will become a little to predictable. You will not believe how good this works. Remember your preflop raise amounts do not have to be large, minimum raising works most of the time, because on any given hand, usually each player is dealt garbage.

If your opponent is paying attention he's going to pick up on that mighty quick.

as i stated --- "You will need to mix it up a little bit otherwise it will become a little to predictable."

trust me, works like a charm, only players it will not work on HU are the push/fold bots.