HU Strategy - Use of the Call

[lstream]

The general prevailing wisdom at full tables is that "callers are losers". After playing quite a lot of HU, recently I have started to think that calling is a lot more valuable HU than I previously thought. I wonder what everone else thinks.

When I play a more passive player HU that just calls many of my third street raises (lots of stealing and raising with lesser strength heads up), the lack of definition of where I stand makes it tougher to play fourth and fifth streets. I think I am more prone to errors when this is going on. You start to think "is he on a draw", "is he setting a trap", "am I really ahead and if so by how much". Decision-making becomes more complex.

With certain players, I have adopted a more passive, calling approach on third and fourth and it seems to unsettle them a lot. They make more mistakes and end up deeper in hands than they should be. With one guy in particular, when I was trying to match his aggression, I was getting killed as he had this frustrating ability to outdraw me all the time. I know that is variance, but nevertheless it was expensive. With the modified style, I have turned the tables since he seems unsure of himself now in the mid streets. I think he is making a lot more mistakes. Now the problem is that he wont play with me very much.

Anyone have any thoughts on the usefulness of calling a lot more when HU?

[Andy B]

Heads-up stud isn't my strong suit, but I have had some success playing heads-up LHE live. I will frequently just call along with moderate-strength hands such as top pair/weak kicker and let the other guy bluff off his money. I don't do this every time, obviously, but it's definitely in my bag of tricks. I will also do this in stud, but I think that it's less effective. I think the reason that it's less effective is that at some point you want the other guy to fold. It's not so bad having the other guy draw cheaply when he's drawing to 0-5 outs. In stud, you're frequently looking at a 60/40 proposition, so if a raise knocks the other guy off of the 40 end (or the 60 end!), you've accomplished something.

[Brad1970]

lstream, FWIW, I watched you play HU for a few minutes the other night & I thought you played fine. You were winning. But I'm like Andy, not much of a HU person, so what do I know...

[Poker CPA]

I play about 40% HU or 3 way. It's not that complex. The less tricks the better.

[lstream]

Another useful post - thanks CPA.

[SA125]

I'm starting to re-think the prevailing common wisdom in stud and this is one of the areas. Andy hit on the reason - the majority of the time the fav isn't that big a fav. In holdem, the numbers are usually around 3-1 on flop and 4-1 on turn. That's pretty good.

In stud, I think most of the standard type of confrontation's, both h/u and multi-way, are a lot closer in the advantage on 3rd and 4th. Therefore the early aggression isn't rewarded as much for the hand in the lead. In fact, it rewards the chaser much more than in holdem. So pounding later when the edge is higher is more rewarding. Maybe I'm wrong.

[SittingBull]

heads-up. If one is conservative,then he will usually bust out of the game.
One MUST struggle more for ante recoupment in this type of game in order to survive.
H
3-card starter hands like one big live card with a 2-suit(live) needs to be played--and MOST of the time,should be played aggressively on both 3rd and 4th Sts.
U are setting up a possible steal on 5th if U connect with a scare card and UR Oppo. bricks out.

However,if U have a high card showing,U will sometimes need to fold 3rd St. in order to influence UR Oppo.'s thinking for future plays when U will play aggressively showing a high card on 3rd.
It is important NOT to fall in any sort of routine when playing heads-up---otherwise UR OppO. will establish a "read" on U. Hence,U WILL be doomed.
[img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]HappyPokering,
SittingBull