toughts on optimal hu strategy
 

So I have been playing a decent amount of sngs on ftp over the last few days and I thiiiink I may be messing up some things even though I have a 14.5/11.1/11.9 distribution over my small 740 game sample since I got my new account. Anyways, I think I am having a bit of trouble when we both have around 20ish bbs. So, how do you guys play against someone who isnt that aggressive but plays well enough with no huge leaks? Are you making it 2.5bbs and folding to a push a lot or do you guys limp bet a lot? Any other info would be helpful with this, as I feel like this is the one part of my game that I could improve a decent amount.

Re: toughts on optimal hu strategy
 

when im that deep with a player i like to make it 2.5 and fold to a push if i dont have much of a hand (obv) lol but i play 6.50s so am rarely that deep hu, and my advice isnt really applicable probs lol as u play much higher

Re: toughts on optimal hu strategy
 

Are you really a wpt champion? If so thats awsome.

I would not bet 2.5 and fold to a push very often HU with 20bbs. Obviously everyone plays differently but if you do this often you are generally speaking giving him good places to make a high ev push. With 20bbs HU I limp a lot.

Looking at it from the opponents perspective wouldnt you love it if a good player(you) made 2.5 raises frequently then was tight with respect to your reraise push?

Re: toughts on optimal hu strategy
 

thats Jonathon Little yo, I think hes the WPT player of the year.

Seems to me that if villain isnt making too many mistakes and isnt playing that aggressively, Id rather (and tend to) make a lot of pf raises and fold to the push. I figure if opponents arent pushing back enough theres no reason to let them see a flop.

In general I like to try and get my opponent on his heels and playing reactively.

Im not sure how qualified I am to give you advice though (although I do have an insanely good first place ratio)

Re: toughts on optimal hu strategy
 

Jon,

I think it's really player dependent. Against bad, loose or unknown players, I limp a lot and try to play small pots in position. I find a lot of people won't raise out of the BB as much as they perhaps should. Against other good/aggro players, I'll mix in more raises with the limps. With 15-20 BBs you have room to fold if someone comes over the top. My general raise size is 2.5x BB but different amounts will have the desired effect against different people. I feel that the 15-20 BB range is awkward for me, as well, and I know of a few other top SNG players that struggle with what to do here also. I'm interested to hear what people have to say.

Re: toughts on optimal hu strategy
 

I watched sheets play a large sng on pokerxfactor once (im a subscriber but rarely watch the videos due to lack of time).

Anyway the way he played HU with 20bbs really surprised me. He folded more than 80% of his hands then shoved the rest. I dont know his reasoning.

Re: toughts on optimal hu strategy
 

Oh, one other thought, I know back in the party days I would just push like 95% of hands from the sb when I had 10bbs or less. I have been pushing a little less now when either of us has 4 or less bbs simply because people call muuuch lighter. Maybe its just because of the red name but I think it might be helping my results. Anyone else experienced the same thing?

Re: toughts on optimal hu strategy
 

we played the 215s together on party when you used to load them before the 5s, but i agree that people these days are calling MUCH MUCH lighter. I don't know if it is a fundamental lack of ICM or they believe that others lack the basic knowledge and are calling much lighter because of so. But I agree that heads up i've been getting called much lighter and some spots are almost laughable. It does also help with the red letters or on stars the SNGICONS, but best of luck and I am sure you'll be back in the swing of things in no time. PS, sngs are def. the way to go, don't worry about online cash games

Re: toughts on optimal hu strategy
 

Jon,

A bit OT, but I have a DB of the high buyin sngs from FT over the last five months or so that you might find useful in your games. Last time I checked it was over 35k games. PM me if you are interested in maybe swapping the db in ex change for a small MTT coaching session or something

Re: toughts on optimal hu strategy
 

[ QUOTE ]
I watched sheets play a large sng on pokerxfactor once (im a subscriber but rarely watch the videos due to lack of time).

Anyway the way he played HU with 20bbs really surprised me. He folded more than 80% of his hands then shoved the rest. I dont know his reasoning.

[/ QUOTE ]

ill go out on a limb here and say his reasoning was that he didnt want to give away any info on his HU play w/ those stacks lol

Re: toughts on optimal hu strategy
 

[ QUOTE ]
Oh, one other thought, I know back in the party days I would just push like 95% of hands from the sb when I had 10bbs or less. I have been pushing a little less now when either of us has 4 or less bbs simply because people call muuuch lighter. Maybe its just because of the red name but I think it might be helping my results. Anyone else experienced the same thing?

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure if you are talking about pushing in the SB/Button HU at the end of the game ITM, or just bvb in general in the SB. I know you and bigjoe advocate pushing pretty light with 10bbs in the regular game pre bubble, but I've been called light enough that I'm folding low trash now if villain is a reg, even in 16s, as I'll get called down by quite a few hands if reg is decent.

Re: toughts on optimal hu strategy
 

when ur down to 4bb i dont think it matters so much if u continue to shove wide, i dont think you should be tightening up much there as youve lost most of your equity and any hand that could play well vs his wide range is worth it that short.

as far as 20bb play, 2.5x and staying aggro from the button is pretty standard, limping with some nice SCs and good hands to control pots/take flops with. i dont have a problem 2 barreling on good cards and betting river after turn checks through and cbets get called because of how weak tight i feel like a lot of these players play. if you think the redname gets people to try to "keep you honest" or whatever BS is usually out there then id obv tone down the aggression in some of those spots and just try to control pots and see and just try and chip away and what not....id still be raising my Ax/kx hands but like the sexy SCs and and what not maybe ok to take more limp/call lines/float lines etc...

also if hes a reasonable player 20+ishbb is fine for restealing IMO. hard to discern random ranges but im sure you can run #s and figure out good ones based on reads.

Re: toughts on optimal hu strategy
 

[ QUOTE ]
I watched sheets play a large sng on pokerxfactor once (im a subscriber but rarely watch the videos due to lack of time).

Anyway the way he played HU with 20bbs really surprised me. He folded more than 80% of his hands then shoved the rest. I dont know his reasoning.

[/ QUOTE ]

At 20 bbs i definitely would not be folding or shoving. 2.5x and completing/betting most flops would also happen alot

Re: toughts on optimal hu strategy
 

btw i saw u at the world series a few times and you never said hi [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Re: toughts on optimal hu strategy
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I watched sheets play a large sng on pokerxfactor once (im a subscriber but rarely watch the videos due to lack of time).

Anyway the way he played HU with 20bbs really surprised me. He folded more than 80% of his hands then shoved the rest. I dont know his reasoning.

[/ QUOTE ]

ill go out on a limb here and say his reasoning was that he didnt want to give away any info on his HU play w/ those stacks lol

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe he's just not that good a dancer.

Anyways with 20 bbs it's super player dependent.
If hes passive cally limp and bet a lot of flops
If hes agro to your limps LRAI
If hes tight raise a bunch
Obviously this is over simplifying it but you should be mixing it up a bunch

Re: toughts on optimal hu strategy
 

Vs a lot of weak players you can just limp and min bet any flop and take it down. Like everybody else said everything is very player dependent. There are some regs that never adjust their ranges vs regs and shove waaaaayy too much with 10 bbs. Just call light and profit.

You'll get the feel back for HU's if you keep grinding SNGs especially if you aren't playing 12+ tables. Also, coach me on getting 100% rb.