1 GBP - My first STT - Heads up at the end

[onnel]

Reading the WSOP forum has gotten me interested in NL tournaments. I am a relatively newbie playing breakeven (before rake and bonuses) .5/1 and 1/2 short handed limit.

I started reading the first two Harrington books and playing some small freerolls using bonus points I had built up on the Tribeca network. In addition, after having read half of the first Harrington book (through his starting hand recommendations) I went ahead and bought in for my first SST, a whopping 1 GBP buyin SST paying out the top 3.

Obviously at this level the players were *bad*, though in comparison to the big freerolls I had played previously they were positively restrained. I was playing much more conservatively than the rest, and with 7 players left found myself in 3 place near the big stacks and far ahead of 4 small stacks.

Things got down to 3 handed with my stack being the middle of 3 relatively close stacks. At this point, the blinds were mostly being folded around and any raise was being folded to. Finally, someone bit and we were down to 2 fairly even stacks (say me with 4500 and my opponent with 5500) and blinds around 100/250.

Things ended on the following:

I had 89 suited in the BB. Opponent raised 500 and I called (500 to win 850 - probably a bad call heads up with low suited connectors, or?). Flop came 359 rainbow and my opponent went all in. I called, figuring that he probably didn't have a higher pocket pair. Could have a flopped set or 9s with a better kicker. Probably not a great call, but again the opposition at this level is weak. Still, in retrospect I think I should have folded it.

On a happy note, he showed A7 and didn't hit his 3 outer, so I won the very first STT I played for a whopping 5 pounds!

A couple of questions:

1. Calling with low suited connectors heads up against a relatively loose player heads up with 2:3 odds or so. Not a good idea, I'm guessing?

2. Can anyone recommend a good book or other source for playing heads up? I've never played heads up (I don't mean a single hand after being folded to, but rather hand after hand of heads up like at the end of a tournement) before, so I would like to learn more about it.

Again, I'm a total newbie to both NL and tournements, so any advice appreciated! I will definitely keep at Harrington's books, as I am really enjoying them.

Onnel

[ChoicestHops]

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1. Calling with low suited connectors heads up against a relatively loose player heads up with 2:3 odds or so. Not a good idea, I'm guessing?

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I think with your stack relative to the blinds you can call this. You are very healthy. Just dont fall in love with the hand.

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2. Can anyone recommend a good book or other source for playing heads up? I've never played heads up (I don't mean a single hand after being folded to, but rather hand after hand of heads up like at the end of a tournement) before, so I would like to learn more about it.

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Most heads up is not too difficult in a SNG. Alot of times you will have under 10x the BB and its near push/fold mode. Read HOH2 and buy Sit and Go Analyzer.

[oyvindgee]

I don't mind the call so much. If you know your opponent is a nit then you are probably better off letting it go, but whatever. Remember that HU you are playing suited connectors for pair value as well as the suited and conncetedness. I make the flop call as well.

Harrington has a decent heads up section in Harrington on HE Volume 2. Some of the advice is IMO disputable, but it's pretty good. There is also a HU forum here at 2p2.

[ChoicestHops]

Yeh I think most multi-tablers (i.e. 8 or more) will probably muck this, but IMHO I think with your stack related to the blinds you need to see a flop with the hand.