almost stop raising out of position NLTRN

[MannOhneGitarre]

I play 10$ heads-up at Pokerstars.

When the blinds are still low (15/30), I usually don't raise hands like A9o or 55 when I'm out of position.
I just raise the big hands like AQs/o or JJ, and I make a c-bet every time after I raised.

On the contrary if I'm in position and the BB raises after I call, I play very loose, including hands like 57o or K5o.

I think position is so important in heads-up matches that I think I have the best of it if I play in raised pots almost only in position and then I'd like to be the raiser.

It kind of works out, but I only played about 30 matches. what do you think about it?

[Stoneflip]

At lower levels (<$11), it definitely works, but as you move up you will have to mix it up more, because better opponents will take advantage of your blind. But at <$11, enough people will play hands OOP to make it a fine strategy.

[bluffbetter]

I think you need to raise A9 at least half the time OOP. As long as you don't start raising too loosely, any reasonably tight player will likely respect any rare raises you do make. And it's probably good to make it 4 BB because you don't mind them folding. But against a very loose player it might be best to just call out of position because you will have a big advantage against their loose post-flop play and most flops will not come ace or nine high, so if they areboth loose and aggressive then you won't know where you stand.

If you are on 15/30 blinds and have played about 30 or more hands, then if they have hardly raised at all then calling with 57 in position is probably a bad idea, especially if they raise 4 or more BBs. And I think if you are going to call with these kinds of hands even to a 3BB raise then your opponent needs to have raised something like 10/30 hands at least. But you have to allow for the fact that most peoples raising percentage is higher in the SB then the BB so their hand is likely to be better when they raise in BB.

[stillnotking]

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I think position is so important in heads-up matches that I think I have the best of it if I play in raised pots almost only in position and then I'd like to be the raiser.

[/ QUOTE ]

You are correct, sir. This is no less true at the $550s than at the $10s. Raising OOP when the money is deep is very rarely correct, and if I'm going to do it, I'd much rather do it with 76s than A9o or 55. (Obviously big pairs and AK are worth an OOP raise, but I don't even raise AQ unless I think the opponent is weak/passive.)

As the blinds get bigger, position matters less, of course.

[bluffbetter]

I don't see how you can say that AK is so much better than AQ in a heads up game. Neither of them are made hands and AQ vs a Queen high flop is extremely likely to be the best hand even taking into account your opponent called your PFR.

Even 3 or 4 handed and in 1st position AQ is a huge hand.

[stillnotking]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't see how you can say that AK is so much better than AQ in a heads up game. Neither of them are made hands and AQ vs a Queen high flop is extremely likely to be the best hand even taking into account your opponent called your PFR.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not that AK is "so much better" than AQ. Actually, most of the value of both comes from dominating weaker aces, which is unlikely to be the case if the opponent limped. AK is a marginal raise OOP -- part of the value is to camouflage your raises with big pairs, BTW -- and AQ is a marginal check. (Of course, when I say "I raise X" or "I check X" I don't mean every single time, I mean I tend to take that action.)

There are two possibilities if you raise AK/AQ OOP and are called. You flop a pair, bet, and probably get no action; or you don't flop an pair, bet, and HOPE you don't get action.

[ QUOTE ]
Even 3 or 4 handed and in 1st position AQ is a huge hand.

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...which is a completely different situation, because 3 handed 1st position is the button, and 4 handed it's the cutoff (meaning 2/3 of the time you get action you will act last postflop).

[ChicagoRy]

I generally try to get a read early on if my opponent is going to call my raises OOP too often. If he is then I will just raise with straightforward premium hands, a very small percentage.

If he's not going to be a station with PF raises, I will usually mix up lower suited connectors and gappers in with premium hands.

But there is a huge difference between raising a limp and 3-betting a raise and it totally varies player to player. It's one of those things you need to learn the basics for each type of player and play a ton to realize exactly how you should play each person.

You can also get an idea of how a person is going to react to a 3-bet by how he reacts to your bets/raises in certain spots postflop, that way you don't feel the need to make a 3-bet early on when you're not catching hands and you can get somewhat of a read before you put in a 3-bet.

I would definitely be much happier splitting trash hands and premium hands than having to 3-bet something like A9o. Have fun playing flops OOP in huge pots with those types of hands.

Also, to OP: if you're limp calling with hands like 57o, etc. against a player raising every limp, you might as well raise those types of hands if his fold to a raise in the bb % seems somewhat high. Save PPs for a limp there and then come over the top 3-5x of his BB raise, depending on how much of a station/action junkie he is. Usually people play any ace and good king and obviously PP for a huge limp-reraise, I think they seem to think it's you getting fed up so often or "he doesn't think I'm this strong." Either way, it's one of the most exploitable plays at the lower and mid level HU SNGs.

[mbillie1]

[ QUOTE ]
At lower levels (<$11), it definitely works, but as you move up you will have to mix it up more, because better opponents will take advantage of your blind. But at <$11, enough people will play hands OOP to make it a fine strategy.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've found this to be true as well. Also if your opponent is predictable (regularly passive or aggressive) you can just adjust and play comfortably OOP (either leading/3betting or c/r c/f)