To flip or not to flip NLCASH

[linuxrocks]

I am newly starting HU as I wanted to put myself in more marginal situations post-flop. I am a winning player at 400NL 6-max and starting 100NL HU. I played a bit of 50NL HU, but I didn't find any thing I can learn from my opponents. Expectedly, 100NL is more aggressive and my opponents have a clue. One of the guys really got to me primarily because he was ready to call any all-ins on the flop with any draw including flush draw. I was clearly ahead with TPGK both the times and lost. I tilted off another stack to him before quitting. I was thinking about it and realized that it was a near flip or 55/45 against his draws. How do you play against such opponents? He was decent, but I was slowly chipping away otherwise.

I'll give you a simple scenario. I raise 3x with KQo, get called. Flop Q69 rainbow. I bet, he raises. I know he has a draw. I push, he calls with 78 and hits. Same story. I have J7 and flop comes JXX to clubs. I bet, he pushes, I call. He rivers a flush after calling with A7 clubs. Both cases, I am ahead, but only by a slight margin. He probably had enough equity.

Now, my questions is: Is it better to see the turn and river? Check/fold if he hits? How do you guys play against such players who are going to increase your variance? Ride the luck wave?

[xSCWx]

You need to really mass hands in HU to get over the variance. If you guys are racing and your edge is enough to beat the rake there isn't much else you can do.

Against players who I know are drawing I do one of two things:

a) All in to either push them off or force them to put money in while behind.
b) Bet flop, bet turn (if they miss), check/fold river if they hit, check/call if they miss. Most players will instashove their missed draw if checked into on a big hand like this.

[People_Mover]

welcome to the variance of heads up. Keep getting the money in good, and you'll wind up on top. gl

[TNixon]

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Both cases, I am ahead, but only by a slight margin.

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In the first hand, your margin is quite a bit better than "slight", and unless you're both pretty short to begin with, he does not have odds to call your push.

You should be willing to take that "flip" until the end of time, with great glee, since you're a 67% favorite.

The second one is a lot closer (about 53%), and since you're on the calling end rather than the pushing end (and since you have J7, you're probably not *massively* invested in the pot already), you can consider letting it go to the push, since unless your opponent is a donktard, you're really only ahead of the flush draw.

As for whether it's better to see the turn and river, that's really more a comfort level question. Bigger pots lead to higher variance and bigger swings. If you have enough of a roll and enough mental stamina (and don't underestimate what that really means, because it can really get a lot tougher than I bet most players imagine possible) to ride out the swings, then you'll be better off in the long run aggressively pushing even small edges, since I don't think you have to win as often in cash as you do in sngs to beat the rake, especially if you're playing bigger pots on average. (I could be wrong there though)

[linuxrocks]

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Both cases, I am ahead, but only by a slight margin.

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In the first hand, your margin is quite a bit better than "slight", and unless you're both pretty short to begin with, he does not have odds to call your push.

You should be willing to take that "flip" until the end of time, with great glee, since you're a 67% favorite.

The second one is a lot closer (about 53%), and since you're on the calling end rather than the pushing end (and since you have J7, you're probably not *massively* invested in the pot already), you can consider letting it go to the push, since unless your opponent is a donktard, you're really only ahead of the flush draw.

As for whether it's better to see the turn and river, that's really more a comfort level question. Bigger pots lead to higher variance and bigger swings. If you have enough of a roll and enough mental stamina (and don't underestimate what that really means, because it can really get a lot tougher than I bet most players imagine possible) to ride out the swings, then you'll be better off in the long run aggressively pushing even small edges, since I don't think you have to win as often in cash as you do in sngs to beat the rake, especially if you're playing bigger pots on average. (I could be wrong there though)

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Very good points. I was thinking the same that I could have folded the second hand. I have no problem with the variance as I want to really become mentally tough and learn to play post-flop much better. Is HU the right way to learn this?

[TNixon]

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learn to play post-flop much better

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I believe HU is a very good way to do this.

And...

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I want to really become mentally tough

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This is absolutely a sink-or-swim issue.

There is a very good chance playing heads-up will make you consider quitting poker entirely multiple times. If you think you might sink, I would recommend sticking with something else. It will get bad. It will get worse than you can possibly imagine it getting. In fact, at some point, it will likely get so bad that you will wonder if the universe itself is conspiring against you, because it simply should not be possible to lose as much as you will to players who play as badly as they do.

I thought I was pretty mentally tough coming in (as in, I didn't think I needed to learn it), but I have nearly broken many times, and it doesn't take much browsing of the monthly low-content posts at all to see half a dozen people coming apart at the seams at any given time.

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[xSCWx]

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This is absolutely a sink-or-swim issue.

There is a very good chance playing heads-up will make you consider quitting poker entirely multiple times.

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I chuckled. "What does not kill you makes you stronger."

Just better hope it doesn't kill you!!!

[linuxrocks]

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learn to play post-flop much better

[/ QUOTE ]
I believe HU is a very good way to do this.

And...

[ QUOTE ]
I want to really become mentally tough

[/ QUOTE ]

This is absolutely a sink-or-swim issue.

There is a very good chance playing heads-up will make you consider quitting poker entirely multiple times. If you think you might sink, I would recommend sticking with something else. It will get bad. It will get worse than you can possibly imagine it getting. In fact, at some point, it will likely get so bad that you will wonder if the universe itself is conspiring against you, because it simply should not be possible to lose as much as you will to players who play as badly as they do.

I thought I was pretty mentally tough coming in (as in, I didn't think I needed to learn it), but I have nearly broken many times, and it doesn't take much browsing of the monthly low-content posts at all to see half a dozen people coming apart at the seams at any given time.

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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Yeah, I can see that. It's impossible to not tilt off in HU, it seems. The mental toughness is what makes a better HU player, I believe.

[jay_shark]

As a 53% winner , you have to call the coin flip . If you're not properly bankrolled then that's another story altogether .

Sometimes , there are other situations that can increase your EV whle reducing your variance . For this particular case , you had no choice but to call with your jacks if you assume that you're a 53% favorite and he's on a flush draw .