First day at heads up. i was owned

[ftavatar]

I'm a winning 6max player (6ptbb/100)at 100nl. decided i wanted to learn heads up as most pots get that way in 6 max and i'm bad at marginal decisions etc which i feel if i work at heads up will improve. so i go to .25/.50 play 1/2 tables at a time and am down 7 stacks in 1000 hands.

Any idea on some good material to read to learn heads up basics or anybodys personal strategies when they were starting out. also i did get outdrawn for some hefty pots but i was expecting it after i heard how much variance was involved in nlhu. anyone have any advice to stop tilting while playing heads up as well as your usual varinace (swings in a day etc and is 7 in 1000 hands "normal"?)

thanks for your help...it's much needed!

[ftavatar]

oh btw stas for the day were:
Vpip: 39 VPSB: 57 Won when saw flop:52%
Went to sd: 35% won at SD: 43.1% PF raise 29%
AF by street 5.6/2.9/1

[jakeduke]

I've lost 7BI in 1k hands before, so you're not alone there. Don't make a big habit out of it and you should be ok. As far as reading material goes, try this forum? There really isn't a lot out there on HU stuff. There's a TON of feel involved, and really the best teacher is experience (from what I've been told).

Tilt sucks, and if you really spew HU after taking a couple of beats you can lose 7BI in a lot less than 1k hands. Play fewer tables, focus on making good decisions, and just stay calm. Dropping down a couple levels like you did is definitely a good idea. Quitting when you feel tilt coming on has been recommended by many and perfected by few. Since you're really new at HU, maybe it would be good for you to play HU as long as things are going well, and then just leaving and going back to 6max for the rest of the session if things go bad (I assume you don't have the same tilt problems at 6max). Maybe try to have a stop loss of some kind (many suggestions in this forum). More than anything else, just play and have fun. And post your big hands/hands you weren't sure about.

[Stealthy]

If you dont have good tilt control then HU is not for you. Especially playing at the small HU NL you have to be playing your hand value mostly and not bluffing very much. Losing the least when the deck is running your opponent over is way more important than how you play when it is hitting you hard. Yes you might have a seemingly endless run of hands where you raise pre and he calls you CB and you have air, you can make the occasional double barrell at the right board textures but trying to force a bad player off of a decent pair or any draw is a good way to burn through those buyins fast! Also play a little tighter OOP, I dont agree that you have to re-raise or fold but still have a decent re-raising range and shy away from calling with hands that do not flop well like rag aces, and hands that are too speculative especially if your opponent is not spewing like 53s, 96s etc.