9/10 man SNGs HU theory Q...

[prolax13]

hey, anyone (successful) want to share with me your thoughts on how you're playing once you are heads up? I have been taking too many 2nds and its really hurting my roll / results. any thoughts are appreciated.

also, feel free to branch into all ITM play... thanks.

[Sober]

Push a lot.

[Daddys_Visa]

Without knowing anything about you I would say you are leaking in one of the following ways, based on my observations of the typical opponent:

1.) Not pushing enough when the blinds get huge.
2.) Not adjusting soon enough to a wide-pushing opponent. If I play someone and they push the first 2-3 SBs, I am calling with any Kx or Ax afterwards. Being a 60-40 fav is a decent edge in high blind short stack play.
3.) Not restealing enough with marginal hands (ie. K9o etc)
4.) Not betting often enough on dry flops (remember, your opponent only flops a pair 1/3 times).

IMO, if you are gonna make mistakes, err on the side of aggression. One move that I feel gives me the biggest edge against typical opponents is when they raise 2-4BB preflop and I can resteal from them. I will resteal with any half decent hand. You would be surprise how often they fold. Occasionally you are getting trapped with a monster, but not very often. By the time they realize what I am doing, the chips have gone from 10000-10000 to 15000-5000. Do not be afraid to get your chips in the middle when the blinds are high, if you are waiting for a hand you have a huge leak.

Not sure if that helps you at all.

[skreemer7]

1) read faq
2) get sngpt
3) read sngpt HU tutorial (talks about game theory using the nash equilibrium and is really really good)
4) use sngpt
5) post hands

[Sober]

You may need to examine your 3-handed play. Once you're in the money, your goal is 1st, because of the top-heavy payout structure. Push like crazy, and while you may bust in 3rd a lot more, when you get headsup you'll have a huge chip advantage so you can keep steamrolling and take a lot more 1sts.

[Daddys_Visa]

One thing I forgot to mention. Keep track of your HU results. Adding an extra sheet to a SnG excel spreadsheet is a good idea. Everytime you go heads up keep track of your chip count at the beginning and what place you finish.

Theoretically, if all your opponents are exactly as skilled HU as you, the % of the time you finish first should correspnd to the % of chips you start HU with. On your spreadsheet you can do these calculations and keep a running calculation of how much your actual finishes deviate from this predicted value of breakeven play.

For example over my last 500 HU situations, I have had 52% of the chips and have won 59% of them, meaning I am outplaying (or luckier with a smallish sample size of N=500) my opponents to a small degree.

As poster above mentioned, you need to determine how many chips on average you are starting HU with. If you only bring 40% of the chips HU, but are winning 1st 42% of the time you are actually playing well HU but might be leaking 3-way or 4-way.

[prolax13]

ty... i do shove a lot - my bubble play, IMO, is almost top-notch , it just sucks when donks call off with 22 and 56 and q10 and this hurts a lot of the time But most of the time I end up with a nice-sized stack. I think most of my problem is running bad.. not that this is great to say, but ill usually lose 70/30s, 60/40s, and more 60/40s and maybe a flip in a row, just cant win a showdown a lot of the time. i shove a lot, and also mix it up with huge raises that basically say im shoving / in this pot, and it throws them off a little i think and helps. as far as adjusting to their push ranges, ill usually call any Ax or Kx if they are the least bit out of line or any pp 55 or better (i'm pushing any PP, any ace, any king depending on my image, most suited connectors - depends on blinds and opponenent).

thanks for ur guys' input tho , appreciate it

[Daddys_Visa]

[ QUOTE ]
ty... i do shove a lot - my bubble play, IMO, is almost top-notch , it just sucks when donks call off with 22 and 56 and q10 and this hurts a lot of the time But most of the time I end up with a nice-sized stack. I think most of my problem is running bad.. not that this is great to say, but ill usually lose 70/30s, 60/40s, and more 60/40s and maybe a flip in a row, just cant win a showdown a lot of the time. i shove a lot, and also mix it up with huge raises that basically say im shoving / in this pot, and it throws them off a little i think and helps. as far as adjusting to their push ranges, ill usually call any Ax or Kx if they are the least bit out of line or any pp 55 or better (i'm pushing any PP, any ace, any king depending on my image, most suited connectors - depends on blinds and opponenent).

thanks for ur guys' input tho , appreciate it

[/ QUOTE ]

Based on what you've written here, you should be at least breakeven if not better than average HU.

You've just been varianced.

[CheeseMoney]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
ty... i do shove a lot - my bubble play, IMO, is almost top-notch , it just sucks when donks call off with 22 and 56 and q10 and this hurts a lot of the time But most of the time I end up with a nice-sized stack. I think most of my problem is running bad.. not that this is great to say, but ill usually lose 70/30s, 60/40s, and more 60/40s and maybe a flip in a row, just cant win a showdown a lot of the time. i shove a lot, and also mix it up with huge raises that basically say im shoving / in this pot, and it throws them off a little i think and helps. as far as adjusting to their push ranges, ill usually call any Ax or Kx if they are the least bit out of line or any pp 55 or better (i'm pushing any PP, any ace, any king depending on my image, most suited connectors - depends on blinds and opponenent).

thanks for ur guys' input tho , appreciate it

[/ QUOTE ]

Based on what you've written here, you should be at least breakeven if not better than average HU.

You've just been varianced.

[/ QUOTE ]

Based on what he's written, he has a small sample size and should grind out a few thousand over the next two or three months and come up with a better story than losing a few 70:30s.