HU FL best way to counter a player type

[emiderma]

Hello,

Just getting into O8, what a great game! I can already spot the fish.. seems Holdem is so dried out these days.

Anyway, started playing O8, have a few really good teachers, and have been playing a lot of HU and SH. My question is this: When playing HU, and you raise on puck, opponent calls. Then opponent leads every time there are 2 or 3 high cards. I'm talking every single time. If I call, he comp bets turn every time, if I raise, he will 50% 3 bet and 50% call then call me down. It seems I need to hit to win, which is -EV HU, as you have to take some pots down you don't deserve [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

Any strategy advice for HU much apriciated!!


Epiderma

[donger]

The fact that he never folds when you push back means you can extract a ton of value the times you have a hand. I would just jam good hands for value, call with mediocre ones (one pair + BD draws, etc), and occasionally bluff raise your very worst hands to balance.

[Buzz]

Hi emiderma - Welcome to the forum. [ QUOTE ]
...It seems I need to hit to win, which is -EV HU, as you have to take some pots down you don't deserve...

[/ QUOTE ]I don't think that's true when your opponent is throwing his money away. Simply fold your poor flop fits and play the rest.

To do that, it seems to me you have to learn how various cards do with particular flop types.

For example, when the flop is
K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img],J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img],9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], a random hand should flop<ul type="square">22.1% bust,
56.1% one pair (may be within hand),
10.3% two pairs,
4.4% trips, and
7.1% straight.[/list]Against those possibilities, what cards do you want to be playing yourself?

Why not simply concede all flop bets to your opponent when you have a pair of nines or worse and take one off all the rest, planning to also at least call the inevitable turn bet. (I was aiming at folding 30%, and that's pretty close).

Maybe wait to raise the continuation bet with good hands where you have two pairs or better after the turn. (That will be about 46% of your hands after the turn).

Thus while your opponent is dully betting every flop and then also making a continuation bet on every turn, you'll be folding hands that probably will lose and calling or raising with hands that have a good chance of winning. Since your opponent has to act first every time except on the first betting round, you'll have a huge advantage, without ever having to steal a pot you don't deserve.

There simply will be more money in the pots you win than in the pots your opponent wins, for this type of flop.

It's hard for me to imagine any real opponent playing so stupidly as to always bet a particular flop, with or without a fit, and then always make a continuation bet with or without a fit - but if you get somebody like that, you should easily have all the chips by the end of the session.

You simply won't lose as much when you lose as your opponent will lose when he/she loses.

After you see the four cards in your own hand, there are 17296 possible flops. At first that seems overwhelming in complexity. But you can group flops together. The results still are somewhat complicated, but at least dealing with different flops is simplified. I did that in a post flop series for the 2+2 on-line magazine. I'll conclude the series next month. But I did it for full table play, not for heads-up play.

If I was going to play much heads-up for serious money, I'd do a similar thing for heads-up play. But nobody who is not an expert is going to play me heads-up in a casino, and the last time I tried it against an expert, the casino won and we both lost. In other words, neither of us could beat the rake. (Of course my opponent was not damn-fool predictable enough to bet every high card flop and then follow up with a continuation bet on the turn).

Buzz

[Dismas]

[ QUOTE ]

For example, when the flop is
K,J,9, a random hand should flop

22.1% bust,
56.1% one pair (may be within hand),
10.3% two pairs,
4.4% trips, and
7.1% straight.


[/ QUOTE ]

Buzz how did you come up with these percentages? Do you have formulas I can dump into a spreadsheet to calculate these values?

OP. The advise given so far is spot on I’d just like to add that heads up or short handed poker is more about adjusting to how your opponent plays then the cards and before I’d write villain off as a complete donk I’d look at my own game to insure he is not exploiting mistakes that I am making to make his play more correct then it seems.

[Buzz]

[ QUOTE ]
Buzz how did you come up with these percentages?

[/ QUOTE ]Hi Dismas - I ran a simulation. Just the three cards of the flop were specified and the hands were left blank. The simulator then "dealt" one hundred thousand random hands for each seat from the 49 cards remaining. It also dealt one hundred thousand turn cards. And it kept track of what the best hand for a particular seat is each time, and then tallied them in categories. (It did more, but I think that's all I reported).

[ QUOTE ]
Do you have formulas I can dump into a spreadsheet to calculate these values?

[/ QUOTE ]No. It was a simulation. When I have checked simulated results with calculated results, they have been very close.

Buzz

[emiderma]

Thanks for all the replies.. truly apriciated!

I have found that HU players at limits I play (2-4 &amp; 3-6) are usually either very passive, call 4 times for every 1 bet, or very agressive, like in this example. I was always comfortable with passive opponents, but some of the more agressive ones give me problems. I find the swings are much much higher HU v.s. agressive players.

I will take this info and should have much greater success in the future against this type of player.

Epiderma