General Question : HELP NEEDED

[BenJammin']

hey guys,i know this is going to be extremely general, and i hope it doesn't get removed for that fact, but im dying for some help here.
I'm a fairly strong 1/2, 2/4 NL cash game and 35+3 SH SnG player on stars. Recently, i've been playing a lot of live hold'em in my dorm at college - Menial cash games and twenty dollar tournaments. The competition is unfairly horrible where i've been crushing the cash games. In the tournaments, we usually get anywhere from 14-18 people. Of the four that i have played, i've finished 1st, 1st, 2nd, and 2nd. Although i haven't had a single losing session in the last 20 or so sessions, i'm realy worried about my biggest flaw, as it is sure to turn up when the money really matters in online MTTs - my heads up play. After tonight where first place took 200 and second took 60, i tried to sit down and figure out what im doing wrong heads up to lose $140 of profit.
As of right now, this is what i've come up with.
-I am a moderately tight/agressive player at a table with 4+ people.
-I stick to a good range of starting hands and, I THINK, correctly loosen up in position and as players get knocked out.
-On the other hand, i think i've been playing too agressively heads up. i.e. 1)frequently making continuation bets on coordinated/broadway flops even when i miss, and not folding or checking when i get called or raised and 2)MAYBE raising too many starting hands

in short, can i get some feedback/tips on basic HU strategy that i must have missed in the bazillion books i've read over the past 4 years. Maybe some personal strategies that work for you and/or general ideas for how to play against weak opponents heads up

I can't sleep knowing that i'm coming in second and donating more profit to these guys...it's a crime

thanks,
Ben

[BenJammin']

no help in two days...thanks guys...

[bbbushu]

"HU tips" is kind of a big question... i'm scraping some of the better poster/players' minds to try to get some gold but i don't think anybody is going to offer up their secrets to a post like this.

maybe give a few example hands or something?

good luck,
bbbu

[bbbushu]

oh, forgot to add that the HU forum is usually pretty slow, anyways, so don't get too twisted up about a delayed response.

[Pondus]

Disclaimer: These are my opinions and may differ from the regular 2+2 forum poster.

The general strategies you speak of do not exist. The following variables are missing to give you a good answer: How deep are you guys, what kind of player are your opponent and what are the blind structures?

However, Harrington tried to assemble a general ABC strategy for heads up play at the end of an mtt for the common player in Harrington on Hold’em 2. It will get you from poor to decent within a day, so it’s a good place to start if you don’t have the patience to learn “real heads up play”.

Most people on this forum are selfish, cynical players with one thing in mind; getting more profit by getting better. That’s why they post their hand histories, that’s why they discuss difficult hands, and that’s why they sometimes ponder on some general guidelines to see how much their own view differs from other good players. Asking one of these profit hunters to stop playing sngs for 10 minutes to give away some of their secrets that is their bread and butter because you feel you don’t crush college fishes quite good enough is being way to naïve. Realize this is going to be a difficult journey, take of a day or two, and read every thread on this forum that seems to be as much as a bit interesting (in other words, skip the limit crap), read every post of those that seems to speak sense, and read, no _study_ every single hand in every single hand history that’s posted by one of those great players. These words where never meant for you, but you’re lucky enough to be able to read them anyway. For once good advice is free, but don’t expect anyone to hunt you down to feed it to you.

I wish you the best of luck on your journey and for an open invitation to that poker game of yours…

[Strickly Bidness]

[ QUOTE ]
Disclaimer: These are my opinions and may differ from the regular 2+2 forum poster.

The general strategies you speak of do not exist. The following variables are missing to give you a good answer: How deep are you guys, what kind of player are your opponent and what are the blind structures?

However, Harrington tried to assemble a general ABC strategy for heads up play at the end of an mtt for the common player in Harrington on Hold’em 2. It will get you from poor to decent within a day, so it’s a good place to start if you don’t have the patience to learn “real heads up play”.

Most people on this forum are selfish, cynical players with one thing in mind; getting more profit by getting better. That’s why they post their hand histories, that’s why they discuss difficult hands, and that’s why they sometimes ponder on some general guidelines to see how much their own view differs from other good players. Asking one of these profit hunters to stop playing sngs for 10 minutes to give away some of their secrets that is their bread and butter because you feel you don’t crush college fishes quite good enough is being way to naïve. Realize this is going to be a difficult journey, take of a day or two, and read every thread on this forum that seems to be as much as a bit interesting (in other words, skip the limit crap), read every post of those that seems to speak sense, and read, no _study_ every single hand in every single hand history that’s posted by one of those great players. These words where never meant for you, but you’re lucky enough to be able to read them anyway. For once good advice is free, but don’t expect anyone to hunt you down to feed it to you.

I wish you the best of luck on your journey and for an open invitation to that poker game of yours…

[/ QUOTE ]

so much wisdom in a single post....awesome.

[slimbob]

Ok here are my hints (I play HU turbos for a living):

1. DO NOT TILT

2. value bet

3. position

4. be patient

Experience is also very important.

[hondoishere]

The most important part about HU play is knowing your opponents patterns in my opinion. If you can figure out how he wil lact in certain situations early on you will win. Example say everytime you raise the flop he folds well this time he calls. If you are holding King hi i would check/fold the turn.

[BenJammin']

thanks a lot guys, i re-re-re-read that chapter in Harrington's second book, i've taken a break from my normal tales and started to play lower-than-usual- limit NLHU sngs on stars just to get a better feel for the action.
it's funny how you can play poker for over 4 years and then all of a suden realize how much ou suck at a particular aspect.

BTW, Pondus, you're welcome to sit in on this game, but i assure you that you will either get bored to tears or annoywed by the constant breaking of unwritten poker rules (i.e. rabbit hunting, looking at other player's cards, acting out of turn, etc, etc, etc) BEFORE the profit becomes worth it

[cwar]

I would like to add making big folds against weak tight players is EXTREMELY important if your going to beat them. If they never bluff you have to remember this. Same can be said about setting up big calls against constant bluffers.