Heads Up Play: Sit And Go's?

In my last 100 S&G's I have more than double the amount of second place finishes as I do firsts. This leads me to thinking I might need to work on my heads up game... Couple questions:

1) Is my sample size too small to worry about?

2) If I decide to tamper w/ my HU strategy should I do it from an ICM perspective (which seems geared towards finding the right hands to shove with) or a cash game strategy (which seems geared towards aggression and playing off the mistakes of your opponent).

Any tournament HU advice would be appreciated...

Sample to small.
Need more info on your HU game, loose, LAG, tight, TAG.
Try going for traps.
Every HU game you have to play for how it calls, if their loose, you play tight, if their tight, you play loose.
I'm sure most would say yes to that..

While your sample size may be a little small, keep in mind that HU at the end of a SnG is very different to a regular HU match and it's very different to a HU cash game.

Stacks are usually so short by the time you get to heads up that it's all about making the right push/fold decisions. Fancy plays and all but the most elementary traps are pretty much irrelevant and luck plays a pretty big role. If your opponent just holds better cards or hits their outs a few times there's often nothing much you can do.

So yeah, I'd definitely recommend focussing on ICM and your push fold decisions above everything else.

End game SnG play is all about making the right push/fold decisions, and nothing else matters.

HeadsUp SNG play is very dependent upon your opponent's playing style. Collin Moshmann has a short section in his SNG Strategy book that is devoted to this (but also has a newer book out that is specifically about HeadsUp play).
Maybe you could ask in the "questions to Collin Moshmann thread"??

There is no ICM in HU when your only playing for 1st then it's just like a cash game. How many chips are you starting with HU? This can be a huge factor. If your getting HU more than a 2:1 dog then your doing fine HU and the leak must be else where. You might try looking into the stack sizes when you finally get HU. This might tell you alot. I'm not sure what size SNGs these are but if there 9mans. You might not be playing agressively enough when it gets to 3 handed play. This sample size is too small to base major changes in your game on. But don't let that stop you from improving your game. I would just try to base the changes on solid info and not a smal sample size.

I would have to say that you can't base it on stack size. ( I've been to where i had a small stack, have won, i've also had a large stack, won..)
I play LAG, or TAG when it calls for it, but it also helps if you hit the flop.

Your girlfriend might tell you that size doesn't matter , but in poker stack size is everything. Especially when you get short handed on a final table or in a one table SNG.

You need to start looking and paying a ton of attention to your stack size with five players left. You want to keep your stack size in the top three. The blinds should be getting big enough to make stealing profitable. Concentrate on stealing to maintain and grow your stack.

Don't call shoves from short stacks that have a stack half the size of yours, unless you have a monster!!! By monster, I mean QQ+. Depending on the player shoving, I might call with AK, AQ. But you don't really want to risk half you stack on a coin flip. At least I don't. I see too many players with big stacks end up not even cashing in a one table SNG, due to calling too many shoves from the short stacks.

It sounds like you don't have a problem getting to the money, but now that you are there, you want to win the tourney not be the brides maid. If you were aggressive, you should be chip leader or second in chips with three players left. I'm never the short stack at the table, unless some idiot sucks out on me. By this point you have an idea of who is tight and who is loose. Three handed is all about being aggressive.

Now, I hate it when I have two nits that wont make any moves. Because, you can only steal so long three handed, until they start to play back at you. It's easier when you have someone else that will be aggressive there with you, cause he is your ticket to first place. The key is to be aggressive, but not over aggressive, you want the other aggressive player to look like the aggressive one. Don't be afraid to fold your sb or your button. If you are chip leader you don't need to steal non stop, same with second in chips. What we want is a hand like AT+ or TT+ in the sb or bb. And we want to three bet the steals, and slowly accumulate chips. It will become obvious if you have someone stealing on the button, non stop. You can three bet here with ATC after awhile. All the time you are gaining chips.

Now you either have the chip lead, with two small stacks at the table or you are second in chips and the short stack has about 2k or less in his stack. At this point you want to make sure the short stack doesn't get a walk when he's the bb, you want to keep pressure on him non stop. This is easy to do, if you are the sb when he is the bb. Not as easy if you are the button when he is the bb.

If you are sb when he is bb. Fold to steal attempts, from the button, unless you have AT+, TT+. If you have a AT+, TT+, three bet shove the steal attempt from the button. This will put pressure on the bb to have to call for his tourney life. We want to put pressure on him, in hopes he calls with a wide range and we can take him out. Or he folds and loses his bb. Now if we are chip leader the button is calling for his tourney life and he's usually stealing with a lot wider range than he'll call a shove with, so more times than not he folds. If we are second in chips, we have a ton of FE against the button raiser, he doesn't want to tangle with us, because our stack is the only stack left that can cripple him, so again in most cases he folds. If he calls, we are usually a coinflip at the worst.

If you are the button when the short stack is bb. This is where it can get hard to keep the pressure on the short stack, if the sb keeps giving the bb a walk. Here you might want to open up your range a little and steal as much as possible on the button. The idea is you don't want the short stack getting any walks in the blinds. If the guy in the sb is aggressive, let them battle it out. The sb will either make a mistake and become the short stack or he'll take out the short stack.

If all goes to plan, most of the time you'll be heads up with the chip lead and in a great position to win the tournament. If you are not the chip leader, the stacks should be close to the same size, which also gives you a great chance to win HU. In rare cases you'll be a two to one dog or worse HU.

HU play, you want to be aggressive. Keep the pressure on your opponent. You want to be rasing or folding HU. You don't want to be calling that often. Feel your opponent out, if he's calling your button raises and checking the flop, fire a c bet, if he folds, keep doing it till he plays back at you. If he's aggressive, wait for your spots to push back, make yourself look passive. When faced with a very aggressive player tighten up your range a little, but DO NOT CALL his bets, either raise or fold. You want to put him in a position to make a mistake and pot commit himself so you can take the tourney down. Avoid calling AIPF, unless you have AJ+ or 88+. When I'm HU I try not to get AIPF unless I have 3/4ths to 5/8ths of all the chips in play.

It's early, if I didn't make much sense, I'm sorry. Fell free to post any questions or PM me. The point I was trying to make is winning a one table SNG or winning a final table in an MTT, starts long before the final three players are left. I know Snow has said this before, but one table SNG's are the best place to learn how to play final table poker. Also, HU SNG's are a great place to learn how to play HU. To keep your game sharp, you should be playing One table SNG's and HU SNG's on a regular bases.

That's a good question for me and I really don't have an answer. I don't have any records on stack sizes... I guess I'd say that when it finally gets down to HU I have the short stack more times than not.

I do have about 50% more seconds than thirds... Maybe I have "seconditis"?

Or if your like me, know what hands your OP is raising with, you could do this... I knew from playing him the whole game, what hands he was raising with, the same guy called my 10X BB raise, with A6, when i had pocket kings...
i'm on the button...
Dealt to kidkvno1 [3s 7s]
kidkvno1: raises 1600 to 3200
u: raises 1600 to 4800
kidkvno1: calls 1600
*** FLOP *** [3d 7d 8c]
u: bets 29545 and is all-in
kidkvno1: calls 28205 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (1340) returned to u
*** TURN *** [3d 7d 8c] 7♥
*** RIVER *** [3d 7d 8c 7h] 6♥
*** SHOW DOWN ***
u: shows [7c As] (three of a kind, Sevens)
kidkvno1: shows [3s 7s] (a full house, Sevens full of Threes)
Outcome posted in BBV...

1.) yes i think you sample size is way too small to give an idea about ur potential and your playing strategy...
2.) and i would say in heads up games, you need to be on top of two things....
a)you should know what type of player you are up against.Knowing your opponents style in heads up games is half battle won...Believe me on this...
b)In heads up game ur patience is the main weapon... wait initially to figure out his play... Then take your time and wait for the opportunity and give him one big good shot...Battles won...

Double-A, sample size is about the same size as mine.
And well i may play more DoNs, my SnGs are up there.
Double-A, if you can, i would try to steal were you can. Oh and Triggalos did this to help you...http://www.cardschat.com/f11/triggal...-video-163366/

I think you should use the SAGE at least you won't make any mistake

,,,small size to talk about...but...as mentioned, sng hu completely different then normal....becuase ur playing different stack sizes, your playing bigger blinds..and your playing wthout prior knowledge of the guy for about 100 i the sng to this point....my guesswould be, that when it comes to 3 or 4 people left, your tightening up too much...and as result, when ur making heads up, your too shortstacked to lpay a normal game...thats my read anyway...

Try playing heads up sit n goes for practise. Heads up is all about aggression. I would use icm because in cash games the blinds are much smaller and completely different.

heads up play is about adapting... i will always start off a heads up raises nearly any two cards from the button, jsut min raises to force my opponant to play out of position.. i will call with only decent starting hands from the bb, then its just about adapting to what his tendencies are.. i dont have enough time to sit and write about all the variations, its about playing a heap and adapting better than your opponant, oh and also try not to fall into many predictable patterns, and pick up on patterns of your opponant, if you are concentrating you should pick up a few things you can use to your advantage...

If i were you, i would certainly practice my heads up play. It is a vital part in poker especially if you are playing big MTTs or big Sngs. It can be the difference between a lot of money. Think of how much more money you would win if u were a great heads up player.....a lot!

My advice for you is to play fairly small stakes HU games to practice. It would probably be more profitable to play aggressively but you will work out wats best for you in HU pretty quickly.

Hope this helped. GL

1° ) ICM doesn't work in Heads Up .. it's a winner take all . In a standard SNG 2rd have 30% of prize pool and first has 50% so both players have already won 30% and are playing for the 20% .
2° ) As ICM doesn't work for Heads UP. Head Up play doesn't differ in cash game and in SNG ( except adapting to blind and effective staks ) .

SIncerely

SAGE System
1. Compute a Power Index (PI)
1. The "power number" of each card is its rank: J=11, Q=12, K=13, A=15 (don't forget that the ace is 15!)
2. Take the power number for your higher card and double it.
3. Add the power number of your lower card.
4. If it's a pocket pair, add 22.
5. If they're suited, add 2.
6. The sum is the Power Index (PI) of your hand.

2. Use the PI
1. Compute the ratio (R) of the shortest stack to the big blind.
2. Look up the necessary PI for that value of R.
3. If the PI of your hand is greater than or equal to that value, jam (if you're the button/SB) or call (if you're the BB).
3. The SAGE Table

Attached Images

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