Heads up vs. a constant min. raiser

I made it to the final 2 in last night's CC freeroll. Eventually I lost AQ vs. A9 all in preflop as he won on a 3 outter river 9. But I was down to 20K at that point, so I was more upset about the way I played HU that got me in that position.

I don't have much experience at HU at all as that's only the second time I've made it to Final 2. The guy kept min raising from the BTN I would estimate 4/5 times at least. I folded crap like 93 52. But what should I do with stuff like K3os and Q5 suited? Should I call or reraise with them OOP?

It was a topsy turvvy ride as I started a 60K:90K dog. I got up to 3:1 in chips at one point and down to 18K and back to even and down to 20K, and the HU play lasted a long time, but long story short, because he hardly ever open folded and called most of the time I raised from the BTN, while I folded all the junk he had a big advantage in taking the blinds.

I folded a couple of mid pairs after he check raised me all in. And the one I did call (pair of Ts, K kicker), quite stupidly in hindsight, he flopped trips and made straight on the river.

For example, on a board of T668 (two hearts two spades) and I have T2. Preflop, he limped from BTN and I checked. Check check on the flop. I bet 3/4 pot on the turn, he min raises me, and then I put in an almost min raise 3 bet, then he instashoves. I am most likely beat here right? He quite possibly had a 6 since he limped. I folded this which knocked me down to almost even with him.

Later on, I made the call in the hand I mentioned earlier, but he had flopped trips that time.

I wasn't aggressive enough and bled away too many blinds. I did make my share of BTN raises and bluffed away some pots, but no where near the free chips that he got by me folding.

Any veteran advice against guys that constantly min. raises?

I suck HU, but am trying to get better. From what I gather the min raise is standard as when you are HU atc can hit the flop and kickers do not matter. I still fold junk, but I have seen some say to see the flop with just about atc and be aggressive.

Calling is exactly what he wants you to do, i'd just be using a linear 3betting range and just open it up a lot more and don't bee too afraid to fight for pots postflop.


Also, why don't you open up from the button yourself and min-raise him as well?

Min raising is standard in hadsups.

The key to it, if you want them to stop it, is that you have to be aggressive, just 3bet them more regularly. Depending on blind level, the min raise is standard, some 3x the blind when deeper.

Also adding to what ram has mentioned, limping the button can be a really effective way to play as the blinds get big in relation to your stack size.

you should open nearly ATC on the button. 3bet OOP with a polarized range. forget about your hand(s) and play the board. c-bet all dry boards. double barrel favorable turns.
keep the pots small when you have weak hands with showdown value. top pair/weak kicker, small pairs, ace high.

HU can be difficult when playing against a good aggressive player. researching the strategy to compete HU is highly +EV.
consider the difference in prize money for 1st to 2nd in MTT's. granted your not going to get to that stage of a tournament deep stacked very often it is still well worth your time to have a plan before your in the situation.
check out HUSNG.com
(hope it's OK to post training sites. if not, mods plz remove and sry for not reading your rules )

The thing is, once I got down to 18K, I upped my aggressive and was shoving back against his raises and he was folding. But then I got back to even and became more cautious again. Fell down to 20K after he check shoved and I folded a weak mid pair. Then after some back and forth, it was that final showdown hand.

When my stack was low, I felt like I didn’t have anything to lose, but then when my stack got high, I didn’t wanna spew it and got timid.

Crazy thing is, I think I played pretty well up until that HU. Started the final table at 9th and made it to 2nd and could have won had I played HU better.

When I'm in hu play I want to be the aggressive player, but more so when I'm chip leader, don't let up,an when I hit a hand, I try to set up a trap, I've won mtt's with 5-3os,

min re-raise him

the only time im HU is at the end of a SnG or Tourney and then the blinds are so high, but i know the lead is very critical ... just think about how we all play against large stacks ... we tend to avoid confrontation ... well there's no place to hide HU

Good fold with the T 2 there. The only way you can even think about risking your tournament life there is if you know for a fact or have seen him already make this move with a really marginal hand, tht being said, your probably right there on the fold, but HEY! you never know! lol when a guy min raises often just means hes putting pressure and building pots more easier, thinking he can outplay you on pots on the flop 4th and rivver. if you stick your ground and take control of the table, you can easily see through his vasade and defeat him

HOPE THAT HELPS !!
TTYL

I would suggest seeing lots of flops. Setting ranges to call your min raise too such as connected sixes or better is a good start. Playing the flop as aggressively as possible. Alot of these 2x constant min raise guys will play marginal hands, and even possibly call 3 bets on the flop with as little as ace high. If you feel your in good with middle pair or better on the flop, skip the 3 bet, jam the pot while you can still put it all in with the best. If every flop comes and you never make a pair draw or overcard, you are probably just having an unfortunate run of luck.

I like headsup the best from all of the poker games...I play in this one rakefree room and only lost money once :P I have good fold and raise intuition

I like Pepper Jack cheese it's the best of all the cheese....I get it from welfare so never spent a dime on it:P I have a good when to eat when not to eat my cheese intuition

I always thought that Sharp Cheddar Cheese was the best of all the cheeses?

Aggression is huge in HU - I'm still trying to figure it all out but it's difficult to formulize HU (like a full table) because so much of your play is predicated on your read of the other guy and taking advantage of whatever you can get away with.

Haha still laughin' as I type

I made it to the final two in the CC freeroll again... only to fail yet again. Disappointed.

Shoved against the btn limp with A4 on final hand, but she had 88. I should have noticed the difference. She had been raising from the btn almost every hand. I read it as weakness and was wrong.

Sometimes it's hard to remember or take that next step in the thought process - when you're reading weak it just might mean strong.

If somebody is min-raising, doesn't that mean you have better than 3:1 odds? Unless he has a big PP..just about anything is worth a call? Especially if you think he'll fold to a flop bet

I think alot of people who min raise are afraid of raising more, because they know they will have to fold if you RR. So RR them PF. Especially if you haven't in a while.

This is exactly what i would want you to think if i was min-raising the button. Your forgetting about a little thing called position. It's kinda huge in poker .

So if you are 3xing me from the button, it lets me make an easy fold, then i min raise you are you are constantly defending, this means i'm playing a lot of pots in position vs you, and you are playing most of your pots OOP. Adding to that, my 3bet bluffs are going to be more profitable as i'm taking an extra BB or whatever from you.

I've found, recently, that the best defense vs. a constant min-raiser is constant donking (with a polarized range).

If stacks are deep enough, checkraising flops might be a better idea, but yeah, mixing in some donks with a PR wouldn't be a bad idea either, especially if stacks are shallow.

I play on PDC and the 3 times I've gotten heads up in a MTT, I got 2nd. I like what you said about 53o. I'm gonna try to see many hands cheaply if and when I get to that point again.