when to stop barreling?

in heads up sng?

if i 3 bet and miss the flop but fire a first barrel and get called, should i just stop there? some players just never fold.

I have a lot of issues with this too. For me it's all about the read you have on the player...which I suck at. Otherwise I usually fire one more time after the turn and then puss out and end up losing the hand. I'm sure i'm doing it all wrong

Ok starting out HU you need to stick to 1 and done. Because many good players know the way a good hand looks or the pattern for it...

This is how it goes. Button x3 BB calls, BB bets, Button Calls, BB checks Button Bets, BB folds.

Or Button x3 BB calls, BB bets, Button Calls, BB checks Button checks BB, BB checks button bet BB folds.

These 2 things happen quite often... HU that is, and if you can learn to manipulate this pattern for yourself or to play against it, you can get you villian to make some laydowns.

My default strategy is to raise every hand and bet every street until they raise, in which case I re-evaluate and usually just fold. I adjust according to villain's tendencies.

This ridiculous strategy is remarkably effective because:

A. No one ever has anything.
B. People call or fold too much.
C. Sometimes they do both, i.e. call flop, call turn, fold river.
D. No one ever has anything.

That's on the button.

From BB I donk dry flops, paired flops and scary flops with air, top pair, draws and the nuts and usually give up on bluffs if called.

Key is betting for thin value everywhere. If you're in the BB and he limps and you have 42o and it checks to river and you river a 2, bet, you will get called by Jack-high a lot.

Triple-barrel 2nd pair no kicker is pretty standard.

Obviously everything is totally villain dependent and consideration of your own image is important. If you flopped a monster on the first hand and take him to valuetown betting every street, then your image is obviously going to be different if you triple-barreled 72o and he called down with bottom pair.

One very common exploitable tendency is 3-betting all Ax hands. This is obviously great for us because if villain does this and then flats he is totally screwed on ace-high flops.

Also if you suspect someone has top pair and you can beat top pair, just go pot-pot-shove because no one in HU folds top pair.

ive actually been following your advice and its been working pretty well for me. ive been much better at taking control of the table.
but sometimes i get too comfortable being aggressive, and end up barreling half my stack away. recently its been a pretty bad problem for me. every few games i end up getting called and leaving myself crippled.
i actually hit quads 3 times in a single game today and still lost because of this.(i barely got paid for any of them and probably barreled out of impatience).
on the other hand, i have won some big pots by barreling and getting a fold on the river.
i absolutely hate firing out and then checking the turn or river when im bluffing. most of the time i get a huge bet in return, in which case ill fold.
also, i almost never barrel with hands like 7-2o. i usually do that when ive 3 betted with A-J+ and missed.

also i got another question for u baudib,
how do u end most hu matches? all in preflop, or do you usually destroy your opponent in a hand?
i find that in probably half or more games for me it ends in all in pre, and while i have a good all in range (which is why i have a higher roi at super turbos i presume), sometimes i find myself giving back a decent amount to my opponent waiting for a good hand. and lately ive been giving up a massive lead losing to lesser or similar hand ranges. for example if bb is 120, and my opponent has like 600 chips, should i call him with just about anything? even if i know he is waiting for a nice hand?

The math of it is simply overwhelming if they let you play this way, and most people at micro levels will.

You win a gazillion small pots when they just give up preflop or on the flop, you win some medium pots when they fold on the turn or river and you win a bunch of big pots when they call down and you have them beat. Then if you can manage to just fold decent when they play back at you and sniff out the odd time they are trapping, it's really hard to lose.

Figure out what their shoving ranges are going to be and shove/call accordingly. i.e. if they call too tight shove more, if they shove tight ranges then call less.

This question is just to vague for anyone to answer really as it totally depends on the situation and the person you are playing.

It's not just a case of having to barrel or double barrel and just randomly firing on each street.

It becomes to predictable, you need to see what your oppnant is about, play around with bet sizing and what it actually represents when you do it.

If you are double barrling min donk betting then even donkeys will realise it's just a bluff and call you down. You need to assign a range of hands, calling ranges and what they will actually call down with on what sort of boards.


This is where taking notes on people in heads up is so vital.

I always have a long list of notes on HU players. What they did smart, How dumb they called me. I have only played 1 or 2 actually good HU palyers in a while. And i still beat them because they were usually TOO agressive.

i started actively taking notes today and it seems to be incredibly helpful. ive been taking a bunch of notes all day not just for the notes but it helps me continuously evaluate and reevaluate my opponents playing. it helps make much better decisions.

Your on your way

I would use calling speed, if they call fast, they are probably defending a low pair, was the flop big cards or low?
If you think he paired an ace that almost always means stop, yea take some time wisely before you bet to, and make sure your bets progress, if the pot is 5000, and your chipstack is 6500, then if your going to bet postflop you have to go all in, and position would help too, then just hope he folds

blikbeek where do you play at...and btw nice prof pic.