Nl heads-up

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alex5207

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Hi there,

I haven't see a lot on the site regarding nl heads-up. I have been playing a lot of SNG HU, and a little bit NLHU, but I was wondering if there was anyone out there playing the NLHU - I'd love to hear about it. NLHU sounds more appealing to me than 6-max or FR. If there's anyone out there who prefers the NLHU it would be great if they want to write a little about the differences between 6-max and NLHU (regarding agression etc.) and maybe NLHU vs. HUSNG. Just in general tell a little about it

Thanks in advance
 
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HUSNG Ryan

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NLHU vs HUSNG is mostly deep stack vs short stack HU poker.

HUSNG is played at turbo (50-75bb starting stacks, blinds moving fast) or hyper turbo (25bb starting stacks, blinds moving fast), so you really need to know a lot about short stack heads up poker and such strategy. Playing a lot of hands OOP is important in short stack situations, whereas you might be a little tighter in deep stack games (like hu cash), since the value of position is greater as the stack sizes climb.

You get into a lot of deeper stack, more advanced post flop strategy in heads up cash. In fact, HU cash guys are always bad mouthing HUSNG guys as being bad compared to them postflop when they come over to HUSNGs (though few do well).

It's a deception thing (same thing happens when HUSNG guys go over to cash), it's easy to look at someone's strategy and say it is bad, but you have to remember it's a different game. Balancing a hand range at 12bb vs an opponent that isn't focused on a balanced strategy isn't really your best play. HUSNGs are a lot about exploiting your opponent's strategy for maximum profits, whereas in HU cash players often try to play more GTO.
 
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alex5207

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NLHU vs HUSNG is mostly deep stack vs short stack HU poker.

HUSNG is played at turbo (50-75bb starting stacks, blinds moving fast) or hyper turbo (25bb starting stacks, blinds moving fast), so you really need to know a lot about short stack heads up poker and such strategy. Playing a lot of hands OOP is important in short stack situations, whereas you might be a little tighter in deep stack games (like hu cash), since the value of position is greater as the stack sizes climb.

You get into a lot of deeper stack, more advanced post flop strategy in heads up cash. In fact, HU cash guys are always bad mouthing HUSNG guys as being bad compared to them postflop when they come over to HUSNGs (though few do well).

It's a deception thing (same thing happens when HUSNG guys go over to cash), it's easy to look at someone's strategy and say it is bad, but you have to remember it's a different game. Balancing a hand range at 12bb vs an opponent that isn't focused on a balanced strategy isn't really your best play. HUSNGs are a lot about exploiting your opponent's strategy for maximum profits, whereas in HU cash players often try to play more GTO.

Great, precise asnwer! May i ask what limits you play? (I take it you play HUSNG because of your name)
 
Erlisauskas

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for me NL better cause I cant in SNG have a good ROI
 
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RNG

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A big negative to HU cash is the rake. So you really have to watch out for that. Some lower games like 25NL or 50NL have a high rake and those games might be hard to beat.
 
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alex5207

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A big negative to HU cash is the rake. So you really have to watch out for that. Some lower games like 25NL or 50NL have a high rake and those games might be hard to beat.

True, but I won't be playing HUNL just yet. I figure i need 40BI+, and i don't have that just yet
 
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HUSNG Ryan

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Great, precise asnwer! May i ask what limits you play? (I take it you play HUSNG because of your name)

I've played up to $115 regularly, and as high as $345 before.

I don't play much these days, just $36s when I do on Black Chip.
 
italiano

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is much more aggressive the HU. is attractive play heads up!
 
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alex5207

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I have now given the NLHU a shot quite a few times, and it's a great game, but I have a hard time dealing with maniacs who 3bet every hand, and c-bet on every flop. I win when i hit, but it just seems to me that the maniac is getting the edge when he is forcing me to fold every time I don't hit. Would it be wise to 4b some times pre? it just seems like gambling to me unless I have TT+ AK,AQ etc.
 
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HUSNG Ryan

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I have now given the NLHU a shot quite a few times, and it's a great game, but I have a hard time dealing with maniacs who 3bet every hand, and c-bet on every flop. I win when i hit, but it just seems to me that the maniac is getting the edge when he is forcing me to fold every time I don't hit. Would it be wise to 4b some times pre? it just seems like gambling to me unless I have TT+ AK,AQ etc.

Unless they play completely reckless, you'll need to do more than just waiting for strong hands to play back.

What you often need to do is find the spots where they aren't likely to have a good hand, and play aggressively yourself.

These types of players are a great exercise in improving your hand reading skills. The more you think about their hand ranges (the types of hands they take their actions with), the easier it will be to identify spots where you need to bet or raise and push them out of the pot.

It doesn't take too many good aggressive spots being identified to where you can fold their hand out to make a real difference in your success against these guys too.

GL
 
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alex5207

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Unless they play completely reckless, you'll need to do more than just waiting for strong hands to play back.

What you often need to do is find the spots where they aren't likely to have a good hand, and play aggressively yourself.

These types of players are a great exercise in improving your hand reading skills. The more you think about their hand ranges (the types of hands they take their actions with), the easier it will be to identify spots where you need to bet or raise and push them out of the pot.

It doesn't take too many good aggressive spots being identified to where you can fold their hand out to make a real difference in your success against these guys too.

GL

Great advice! I have now worked with that for a while a found it that when I get a hand, i can almost stack them. so they might take a couple of hundred chips, but when I get a hand, i can almost take their entire stack in a single hand! Very effective play against such aggresive opponent, is just to play a long, and then keep going when you get a hand, because more often than not, they won't let their hand go because they take you for a calling station
 
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