Heads Up SnG's

[LizzyJ]

Hello friends,
I have been trying to sharpen my HU skills by playing the HU SnG's at FT. Seems like the small ball/pot control/selectively aggresive method seems to work a heck of a lot better than the super aggro 'raise until they yield' approach.

I railed a few high stakes HU players and they seem to be using the small ball approach too.

Anyone have any HU tips?

Thank you, in advance.

 

[Coramoor_]

you need to play slow early on, find out the types of hands your opponents like to push, how often they raise, how often they'll limp etc, what types of cards they'll push with and more, once you have some information, then it's just about trying to outplay your opponent, reraising players that play a lot of hands, and trying to use pot control for tighter players

 

[lektrikguy]

Like Coramoor said-you gotta feel them out. Remember aggression in heads up wins. Don't be afraid to raise often. Also, a K 7 offsuit can be a winning hand. The hand values go way up.

 

[OzExorcist]

Heads up is 100% about reads and playing the other player.

As such, I don't believe there's any particular formula for success. You've just gotta work out how your opponent is playing and adjust to that.

Some players will be weak and easily bet off their hands - just keep smallballing them, stealing pots and grinding them down. Some players won't fold no matter what, so you'll be forced to wait until you make a hand to strike. Some players won't have any obvious weaknesses - you should either avoid them altogether, or look to gamble for stacks with either a reasonable hand or a strong draw to take away any skill advantage.

 

[damon789]

HU stngos

Hey there,
Definately doesnt hurt constantly sharpening up on your HU skills. Afterall, if you expect to make final tables, which we should all aspire to do.You must be atleast competent HU.

Im a big advocate on Raising 3 times the sb if I decide to play a pot HU. for the simple reasons that 1 you have position and 2 you wanna control your opponent HU. take the lead and put them to the test.

Playing the player HU is also crucial. what are their betting patterns? Take careful note of whether they like drawing hands, are they sandbaggers when they hit a big hand? do they semi bluff much?

Sometimes HU, because so many people think aggression is paramount. You simply have to allow your opponent to take the lead in the hand ,and give them enough rope to hang themselves. This would be against a hyper aggresive player, where as with more passive opponents you should be taking the lead more often, and stealing pots.

 

[Sean Pilgrim]

you want practice with a maniac HU? my little brother... ill send him your way...

 

[wona2009wsopseat]

I tried a few HU sngs since I don't play cash and some of the best players are there winning of course. this turned me away from nlhe hu sngs and I started pl / fl. so if any play styles are welcome, just pick nl / pl / fl wisely. its okay to be a losing nl hu player and still be a good player overall

 

[-Phil Ivey27]

Personally I play ultra-aggressive.

I pretty much raise every hand pre flop, the players will often
make a stand to me and i'll actually have a hand.

I win often at the $2, and $6 turbo HU

 

[jamesdenson]

played a few of these must be agressive to win and get a little lucky