Playing heads up against a wreckless player

[paulwall01]

First passive play after last 5 left in tourney will not work....Aggression wins tourneys at this stage...in the worst case scenario that he is just a stupid player, just get to the flop and if you hit at all, go all in, until to he backs down... if he sucks out he sucks out...

 

[sandbender]

Table image

Take advantage of your table image and slow play or check/raise your top 40%.

Then if you get any of the top 15 hands, shove!

When you get to the final table is the time to throw out your rule book and change strategies. By now you should have pretty good notes on what the Villain will push with, and what you've folded you shouldn't have.

That's plenty of information to help raise your aggression level.

 

[sandbender]

When HU I take 2 things into consideration -
1. The flop is 70% of the hands "information"

If that's true, why are so many hands determined by the river? :joyman:

 

[Egon Towst]

If that's true ....

It is a mathematically correct statement.

The information available to you, in terms of cards revealed, consists of your own 2 hole cards and the 5 community cards. After the flop, 70% of that is visible.

 

[kidkvno1]

Be more aggressive, once you show him that you cant be bullied, he will back off.

I Tho i would try it out and it does work One thing that also works is to trap them, and then they back off quick :joyman: and everyone at the table will rethink about pushing you off cards even if you just limp in with J7 and hit 3 more 7s hmmmmm now were did i play that hand at !!!!!!! even tho no one fell in to my trap coz of the last one i did, but was still funny....
Lesson i picked up never play the same 2 hands the same.....

 

[Kenzie 96]

Remember that the average hand is Queen-Seven Offsuit.

In heads-up play, if you have anything better than that, you are likely ahead pre-flop. Play back with a wide range of hands.

Timid players lose at heads-up, and tight is not right.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^. and don't worry everyone wrecks eventually.

 

[RiveRxRival]

would you guys personally say that heads up has more to do with reading and bluffing than the actual cards you get half the time?

 

[beng0001000]

heads up tips from me

I was playing live heads up against a player who was pretty much wreckless. the guy would call almost anything but im a rather passive player. He would sometimes fold but he would almost call or raise anything. Due to the binds killing me i lost. how would you play against a player you cannot bluff against?

id play him hard and fast, every time he calls, raise and every time he raises fold , and just wait for him to do the big raise when you got a really nice hand and go all in. heads up is 50 /50 so you shouldnt play so tight or he will bully you until the blinds are all his.

 

[ZzRick]

Against a person like that i would get even more agressive than him. If you have something slowplaying would maybe be a good choice.

 

[j0na1234]

what i see a lot in tournaments is people who get blinded out. That's not how you wanna get in the money... crowling with only a 1,2 or 3 big blinds.
You have to take a stand and go allin when reaching less then 10to15 big blinds. If u don't, u won't be able to make a comeback as good. The odds may not be as good but if you're lowstacked you gotta be willing to gamble. Even if there is a reckless player. Cause he will just try to steal your blinds

 

[dillingerdis]

This is something that has been bugging me since i started playing. You get to the end of a tourney and are heads up or everyone leaves the cash table youre at except another person. I am unable to find the happy medium being playing aggressive and playing smart. I almost always end up in second just because i get out smarted. I will either play super loose and bluff of a lot or chase a draw and lose, or ill play too tight and end up getting blinded out. Glad to see some other people throwing in some advice, because i sure need it aswell in this subject!

 

[kidoke]

i think the key is to know to be agressive.

on HU reraiser is the best solution to win a HU.

but luck helps. GL

 

[chrismonk123]

if he is aggressive i generally make my stand when a half decent hand comes along! put that fear in him that im willing to move all in!

 

[ActAsIf]

If you had written that you had KJ against KQ I could have felt sympathy for you. K3 was a really marginal hand to call him down with, even with the K on the river. Ted Forrest pushed all-in pf 3 times yesterday with K7 & once with K9 on Poker After Dark v.s. Paul Wasika (h/up challenge). Some guys love to take a bare K all the way to the river.

Basically, when he's aggro, blinds are high, and your a 3:1 underdog in chips, consider folding pre-flop or going all in. If you still have 10bb you might get him to fold Qx. If you're a passive player that can make your strategy easier. Fold everything marginal, go all-in with KJ or better.

If you get no cards at all, then go/call all-in with at least 6bb (no matter what) so that if you do manage to double up you win enough chips to hurt him the next hand you find. If you wait until 3bb or 4 bb before you pull the trigger you'll still be on life support even if you do win the hand.

 

[califantasy]

Remember that the average hand is Queen-Seven Offsuit.

In heads-up play, if you have anything better than that, you are likely ahead pre-flop. Play back with a wide range of hands.

Timid players lose at heads-up, and tight is not right.

I have to agree with this. If you have played the whole final table passively, the other player is likely to think you are playing only premium hands.

Playing back with more marginal hands will likely take a few of those blinds he is stealing back. If he is raising say 5x the BB, I try to steal one back out of every 5 he is raising. This keeps the chips about the same, and sooner or later when you have the goods, you can really spank him.

 

[kingsup23]

Its really easy if hes as aggresive as you say he is you just pick yoru spots but you cant get blinded off like you did. You cant wait for big big hands just any mediocre hand and if you get top pair against this lunatic play it like its the nuts because more often then not against a player of his caliber. It is.

 

[viking999]

i only had about 15 blinds and he wad about 40.

15 isn't a lot. It wouldn't be so outrageous to just play preflop shovebot poker. Something like open shove with 22+, QJ+, K9+, A2+ and reraise shove with 66+, KJ+, A9+. That would take away his aggression advantage. You can't play patient poker against a very aggressive opponent with only 15BB. You will be crushed. You just have to be the better shovebot.

 

[RiveRxRival]

thanks for all the great advice guys. i did manage to finally win one with all the great advice that this thread has given me i played much more agressive and it made my opponent back off a little i took control and then before i knew it he was calling with crap because he was tilted.

 

[the_urge27]

it seems like this guy just had your number-if you fell you dont have an edge playing heads up-just dont play anymore no use in trying to beat someone who you know is better than you-poker is about finding the weaker players and staying away from the good ones-and beleieve me as good as poker players are-there is always going to be someone who just has your number-i suggest either find someone you can run over and dominate or find a game you have an edge in-the_urge27