HU Semi Hand for Hand or Need Help with HU? (long) |
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Posted Tue Jan 24, 2006 12:59 am GMT by DougisRad
Recently, I had a problem closing the door in SnGs during the HU part of the STT. Sure, 2nd place is always good for the ROI, but everyone wants to win, and my HU was lacking recently. So, to brush up on the plays I make and the ways I approach hands, I played a single $5 HU match. I thought it was quite interesting how it played out, and thought that maybe it could be a good read for beginners and intermediates, as well as retouch for the studs on THP. (I don't mean Supa)
Alright, here goes (important and interesting hands will have my thoughts)
Hand 1:
Doug: 1500
Villian: 1500
Blinds: 10/20
My hand: Q  Q 
I raise from the button to 60. Villain calls.
Flop: 3  Q  7
He checks, I check. Why? His check at this buy in shows weakness, and I won't get chips out of him. We have a rainbow flop with top set, so no need to be scared of a free card.
Turn: 5
He checks. I minbet 20. Now I need to bet for many reasons. Two spades on the board, so I don't want him to draw for free. However, my 20 bet into pot of 120 is very small. Why? In HU, three flushes on the board are much more rare. I still want to value play this. He calls. (Yay). Could I have gotten more?
River: 8
Ok, so a potential scare card hits. I'm not scared of a straight (64 and 96 are unlikely to call that raise, esp. at a $5). He checks, indicating he has no flush, but could be planning a c/r. However, I rarely worry about flushes on this board, so I need to figure out how much I will get called. The pot is 160, so, as a very defensive bet, I bet 150. He folds. :/ Should I have bet less?
Hand 2:
Me: 1580
Villian: 1420
Blinds: 10/20
My hand: T K
Villian completes, and I decide to check. Why? KT is surely good enough to raise HU, but I wanted a chance to feel out his style of play. You could, and probably should in HU at the end of a MTT/STT, raise with this hand in either position.
Flop: K A 7
Alright, a good flop, as I think most villian's raise with an ace preflop. With 2 diamonds and a two broadway cards, I need to lead. I bet the pot (40). He instantly calls. Now, before the next card, I need to QUICKLY process what that means. It means either 2 diamonds, weak ace, weak king.
Turn: Q
Yuck. Ugly card. However, I have 2nd pair here and need to lead. I bet 100 into a 120 pot because of straights and flushes all over the place. He folds, which is probably the best outcome.
Hand 3:
Me: 1640
Villian: 1360
Blinds: 10/20
My hand: 9 9
I raise to 60, I fold. Just noting that I have shown aggression with good hands here. He might be a little weak tight.
Hand 4 he open folded.
Hand 5:
Me: 1670
Villian: 1330
Blinds: 10/20
My hand: 2 2
I minraise to 40, which was probably a mistake. Villian calls.
The hand is checked down on a board of A K 9 4 4
I think checking it down is good for me, even if I lose, as I can see what he does on a scary board. He showed 8 6 . Ok, he doesn't seem to bluff.
Hand 6 is another check down and I take a whopping 20.
Hand 7:
Me: 1710
Villian: 1290
Blinds: 10/20
My hand: K K
I minraise here due to my last minraise, wanting to show a little uncertainty of my hand. Villian calls.
Flop: 6 9 3
Again, two hearts, so I want him to draw for a price. I bet 50 into the 80 pot, and he instacalls. Hmmm ... hearts? Top pair?
Turn: Q
Not the greatest hand to see, but I doubt he has a club flush draw due to the call on the flop. I like another value bet here, and I go with 150 into the pot of 180. He calls again. HMMMMMM ... I'm a little worried now. Set? Two pair? Nothing?
River: A
Crap. Worst card to come. Now if he was drawing to the hearts, he hit. If he had A9, I'm beat. He leads out with a bet of 120 into a pot of 480. I'm getting 4:1 here, and I think with thinking players, a bluff would happen 1 in 5 times. Against this chap, I know I'm beaten. However, I call. A couple reasons behind this. First, I think this is an important aspect of deep stack HU ... calling for information. DN did it against DW during HU of a WPT event. I want to see what he was calling with, see his preflop calling range (kinda) and see how he bets when he has a hand. What does he have?
Villian shows A J
He made the right call preflop (though a raise is probably correct), but makes an awful call on the flop, followed by a risky call on the turn. He was only getting 2.2:1 on his flush draw, but add his ace outs, and he's getting 3.8:1 winning odds. Not really the best math call. So, with my call, I now know his calls don't mean a sneaky, thinking player, but a bad, non math player. This may have been the most important hand of the match. Oh, and he gets to see that I don't mess around (though I do mess around and will bluff almost anywhere). He said "wow" when he saw how lucky he got.
Hands 8-11 traded open folds by him and check downs, nothing to really show here.
Hand 12
Me: 1280
Villan: 1720
Blinds: 10/20
My hand: T 7
I complete (never ever ever open fold HU, unless villian ALWAYS raises from the BB when you do). He raises up to 60, and I instacall. Pretty easy call, as I know I'm not a huge dog, and I can take some chips if I hit.
Flop: 2 6 T
Probably one of the better flops for my hand, though I would have liked the 2 to be a heart. The pot is 120, so after he checks, I lead with 100. Probably a little high, but I don't want him to have the odds for his overs, as he likes so much. He calls, not worried.
Turn: 9
Eh, not a scary card, especially when he checks. I lead with 250 into the 320 pot, and take it down. This is a fine pot for my initial 40 call.
Hand 13:
Me: 1440
Villian: 1560
Blinds: 10/20
My hand: Q 7
Villian raises to 60, I call. Pretty standard.
Flop: 3 9 J
He leads for 140 (pot is 120, haha), and I fold. He has a piece of it, I have nothing.
Hands 14-16 were uneventful, more checking down, flop folds, not a huge deal.
Hand 17
Me: 1320
Villian: 1680
Blinds: 10/20
My hand: A K
Villian completes, I minraise to 40, he calls. Pot is 80.
Flop: K T A
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! I check, he checks (argh).
Turn: 9
Somewhat scary card, but I need to lead anyway to get some value. I bet 75, he folds. Ugh, probably too high, anyway.
Hand 18 is worthless.
Hand 19
Me: 1340
Villian: 1660
Blinds: 10/20
My hand: J K
Villian calls, I check. 99% of the time, I think a player should raise, but I wanted to trap him (later on, I realized I probably couldn't, as he doesn't bluff, folds when he misses, bets when he hits).
Flop: 4 3 2
I check because he could have anything, and he checks. Maybe he has overs, too?
Turn: J
Alright, we've hit the best hand, and I know it. But I need to lead to keep some draws out. I bet the pot (40) and he calls.
River: 5
Yuck. An ace beats me now, and a lone 6. I check, he bets 80 into the 120 pot. Again, I know I'm beat, but with these stacks, the information is worth more than 80 chips, so I call and he shows 4 5 . Not a bad play for him.
Hands 20-22 were uneventful.
Hand 23
Me: 1180
Villian: 1820
Blinds: 10/20
My hand: A Q
Villian completes, I raise to 60, he calls. I'm feeling good here.
Flop: 7 5 J
Now I don't feel as good, but I decide to CB here. I bet 100 into the 120 pot. He repops me to 300. I make a pretty loose (read: bad) call in hopes of hitting 1 of my 2 overs or bluff a scary card. This was either going to work well or backfire.
Turn: K
I instantly push all-in for my remaining 820. This play would be scrutinized by a lot of players, and praised by others. My thinking was that if he had a jack or a 7, he's probably folding, but I also have aces, queens, and tens. Pretty risky play, but he folds.
Hand 24:
Me: 1540
Villian: 1460
Blinds: 15/30
My hand: A K
I'm getting some solid starting hands, but flops aren't great for me. I raise to 90, he calls.
Flop: 9 J K
Cool. I like this flop, and feel pretty good about it, except for some reason, I wasn't scared of a straight draw. He checks, I check.
Turn: 6
Ok, I need value on my hand, so after he checks, I bet 60, he minrepops me, so I minrepop him to 180. Villian calls. Ew.
River: T
Villian checks, and I check because he checkraised me before. He shows 9 6 . Preflop call? Hmmm, maybe he is a thinking player.
Hands 25-30, we trade some pots, but I get back close to even.
Hand 31:
Me: 1450
Villian: 1550
Blinds: 15/30
My hand: Q 4
He completes, I check.
Flop: Q A J
Eh, not the best flop, but I had decided to get more aggressive. I bet 60, which is the pot. He calls.
Turn: 8
Either I can take the lead here and hopefully end the hand now, or check and guess what he has when he leads. I bet 150 and he folds. Now I know I can play more aggressive and get away with it.
Hand 32
Me: 1540
Villian: 1460
Blinds: 15/30
My hand: Q T
I raise to 90 from the button, and he calls. I, ahead of time, plan to play this aggressively unless I flop a monster.
Flop: 9 Q 7
Ok, I hit top pair, know its good, but we have some draws. He checks, I bet 125 into the 180 pot. He calls. His check calling is a screaming cry to drawing hands. It's also weak tight.
Turn: 3
He checks, I check. Why? At the time, I think I was hoping he would bluff the river, but I can't remember now.
River: 6
He leads out with 420 into a pot of 430. The 6 didn't fill any draws unless he held T8 or 85. It smells fishy and seems out of character. His check calling has been a drawing hand or a lower pair. Of course, I'm worried about two pair he may have snuck on me, but I don't know. I go into the tank here, using more than half of my time bank. I decided the bet was too "out of leftfield" to be anything but a busted draw, so I call. He shows T J and I take down a huge pot (1270). He tells me a it was a nice call, and I guess it was okay. Anyone repop?
Hands 33 and 34 are nothingness. 
Hand 35/b
Me: 2145
Villian: 855
Blinds: 15/30
My hand: K 3
Villian completes, I check. Sometimes I raise this for variation.
Flop: 7 6 4
Eh, I check, he checks.
Turn: 5
Alright, I hit the dummy end of the straight, but I also want him to bet at this pot, so I can repop him and take it down now. He checks behind, so my plan was foiled.
River: 4
The board pairing isn't the best thing, but I'm not worried about a boat right now. I bet 30 into the 60 pot, he repops to 90, and instead of reraising with the sucker end, I call. He shows T 4 . COOL! BEST CARD!
Hands 36-44 are a whole bunch of small pot trading.
Hand 45
Me: 2205
Villian: 795
Blinds: 15/30
My hand: 8 8
Villian completes, I raise to 90, he calls. Standard weak play from him.
Flop: J K 2
Not the best flop for my 8s, but I feel I have a solid read on when he has something and when he doesn't. I bet 150 and take it down.
Hand 46 blows by.
Hand 47:
Me: 2265
Villian: 735
Blinds: 15/30
My hand: 7 7
Villian raises to 90, I flat call.
Flop: 5 4 T
I lead for 150, pretty happy if I go ahead and take it down now. He repops me all-in, and it's 495 to call. Hmmm, this looks like his bluff from before when he missed his draw. I think he has 2 clubs and wants me to fold a CB, but little does he know I'm holding the monster 77. I go into the tank, just to evaluate his play, and I decide it's his out of nowhere bluff. I call. He shows A 6 . AHA! He's drawing to about 4 outs (3 aces, backdoor straight). He gets no help, and in LEVEL TWO, he's done.
Thoughts, insight, kind words. Does this help ANYONE out? If so, I will give more in the future.
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Posted Tue Jan 24, 2006 1:29 am GMT by xDiamond_CutteRx
I love analyzing heads-up play, so I'm more than happy to discuss with you.
Here's some of my commentary... in general, what I saw was too much min-raising and not enough solid aggression. Your man has shown himself to be tight and weak, and you can pop him for a lot more than you did on most occasions.
Hand 1: Fine opening. I like the check on the flop. I don't like the min-bet on the turn, though, because if he does have that unlikely spade draw, you're simply inviting him to continue in the pot with you. I would have preferred you to bet about 60-80 here; if he folds he folds, but there probably wasn't going to be much action here regardless. On the river, you made a decent bet, but there's very little he can call with here that doesn't have you beat. Personally I'd minimize your risk and get some value here by betting about 80-90.
Hand 2: Definitely need to raise this up pre-flop.
Hand 5: If you're going to raise this hand, raise more than minimum. Again, that's an invitation and it does nothing to define his hand.
Hand 19: Again, you should raise before the flop. Given the way this guy has played, I would probably raise before the flop and continuation bet almost every time I'm on the button, and just trap him out of the big blind.
Hand 23: I really don't like any of this play. It worked, but it was sloppy. He made a good-sized raise on the flop, and he's only been betting with pretty solid hands as far as we know. Why reward his bad play by calling when you don't have a good hand. You can easily outmaneuver this guy, so I don't think you need to call on the flop here. I hate the turn push even more because you have NO information and you're just playing guessing-game Poker. He could have a lot of hands that include a K, and you might have just pushed while drawing dead. You can't be shoving your chips into a pot like that when you can't put your man on a hand. It might look brave to some, but I think it's just foolhardy.
Hand 24: I like you checking the top pair on the flop for deception. But on the turn, stop with the min-popping. Fire in a big bet that makes him make a real decision; you didn't make him sweat at all with your pitiful min-raises. His call before the flop may not have been as bad as you think, and aside from that, you simply did nothing to protect your hand on any further street. Lesson learned for next time.
Hand 31: Again, I don't like the blind stabbing around and hoping your man will lay the hand down. After he calls on the flop, I'm probably moving into a shell here and hoping to check it down.
Hand 32: You must must MUST value-bet the turn here. I think calling is probably correct on the river, given how he had played.
Hand 45: Again, you stabbed blindly at this pot, hoping the flop didn't help him, which is unlikely. I would bet if he checked on the flop, otherwise I'd check to him. He plays straight-forward weak Poker, so don't give anything away.
Hand 47: I think you had to call here. Good match.
Hope my criticisms weren't too harsh. I look forward to more of these posts.
Posted Tue Jan 24, 2006 1:31 am GMT by zinn0
| DougisRad wrote: | | ...as well as retouch for the studs on THP. |
It's painfully obvious you were referring to me. Nice post by the way.
Posted Tue Jan 24, 2006 3:01 am GMT by Phil14312
Good read. I kinda skimmed most of it, from what I saw, after you make a preflop raise, follow that up with a continuation bet for about the same size on every flop, whether you have the nuts or nothing. It seems you would hit a big hand and then check the flop, trying to induce action. But, what I think you are really hoping is that he has some sort of draw or a 2nd best hand, then get your money in.
Posted Tue Jan 24, 2006 9:43 am GMT by DougisRad
Yeah, I definitely minraised too much, and I don't know where that came from. I NEVER minraise. I think I recently read something about how thinking players hate being minraised, but that doesn't make it a good play anyway.
I thought that I got lucky, honestly. All of the minraising would have been eaten up by anyone good, so I'm re-eliminating it from my game. I think this thread would probably show some players what NOT to do, and also a few things to do (ie, trusting a read).
I'm the type of player who HU typically raises almost any 2 and makes a CB on the flop unless I hit massively. That hadn't been working lately, but this HU session would probably lose money in the long run.
Hand 31, I kind of think the restab on the scary turn. Why? He's shown his calling is for drawing or underpair circumstances. He has always folded when he feels beaten, and raised when he feels he is ahead (except for the out of character bet when he bluffed). With the stacks deep, I can afford to put 150 into taking the pot down, and if he reraises or calls, I'm done with the hand.
Posted Tue Jan 24, 2006 12:58 pm GMT by snoogins47
I didn't really study it, but through a fairly brief read through, but in general, you seemed to be really quick to slow down and be tricky, in what looks like it may be some sort of "pot-size management" effort, that just plain doesn't work right.
For instance, I hate checking the turn in hand 32, the QT top pair hand. I also don't really like checking behind the flop on 24. As much as I hate axioms, you have to remember that if he has a piece, you can usually get action with a bet. The only time giving a free card is good, is when it can likely improve your opponents hand that he WASNT going to give action with, to a hand that you still beat. I'm all for a little trickiness here and there, but you really need to be betting spots like this... the AK hand was weird, since you raise preflop and check the flop, but the QT hand turn check seems much worse. He usually has what two hands here? A pair, or a draw. Betting is way better against both of those hands than checking.
Hand 23... yuck, is my verdict. Even if you planned on pushing any turn, he's going to be getting close to 2 to 1 on his call, and you're playing it so oddly... I dunno. I bluff constantly myself, but I can't imagine that these are the circumstances in which to do so. The bet-call-shove line is also really weird, and I think that leads to getting called here often with any jack, and some other one pair hands. He tends to have something, after raising the flop.
Posted Tue Jan 24, 2006 7:45 pm GMT by TheSalche
| Phil14312 wrote: | | I kinda skimmed most of it, from what I saw, after you make a preflop raise, follow that up with a continuation bet for about the same size on every flop, whether you have the nuts or nothing. It seems you would hit a big hand and then check the flop, trying to induce action. |
I agree with Phil here, the key to a deceptive trap play is that it looks like how you would normally play the hand. Whenever I see a player raise preflop, then check the flop when there's a lot of paint on it, something's fishy.
I think a big key hand here that tells you how to play this guy ... hand #4. Open-folding to you. That would instantly tell me that this guy is most likely a weak-passive player. The best way to deal with these guys is raise PF with all your premium hands as usual, but raise around 30% of hands and try to take them down with continuation bets. If he shows resistance, just lay it down. CBs should be closer to 1/2 - 2/3 the pot ... you seemed to CBing about 5/6 of the pot, which makes it less effective since you will need to have it work a lot more often for it to be +EV.
In general min-raising is a pretty weak play, but you can use it every now and then to throw your opponents off.
Posted Tue Jan 24, 2006 11:30 pm GMT by tame_deuces
It will always be more tempting to try and be tricky and slowplay something head's up. Because its feels like that bastard you are playing "never gets a hand when you hold a monster!"
Never do it though, the more likely result is that you give your opponent a killer and end up with a hand you can't fold. Like Snoogins said, if your opponent has a hand, you'll get action even if you bet.
Most of the time HU your opponent won't have anything, this is a better thing to exploit really. :D
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