Heads-Up on PPP

ianmc38

last night i was playing a €10 Speed heads up game on PPP. Admittedly, I played it very badly, but i'd like to know how everyone else would play aginst an opponent like this.

1st off he was playing uber-slow, waiting a second before he times out to make his move. The 1st 15 or so hands that were played the guy went all in. The best i'd hit in this time were 22, 78s and A5s. I folded each of these.

Obviously because i never called his raises, i couldn't get any form of read on this guy. I was down 900 of my original 2000 chips and the blinds were soon moving to 100/200.

How would you play this guy?

Culchie

Any pair and any Ace is a monster in Heads Up (including 22 !) ....Push them

ianmc38

Culchie wrote:

Any pair and any Ace is a monster in Heads Up (including 22 !) ....Push them

I don't agree with that. I'v been beaten on showdowns lotsa times with A/2 / low pocket pairs, being beaten by higher pocket pairs or A with a better kicker. The 1st hand i was dealt the 22. The 3rd i think i was dealt the A5s. Would you push 1st hand with 22 without having any read at all on the player?

ianmc38

Yes an A is a good card in heads up but i have reservations about saying any A is a monster. A/2o vs AA or A+s or A+o is certainly not a monster.

Culchie

ianmc38 wrote:

Yes an A is a good card in heads up but i have reservations about saying any A is a monster. A/2o vs AA or A+s or A+o is certainly not a monster.

Oh yes it is !




EDIT ... When I say 'Push' I use it the context of the speed crapshoot you are playing, you can't raise so you have to push.

If you were playing a normal game these are definitely raising hands.

ianmc38

Culchie wrote:

Oh yes it is !




EDIT ... When I say 'Push' I use it the context of the speed crapshoot you are playing, you can't raise so you have to push.

If you were playing a normal game these are definitely raising hands.

So lets say we're playign adifferent heads up game. We're playing a much tighter player. We reraise preflop with A2. He then reraises all in. Is this:

a. A monster hand
b. Not a monster hand ie a definite fold.

Dont get me wrong I do undertstand what you're saying about an A in heads up, but i dont agree by labelling it as a monster. It is in most hands but when facing a pocket pair or an A with better kicker its never a monster.

Back to the point though. What hand would you call with if you'd played him the same way I had, ie 1100 in chips left and blinds going up to 100/200

Iago

he could reraise all in with KQs/o KJs/o QJs/o, maybe even KTs/o or QTs/o depending on how loose he is...

With that type of player I might have pushed or called his bluff with the A5s hand. Speed Heads-up games are like bingo though, why play them?

If you're down to 1100 and blinds are going up to 100/200 then I think you have to be willing to push with a huge range of hands including

Any PP
Any Suited A
Any Non-Suited A
Any two picture cards
Any combination of K9-Q8s
Any direct suited connectors from 67 up

It's bingo at that stage and particularily against a loose player

Culchie

ianmc38 wrote:

So lets say we're playign adifferent heads up game. We're playing a much tighter player. We reraise preflop with A2. He then reraises all in. Is this:

a. A monster hand
b. Not a monster hand ie a definite fold.

Dont get me wrong I do undertstand what you're saying about an A in heads up, but i dont agree by labelling it as a monster. It is in most hands but when facing a pocket pair or an A with better kicker its never a monster.

Back to the point though. What hand would you call with if you'd played him the same way I had, ie 1100 in chips left and blinds going up to 100/200

OK, well back to your point then. I wasn't there, but your A5 looked like a definite hand to make a stand with.

You have no choice but go with anything half decent, you are entering the 'red zone'.

Any Ace, pair, connectors .... make a stand ... you think he has a good hand every time? ... he's peeing on your head here !

califano

Iago wrote:

. Speed Heads-up games are like bingo though, why play them?

i play turbo heads-up because it takes the play out of the game, seriously

ianmc38

Yes he was peeing all over me, i'll agree with that. I'd never come up agaainst a player like this before. As much as i've seen loose players, i've never seen anyone that goes all in on every single hand. So was an interesting game as much as it was infuriating.

Waylander

I agree folding the 22 was probably a good move as you knew nothing about the player and it was the first hand. With the A5s I think you should have called. What culchie saysis correct, any A or any pp heads up are strong starting hands, they will not win every time you play them but neither will bullets.

Hitman Actual

A simple solution which may or may not be a load of b****x: If he moves all-in with every hand, then call with all hands that have better than 50% EV against a random hand.

hotspur

This is actually a very good question, most players don't know what kind of a hand is what kind of a favourite against a random 2 cards. I looked into it when I went through a phase of playing $1k head up sit n goes on Pokerstars everytime I had an argument with someone at a table. In this kind of all in shennanigans caling with 22 is awful in my opinion, Q8 off has better winning % against 2 random cards. You have to decide what edge you personally are willing to take before committing all of your chips, if it's 60-40 then you're looking at A7 suited or A9 offsuit in terms of Ax hands. Check out this table for a complete list of the %, this should help if it ever happens again:
http://www.thepokerforum.com/pokermath1.htm

Waylander

Yeah I know what you are saying HS, but that if the hand is played out to the full, obviously if someone is all in and you call then the hand will be played out, but when you are a preflop raiser you are not always wanting to be called all the way down. I still do not think it is a bad strategy to raise freflop with these hands head up.