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Figuring out your opponents in a Heads-Up Sit'n'Go |
Figuring out your opponents in a Heads-Up Sit'n'Go
With online poker becoming the main stage of all the poker action, there has been a large increase in the variety of games offered. Of particular interest is the availability of Heads-Up Sit'n'Goes.
Heads-Up Sit'n'Goes (HUSNG) are the rarest games you would be able to find in casinoes, if not ever see them. This is due to the amount of resource and time required to run a HUSNG being far unprofitable for the casinoes.
Perhaps this is why that it is rare to find strategy based on HUSNG. A lot of times when you read Poker books and magazines the heads-up action that they focus on is the situation at the end of a multi-table tournament or a Full Table Sit'n'Go, that is, the heads-up action when the blinds have already increased high and every move is significant that your play puts you at the edge of winning or losing.
In HUSNG, this isn't the case. With equal amount of chips to start of, the blinds are significantly low at the start compared to the chipstack, this makes it really hard to implement the strategies used when the blinds are high. Therefore, I've decided to add a few comments about playing a HUSNG and some plays that are available to you at the start of the tournament.
Most of the opponents you will come across at the HUSNG with a buy-in of perhaps $30 or less are average players. They can be classified as players that know a different strategy is required when heads-up, alot of loose play has to be made and much more bluffing is required. They still, however, remain predictable players. This means at similar situation they will make a similar play throughout the sitngo. A tight player will try to loosen up and bluff more, but will still remain scared when the opponent calls or raises etc.
Now as you are the better player, you will be the one variating your play more and adjust your strategy according to your opponent. Therefore, i suggest spending sometime early in a HUSNG to analyze your opponent.
In the beginning, the blinds will be a tiny portion of your stack and rise very slowly. Therefore, you can afford to lose some chips in order to gain some information. (It won't hurt you to start with lower chips right? Because you ARE the better player!)
What you should do is become a calling station at the beginning of the game, because what you really need is to see the cards he played and see how he played it.
Check what sort of cards he raised with preflop. See what he does on the flop.
1. Has he hit a monster hand and slow played it? or did he bet out?
2. Has he hit top pair and bet out strongly or weakly?
3. Is he betting you on a draw?
4. Or was he plain bluffing on the flop?
After this when the turn comes out you should see:
1. If he had the monster hand and checked the flop, is he gonna check again when the turn is a rag, or is he gonna bet to hide his strength when he raises big time on the river?
2. If he had top pair and a danger card comes on the turn, what does he do?
3. If he was plain bluffing on the flop, and the turn was rag again, did put a halt (because he's scared that you called him on the flop bluff), or is he going to try bluffing again?
4. If he was bluffing on the flop, but actually hit something on the turn what does he do?
Other tactics you should try to figure out is if they check-raise alot.
This may sound like lots of things to find out and that it's impossible to find them all out at the beginning of the HUSNG. The thing is though, that you don't have to, once you figure out a few of the tactics he uses, you'll be able to classify him as a player who's playing his usual style (like he does in a full table game) or if he is a player who's trying to play differently than he usually does (but fails to). Then you can pretty much fit the puzzle together and expect his moves throughout the game. Chances are that his style won't variate as the blinds rises, as the game still remains a "heads-up" game.
Once your chipstack gets down to 75~80% of your original starting stack, then you should start playing properly again. Adjusting to what you have learned about your opponent.
Keep notes, and next time you see him again, be a calling station for a few hands again and get more notes. People who play HUSNG tend to play over and over and there's lots of chance that you'll meet them again. (Usually, once your game ends, you will both join the next open HU game and end up meeting each other again).
Remember that they will try to see how you play as well. Therefore, make sure you variate YOUR play. That means, learning to check when you have top pair and making a delayed bet on the turn. When you hit your set, bet out 30% of the time, and check 70% of the time.
If you play low buy-in, you may see lots of players going all in at the start, don't gamble, the blinds aren't high enough. Just fold to them unless you hold AA,KK,QQ,JJ, AK
chances are that you will be winning by over 60% and they will probably have one overcard (unless your holding AA or AK).
Good player that you are, you will be able to put his chipstack down to 25% of his original starting stack. When this is the case, just put him all in everytime no matter what hand you hold. Either he will fold if they are really bad cards and you take his blind so you cut his chipstack even more (much better), or they will call you if they have decent cards, and you will still be able to get lucky and take him out. If he wins, fair enough, your probably have 3 times more chips than him anyways.
Hope this articled helps the way you play HUSNG.
Figuring out your opponents in a Heads-Up Sit'n'Go written by: HangukMiguk
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