FTR SNG Strategy: Maximizing value in HU situations

Grinding 18 or 27 man sit & go's, most of the profit comes from heads-up situations. This time you will see a review of 3 hands played heads-up and the thinking behind maximizing your profits on each street.

I'm sorry, I don't know who you are and I'm a bit behind the times when it comes to who is producing FTR strat. Is this an FTR sponsored video? Link to video on FTR site?

Also, I can't hear anything. When I turn my volume all the way up, I hear mumbling but still can't decipher any words.

Yes, he is starting to produce a new SNG series... but there are obviously problems here with the audio. Working on straightening them out, sorry folks.

think maximizing value comes down to how your opponent will react to your play

for example if you are ten blinds deep and can get away with limp stabbing - then its optimal, however if your opponent jams every time you limp you may have to limp strong hands to extract maximum value

or if you can adjust your bet sizing exploitively then that extracts more value

Sorry about the audio, I've re-uploaded the video with new audio, so it should be fine now.

TeUnit, you're right, you have to adjust to every opponent, especially heads up, but perfecting opponent and bet sizing adjustments requires experience and video's are one way of getting it

In the second example, wouldn't raising be justified as a way to protect your hand? There are possible draws out there, and as what happened in the example, the flush got there. Raising might have folded out that draw. I'm wondering if the fact that the villain overbet makes a difference in whether or not you raise or just call.

Hand 1: I think betting on the turn is good to get value from the A or K hi you think he has. People (incl fish) rarely fold these hands in that spot.

Hand 3: I would rather bet bigger on the turn to maximize value from draws and also to balance the times that you have a pair on the flop and need to bet bigger on the turn. This also makes your bet smaller on the river when you jam for value. As played, I still think you should be jamming the river. I don't like your river sizing at all.

Originally Posted by agnesamurphy

In the second example, wouldn't raising be justified as a way to protect your hand? There are possible draws out there, and as what happened in the example, the flush got there. Raising might have folded out that draw. I'm wondering if the fact that the villain overbet makes a difference in whether or not you raise or just call.

gah, SPR is what, around 4? How can you be considering protecting your hand? You can't even say that maximizing your chances of winning the pot immediately helps you, because it is heads-up, so ICM stuff doesn't apply. I think Filik is right, you have essentially the nuts and the only question is: What is the best way to convince villain to put all his chips into the pot?

Even if villain has the flush draw (which incidentally is devalued because the board is paired), hero has the nut flush re-draw. So, all things considered, I think "protecting" your hand is not worth thinking about here very much at all.

I think the idea of "protecting your hand" is very overrated in NL Hold'em. Although I am mostly a cash game player, I think this is something that holds true in the heads-up portion of MTT/SNG as well. You're almost always better off (when you have a value hand) considering how best to keep your range wide and (more importantly) how to keep villain's payoff range wider still, rather than protecting your hand. Maybe in earlier stages of the tournament, when the chance of busting out outweighs the extra chips you may gain from playing passively, it is better to just keep betting for value/protection, but such considerations cannot apply heads-up, imo.

Protecting your hand is bullshit that never applies (almost)

Out of interest though what do FTR require to make a video series? I'd quite like to make a video series on crushing the micros (for free ldo) but I'm also not good enough to be giving advice that is topical to >25nl so what do?

Originally Posted by agnesamurphy

In the second example, wouldn't raising be justified as a way to protect your hand? There are possible draws out there, and as what happened in the example, the flush got there. Raising might have folded out that draw. I'm wondering if the fact that the villain overbet makes a difference in whether or not you raise or just call.

Pretty much what Mike said. There's no real reason to think about protecting your hand in this situation and I doubt there are many similar situations where that would be necessary.

Originally Posted by donkbee

Hand 1: I think betting on the turn is good to get value from the A or K hi you think he has. People (incl fish) rarely fold these hands in that spot.

I don't think fishes do pay off all that much here even with A hi. He might have called a small bet, but he would have folded the river to any bet if it didn't hit him, so basically I would only get one street of value at best. Now if it still goes check - check on the turn and he doesn't hit the river, i can probably put in the same small bet and get looked up by A hi, getting the same one street of value. On the other hand by checking the turn I give him an opportunity to hit his full house and stack off, while if I do bet the turn there is a good chance that he will fold right there.

Originally Posted by donkbee

Hand 3: I would rather bet bigger on the turn to maximize value from draws and also to balance the times that you have a pair on the flop and need to bet bigger on the turn. This also makes your bet smaller on the river when you jam for value. As played, I still think you should be jamming the river. I don't like your river sizing at all.

Yeah, the hand is a few months old and I was a little baffled by the sizing myself when I reviewed it and couldn't really remember why I chose that sizing and didn't shove the river, but I think I remember now. The thing is that I started using pokertracker just about that time, but I remembered that reg very well from previous games with him and I knew that he was very competent. That being said I'm pretty sure that on the turn my thinking was that If I bet something like half the pot, that would be a very obvious setup for a river shove which he would see through right away and most likely fold his 9x, 8x and drawing hands (depending on the strength), so I decided to go with the blocking bet sizing instead to try to induce him to call wider or maybe shove. I think I may have outleveled myself on the river by not shoving, but I guess I decided to make it into a very weird line so he would be more confused about my hand and pay off wider since I probably thought that he didn't have much.

Originally Posted by Filik

I don't think fishes do pay off all that much here even with A hi. He might have called a small bet, but he would have folded the river to any bet if it didn't hit him, so basically I would only get one street of value at best. Now if it still goes check - check on the turn and he doesn't hit the river, i can probably put in the same small bet and get looked up by A hi, getting the same one street of value. On the other hand by checking the turn I give him an opportunity to hit his full house and stack off, while if I do bet the turn there is a good chance that he will fold right there.

Because I have tried to bluff many fish off these types of hands, I know that they very often call with them on both the turn and river. (And as a result, I don't bluff in these spots anymore)

Originally Posted by Filik

That being said I'm pretty sure that on the turn my thinking was that If I bet something like half the pot, that would be a very obvious setup for a river shove which he would see through right away and most likely fold his 9x, 8x and drawing hands (depending on the strength), so I decided to go with the blocking bet sizing instead to try to induce him to call wider or maybe shove.

Yes one of the reasons we bet bigger on the turn is so that we can shove the river, and instead of worrying that the opponent will see through this, it's better to just balance our range.

Overall it was a good video, I know they can be tricky to make

Originally Posted by ImSavy

Protecting your hand is bullshit that never applies (almost)

Out of interest though what do FTR require to make a video series? I'd quite like to make a video series on crushing the micros (for free ldo) but I'm also not good enough to be giving advice that is topical to >25nl so what do?

I'd like to see that series.


But why do you think protecting a hand is bullshit that almost never applies?
Surely draws should be made to pay over the odds to draw to a suckout.

Originally Posted by chemist

I'd like to see that series.


But why do you think protecting a hand is bullshit that almost never applies?
Surely draws should be made to pay over the odds to draw to a suckout.

I made that post when I was quite drunk, so I may aswell point out now that it's something I'd like to do in the future not now as I'm not good enough atm.

And it almost never applies in the way that people read it and try to imply it. If you look up actual reasons to "protect your hand" there are very few.

Originally Posted by ImSavy

I made that post when I was quite drunk, so I may aswell point out now that it's something I'd like to do in the future not now as I'm not good enough atm.

.

Perhaps a drunken series? Sorry... had to lol at the comment.

Originally Posted by donkbee

Because I have tried to bluff many fish off these types of hands, I know that they very often call with them on both the turn and river. (And as a result, I don't bluff in these spots anymore)

Guess we met entirely different fish in our paths

Originally Posted by Poker Orifice

Perhaps a drunken series? Sorry... had to lol at the comment.

That might be fun, I like the new "Drunk History" series on Comedy Central a lot, so I'm all for this idea

Originally Posted by Poker Orifice

Perhaps a drunken series? Sorry... had to lol at the comment.

Crushing The Micros - Drug Edition.

See how my performance varies on different drugs.