HU Range

[agnesamurphy]

Based on the feedback I'm getting on my other HU thread, I am wondering about what kind of range you should have when it's down to two people in a tournament.

I was of the understanding that when it's down to two people, you need to play almost every hand and can't just fold anything that's not in the top 20% of hands or so. You have to open up your calling and raising ranges much more widely. Am I misguided?

[simpledude16]

Based on the feedback I'm getting on my other HU thread, I am wondering about what kind of range you should have when it's down to two people in a tournament.

I was of the understanding that when it's down to two people, you need to play almost every hand and can't just fold anything that's not in the top 20% of hands or so. You have to open up your calling and raising ranges much more widely. Am I misguided?

no you seem to have the right idea. deff thinking about it correctly

[Fielmann]

One important thing to realise is that in heads-up play the small blind is in position post-flop and the big blind is out of position. (This is different from blind versus blind in a normal game where the small blind is out of position throughout the hand and the big blind is in position.)

As a result:

Opening very wide from SB/BTN - yes.
Calling wide from BB - not as much. You can, of course, call, taking into account you're often going to be ahead of your opponent's wide range, but in general, being out of position is a strong incentive to either 3-bet or fold.

[Luco]

I agree with both of the above posts, and also donkbee's posts in your other thread.

Please continue playing aggressively HU and keep posting hands

[simpledude16]

but in general, being out of position is a strong incentive to either 3-bet or fold.

this is just wrong

[Pascal]

this is just wrong

Why?

[simpledude16]

Why?

contrary to almost all mtters beliefs on poker we can make money flatting more than a fold and poss better than a 3b

did you at all consider thinking of why instead of just asking? like maybe post why you disagree with what i said

[Pascal]

Sure, I disagree because I think it's far easier to play heads up in position and if you haven't played much heads up you're going to make way bigger mistakes out of position - it's hard to find the balance between calling down and hero folding. 3betting makes stacks shallower so it's easier to do stuff like bet flop/shove turn when you do flop well.

[simpledude16]

Sure, I disagree because I think it's far easier to play heads up in position and if you haven't played much heads up you're going to make way bigger mistakes out of position - it's hard to find the balance between calling down and hero folding. 3betting makes stacks shallower so it's easier to do stuff like bet flop/shove turn when you do flop well.

So what you are saying is that we should 3b or fold (assuming that means you are 3b bluffing a decent % or literally folding almost everyhand) which means we are playing a bigger pot oop and apparently we arent comfortable playing hu so bigger pots oop with weakish ranges makes a ton of sense. you mentioned about it being easier to get stacks in when we flop well in our 3b pots oop what about the majority of the time where we dont flop well and we have weakish hands?

It being easier to play in position is correct but its also easier to not play poker at all so why not just do that if we are going the easy route. Not doing things because they make you think/have to think is basically a moronic reason.

[chemist]

It doesn't really matter what you want to do,
it takes two to tango and to play HU.

You have to adjust to the other player.

If they are passive you can be aggressive and mostly trust them for a hand when they play back.

If they are aggressive you can take advantage of catching them out and occasionally repping something.

However you play tho, in the end you have to have the best hand to finish it off.

[fjuanl]

You shouldn't be too focused on saying you'll play X% of hands in heads-up. The stack size and style of your opponent is what should determine how many hands you play.

Lets say you are heads up vs someone with 20bb who resteals a lot. He'll expect you to be raising nearly every hand and will start shoving over your opens a lot. This is where you have to consider open folding more. Don't get stuck on a gameplan of "I have to raise X% of hands in heads up"

[Pascal]

So what you are saying is that we should 3b or fold (assuming that means you are 3b bluffing a decent % or literally folding almost everyhand) which means we are playing a bigger pot oop and apparently we arent comfortable playing hu so bigger pots oop with weakish ranges makes a ton of sense. you mentioned about it being easier to get stacks in when we flop well in our 3b pots oop what about the majority of the time where we dont flop well and we have weakish hands?

It being easier to play in position is correct but its also easier to not play poker at all so why not just do that if we are going the easy route. Not doing things because they make you think/have to think is basically a moronic reason.

No, all interesting stuff. Do you recommend 3betting a merged or a polarized range against an unknown opponent with say 30bb? Should we be flatting stuff OOP like KTs and 3betting J6o, or flatting J6o so we don't give up too many big blinds? Not really sure where to start with heads up

[Fielmann]

So what you are saying is that we should 3b or fold (assuming that means you are 3b bluffing a decent % or literally folding almost everyhand) which means we are playing a bigger pot oop and apparently we arent comfortable playing hu so bigger pots oop with weakish ranges makes a ton of sense.

So flatting and not 3-betting serves the purpose of keeping the pot small when we are out of position? This does make sense. I wonder if the same logic, if transposed to full ring, could be used to make an argument for making small opening raises from early position and big opening raises on the button. I'm asking because I think that most people who vary their opening ranges by position, do it the other way around.