FTR SNG Strategy: Maximizing value in HU situations

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