Hey all. I'm new to the forum, and I thought that I'd start out by asking a question.

I've been playing a lot of low-limit heads up s&g's lately ($10 and less) and I find them to be pretty profitable. The problem is that I have a hard time putting my opponents away.

I find that keeping the pots small and chipping away makes it pretty easy to work the villains down to ~800 chips, but I don't have a great defense once they begin the "fold or shove" strategy. I tend to end up getting it all-in in a marginal situation, and either winning a race or doubling they guy back up to even and having to start all over again. I find that when below a certain level, a person is unlikely to call my raises, and my strategy is relegated to waiting to hope to trap them, but in the head up situation, I can never tell if I'm trapping with A-T or calling with a dominated/even hand (even if they have K 8, I'm only like a 3/2 fav.). Do you find that this is the necessary end to this kind of tourney, or should I shift my strategy in some way?

I don't want to rethink my whole style, because I think that playing conservatively in the beginning (check/folding out of position, raising w/ good hands to avoid giving free cards, not firing 2nd and 3rd bullets on bluffs) is a good way to give weak opponents enough rope to hang themselves while minimizing the risk for myself. The problem is that once the bad guys start shoving, I don't have a technique other than waiting until I have a serviceable hand and then calling for half my stack. Does anyone have any advice?

Also, before I hear anything about it, I realize that I play much to conservatively to take down the higher limits. The strategy against better competition, or in a one-on-one cash game would be much different. I'm trying to focus on the SnGs

it just comes down to 2 things:
a.) math of what range we "feel" he could have
B.) flow of the game

just go with anything were you think you are about 50% you can afford to miss, he can;t

Download SNGWiz, use it at least for the trial, have it analyze your hand histories and go through as many of the quizzes as you can (it will make as many as you like during the trial period which I think is like 2 weeks or so). Taught me a lot about equity in sng's when the blinds get to the shove-or-fold point.

hustler you finally have an avatar!!!

for the people

You're not going to be able to grind every villain into the dust, risk-free. When the time comes to look your opponent up, focus on just getting your money in good - good meaning as a coin flip or better the majority of the time. Favorable pot odds could mean calling with virtually ATC.

Heads up is part math, part psychological. When you start doubting yourself just because you're forced into some marginal situations with the chip lead, you're ignoring the fact that the numbers are on your side.

L

I think you have to value you card holdings by looking at his stack size and blind size.. also how often hes pushin.. i think its ideal to wait for a good spot and just go for it. ive called an all in when with just a9 of diamonds when noticed my opponent was on tilt because of double me up the previous hand... he showed a7 clubs and i flopped a flush game over him

n00b question, how do u get an avatar?

Standard all in call.

Look at the top of the page for My Controls and click it. Then look down the left side for Edit Avatar Settings and from there you can pick one from the base gallery or upload an image from your computer.

Weeeee thanks.

True. I would also say it depends alot on what type of oppenent your playing, how often they are shoving & relative stack sizes imo. I actually just finished a $5 heads up on UB, less than 2 mins ago, villain was ground down to about half my stack & kept shoving pretty much every 3 hands, waited until i had any ace or pair, caught A5 and looked up his next shove,,, he showed down 59 LOL... ace high took it.