As you might guess from the stacks, this is the first hand of a turbo $6 + .25 HU SNG.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t20 (2 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

Button (t1500)
Hero (t1500)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K, 8.
Button calls t10, Hero raises to t100, Button calls t80.

Flop: (t200) K, 8, T (2 players)
Hero bets t100, Button calls t100.

Turn: (t400) 4 (2 players)

I really, really did not want to see that third heart, obviously. Should I have bet bigger on the flop with two hearts there? And what now? The smooth call of the flop bet is the classic sign of someone chasing a draw. Does anyone play this cautiously at this point, or is it pedal to the metal to give villain bad odds if he just has one heart? And if you do play cautiously, and get raised all in, would any of you actually let the hand go and figure there's a lot of time left (even in a turbo)? Would the answer to that change if the stakes were higher?

I don't really like that big of a raise pf. HU I usually go 3x BB, and 3.5x if they limp and I have a good hand. I don't really understand building a big pot OOP with a weak hand this early, esp when you have no read at all on the player. As played, I prob c/c on turn depending on the size of the bet.

And your flop bet is the classic sign of someone missing the board and c-betting. I wouldn't be worried yet but if villian wants to get it all in the middle, it might be time to lay it down. Play it out cautiously. Maybe your opponent had a king and the third heart will scare him instead. You don't know what this guy does yet, it's only the first hand. HU has a lot to do with playing the player.

I'm in agreement. Pre-flop to large, especially right off the bat. Not knowing your villain yet, I'd like a bit bigger flop bet but I think that is fine too. HU you'll see peeps taking implied odds way out of hand so this smooth call could be on a lot of hands. You need to tread lightly once third heart hits but I don't mind another half to 2/3 bet here in case player not on FD.

The PF raise is Harrington SOP, straight out of HoH2. He says to raise small from the button, to only two to three times the BB, to encourage action when you will be in position. But when you are in the BB, you are supposed to raise to 4-5xBB, to hopefully end the hand right there.

I think you guys make good points about treading carefully after the third heart hits though. I did not--instead I pushed--though I did get lucky. Villain called and turned over Q8, no hearts. So it ended up being a one hand SNG, lol. But had he turned over two hearts, I would have felt pretty foolish (though I'd still have outs I guess). The case where he has one heart, I think the push (or at least a big pot-sized turn bet) makes more sense, to price out the draw.

QFT
hmmmm, tough spot. Putting in a bet of around 250 here. If he calls, I prob c/c the river. If I get reraised on the turn, I think folding is right. It is just so tough to fold two pair heads up tho (you could just assume he has T4 and call on the turn too though ). I expect him to just call you down.

Check calling the whole way is ok I suppose, but you don't really get alot of value.

First of all. Check preflop. I hate the raise. If you want to raise then bump it to 50. But I prefer checking OOP. Check the turn and reevaluate after his action.

Checking the turn sucks.

I don't want to give random hearts free cards.

Pushing is probably even worse
Check preflop..don't bloat the pot out of position against someone which you know NOTHING about

As played preflop, I would bet more on the flop
On the turn, I'd bet 250ish and judge by his actions then on what to do

See, the thing that makes this hand so hard to play is the preflop action. Even if we just raise to 50 or 60, which I'm ok with, we're not in nearly as tough a spot here, with a smaller pot.

Say you raise to 60, you can bet 90 on the flop (3/4), then the pot is only 300 when the turn hits. We have 1350 left in our stacks, meaning if we face pressure, we can get away from it, without having to show weakness of checking the turn. I mean, this one isn't so different because we bet so small on the flop, so the pot isn't as inflated, but still 33% bigger than it should be, imo.

Anyways, as played, I'd bet 200 here, and probably fold to most raises. Maybe peel with a minraise and see how he reacts, and of course, try to boat up. Problem here, is that if you call you are almost always facing a big river bet.

Bleh. I still lead the turn for 1/2 pot or so, but what I'd do if I got raised, is still up in the air, lol.

- Zach

So what about the Harrington rule of thumb HU: raise small from the button, but big from the big blind?

lol, I've never read HOH2 in it's entirety (some parts though), and it's been forever since I read HOH1.

It would make a lot more sense to play a smaller pot OOP though.

I think that rule can be applied better with a certain read on your opponent..By raising a little bit of a larger amount, we gain information as to what he may call with, so its not total rags as it may be if we only raised 3x and he came along just for the pot odds..But the problem with raising the first hand with something like K8 is we know absolutely nothing about him..We have then bloated the pot OOP against a total unknown..

Now...lets say your nearing the end of the 2nd or 3rd blind level, and he continually limps/folds to raises or plays weak in position, then I like your raise..You have a better grasp of how he plays postflop, which is essential HU..You will know what to do when he floats flops, if he c/r'es often, how to extract value from him whether it be by betting or checking and let him hang himself, etc..But for the time being , feel him out, check his level of aggression, and then I think upping the aggression would be more called for later when blinds are bigger

Yes, this is true, but your selection of hands raising from the BB should be less than your selection raising from the button

You have a pretty garbage hand. Call and see a flop. Any marginal value you have over a random hand is pretty much nullified by being OOP. And if you are that afraid of a third heart a bigger flop bet is necessary. I like a bet of 150. I then bet 250-300 on the turn, making his call with a single heart incorrect and getting value from a hand you are beating but still keeping the pot semi-manageable against a made flush. However, I don't see why you are especially worried about a flush, he could have a lot of things.

I would venture a guess that he did in fact have a flush, thus forcing a second guessing, resulting in this post.

OP said he had Q8 with no hearts, lol. Maybe I should give these HU sngs a try.

Is he talking about the early stages of a heads-up tourney, or is he talking about the heads up portion of an STT or MTT? Or is he talking about blind battles when it folds around? It makes a LOT of difference. For one, your M is so high right now that you really cant afford to bloat the pot from out of position. The raise should make all but serious hands fold. With the blinds this low though, you have to risk WAY too many chips for a very small return. Your hand is marginal. I'd check it and try to trap if you hit something real. Break out the OOP raises when the blinds are high enough that a fold would be a good result for you.

I'm in the process of reading HOH2 but I disagree with that statement. I don't care if it's Harrington said it. Just because he said it, doesn't make it right. If you want to raise more OOP, still, 5X bb is WAY too big. It's so hard to play after the flop if u get called. Raising to 70 OOP and to 50 in position is ok because it keeps the pot small. But I don't mind just raising to 50 out of position (not that i'd do it in the first hand with k8). Then bet out 75 as a continuation bet, if you decide to make it.

I was liking them pretty well when I won 11 out of the first 18 I played; then I lost six out of the next seven (putting me at 12-13) and I've stopped playing them for the time being at least.

It's sure hard to beat a vig of 25 cents on six bucks, though.

He never made reference to heads-up tourneys. But he does say that blind battles are essentially the same as HU.

It's almost in the top twenty percent of hands (about the top 22 percent), which I wouldn't call "garbage" HU.

Blasphemy!!

I thought it was 3-handed for some reason. My mistake.

NP