Some HU Play

Last couple of nights I've ventured into the dark world of heads up play. I've been mostly worried about playing before, because the logical starting point is NL50 HU (or SNG's), and my bankroll hasn't been able to stand the swings I might see, especially when learning.

So I started at the SNG's. These weren't too bad, but it was certainly interesting the difference hand to hand. One hand you have the nut straight and lose a pot, the next you have King high and win the hand. It makes you trully appreciate hand reading and recognizing common lines. It also makes you appreciate the power of betting, as passive players call almost every cbet, but calling one or two more bets scares a lot of players. It's certainly a very obvious first leak to look for.

I probably evened out, but was hooked, so started up on the cash the next night after some earlier 6 max success. I had some early success, but then a more solid player took me to value town with a big hand, and we finally stacked off my AQ vs his AK... dominated.

The next night I played some more SNG's, and ran horrible. I actually dominated more than a few, but lost big pots at crucial points, and was left coin flipping, which seemed to be a one sided coin last night. I lost about $70 worth of SNG's, before going over to cash again. I basically ran pretty well at NL30 cash, playing two short stack donks and one reasonable, but overly aggressive player. I found myself 3 betting half his raises, because he raised every hand, but didn't have much answer to my 3 bets, either folding weaker hands, or folding the flop/turn to pressure. I did a little better than even there, and ended up enough money to have a crack at NL50 HU. It's not like I'm not bankrolled for NL50, it's just I feel I need confidence to play HU that high.

Well, I ran good there. First big pot was all in PF AJs vs QQ, and I hit. He insta reloads, and we start to play. He again is very aggro, but I run over him, either bluffing in perfect spots (variance) or having the goods when he didn't. I took 3 stacks off him before he quit. Another donk then donated a SS, before another aggro player donated two stacks. I was up to about $250 on this table, when the first guy came back. He won a couple of pots, including a AJ vs QQ again, but then got slaughtered. Mainly the same, me bluffing him at perfect times, him getting it in with worse hands. I think the last one was AA vs A7s for a full BI. By the time he left again, I was up to $400. I then got another donk to donate two short stacks, but he stuck around and hit numerous times against me, over a couple of hourse, to bring me down to $290.

I felt like I played pretty well considering how little practice I have. I was able to conceal my hand strength pretty well, and mostly knew their strength fairly well too. I will write another blog about some of the things I picked up on in my first night.