1 v 1: Help Needed.

[AnothrSpacecat]

ive been playing 6/10 seat tables on and off for about 2 years now and have always done what i would consider to be OK, without winning tournaments. though sometimes play head to head tournys and usually get past a couple of rounds

anyway, a beginners question, in playing a straight 1 v 1 game (not a tournament) for the first time last night i found i was having big problems in getting the other player to stay in hands with me, they would fold everytime. in tournament play, if i picked up 3 of a kind or 2 pair id rarely think twice about making a large bet and getting the round over with, though when the hands were coming out in a straight matchup i obviously never had the incline to do the same, any attempt to always ended in the other player folding.

for example, one hand i was dealt in an early draw was Qc Qh, i checked him and the cards came out 4s, Qd, 6d.... so i had 3 Q's, which is pretty difficult to beat in a 1v1 game (but far from impossible) with a 4 and a 6 out. i then did what i wouldve always done in a 6 or 10 seat game, i made a small/medium sized raise. instantly they folded.

it happened about a dozen times, everytime with what i considered to be a winning hand, by the end of the game i was up about $5 when i shouldve won about 10 times that with the luck i was getting on the draw.

so the obvious question is, what do i do? i love the head to head games and would play them for free if i had to, so i dont want to turn my back on them purely because i cant win much money. was the guy i was up against just on to me? how do you get them to stay in a hand 1v1?

adiios!

[AnothrSpacecat]

...i should just say, the only time i managed to raise him when i was pretty sure i was winning was when i pretended to bluff him, a 7d came out on the river and he checked it, i over raised while having 3 of a kind (8's)already out. he went for it that time, of course he was thinking i was trying to get him out of the hand by raising the 7d which he obviously felt confident about, he woouldve thought i was bluffing, which was the plan.

after i won that hand it wouldve been impossible to do it again, i never even attempted it and neither did he

[kompressaur]

Without being the best person to ask Spacecat i would say if someone is folding to my raises with good hands in this situation i would revert to raising with bad hands and limping with my good ones. Maybe not the best advice but to me it's a way around it.

[AnothrSpacecat]

raising with bad hands. that would never cross my mind.. i can see the logic behind it though

[kompressaur]

Aye for sure spacecat I dont think ive ever not seen a flop in heads up. Re raise their raise after the flop too if they're first to go. It works for me

[kompressaur]

just with the bad hands may i add. Its all to do with winning the pots that no one thinks they can win.

[AnothrSpacecat]

im going to try my luck again, might be a bit more aggressive this time.

if i lose all my money then ill try listening to other people for once

[kompressaur]

Truth be told Spacecat if you aint agressive h2h then folks will walk all over you. As i say if you were playing me and you weren't raising me and going all in with marginal hands then i would just wear you down and take all your chips Maybe others can help us here as when it comes to h2h i dont know how to play it barr really aggressive. I've a hell of a lot to learn

[wazik]

From my limited knowledge the key to heads up is aggression, moreso than in any other form of poker. The situation you use as an example here is a great example for many reasons. If you are playing aggressively and the other guy is check/folding a lot what difference does it make that your hole cards are QQ here, they could be 27 makes no difference. If you play very aggresively and raise most hands its very easy to get your opponent into a seige mentaility and he will play even tighter. You have to be careful at this point because when he does start to play back you have to give him credit for a big hand, if the opponent isnt very skilled the most likely outcome will be him dumping his stack to you with AK on a flop of 278 rainbow with you holding 78s. He will leave thinking you are a lucky donkey and you will have his cash. When you back someone into a corner they find it hard to lay down a big hand even when its no good on the flop as they have been waiting so long for it. The ideal situation here is when you are holding this bad boy when he has A rag and decides its time to play back.

When I was into playing the HU tourneys I would fold every hand (except the very best hands) against someone who was very aggressive at the start. I would fold everything for the first level (5 minutes) and they would think I was just waiting for the nuts. Depending on the player I would either play a few more hands passively in the 2nd level or just continue folding until the blinds were decent at the 3rd level. Once that hits I would go crazy cos I know he is raising every hand with nada, raise, re-reraise bam. For the first couple of times he has to give me credit for a hands cos I have been continously folding, after maybe 5 or 6 hands like these he has something like A2 and re-raises my bet. A lot of the time here I would just go all-in with anything half decent, whats he gonna do? call with A2? At this point the games over and bar him getting lucky I have all the momentum and he is sitting there feeling like he cant do anything at all.

Its all very player dependant though and obviously against a tight player that wont work. I would advise that against strangers play passively for a while at the start and observe how they play, cheap showdowns are great as it gives you an insight into their raising/calling range preflop and how they play each card. Once you have a handle on their game its only going to cause confusion when you change gears into a different style, a skill most players dont see to have. Keep us updated, I like heads up discussion. I always mean to get my old thread resurected but I never get round to it.

[AnothrSpacecat]

well.. that was miserable, just tried a heads up game and came up against the weirdest and most aggressive player you could imagine. i shouldve beaten him, he went with every raise i made even though he had nothing.

fair play to him though he did sucker me in, when he finally had a decent hand he still steamed right in as if he had nothing.

look at this hand, i ended up with 4 of a kind

PokerStars Game #12920776883: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2007/10/29 - 15:45:10 (ET)
Table 'Ibarruri' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Clacher2 ($19.75 in chips)
Seat 2: natpoker3 ($30.25 in chips)
natpoker3: posts small blind $0.25
Clacher2: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Clacher2 [Qs Tc]
natpoker3: raises $0.50 to $1
Clacher2: calls $0.50
*** FLOP *** [6s Jd Th]
Clacher2: checks
natpoker3: bets $2
Clacher2: raises $2 to $4
natpoker3: calls $2
*** TURN *** [6s Jd Th] [Ts]
Clacher2: bets $2.50
natpoker3: calls $2.50
*** RIVER *** [6s Jd Th Ts] [Td]
Clacher2: bets $12.25 and is all-in
natpoker3: folds
Clacher2 collected $14.50 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $15 | Rake $0.50
Board [6s Jd Th Ts Td]
Seat 1: Clacher2 (big blind) collected ($14.50)
Seat 2: natpoker3 (button) (small blind) folded on the River

raise raise raise fold

Table 'Ibarruri' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Clacher2 ($24.25 in chips)
Seat 2: natpoker3 ($25.10 in chips)
Clacher2: posts small blind $0.25
natpoker3: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Clacher2 [6s 6c]
Clacher2: raises $3 to $3.50
natpoker3: raises $3 to $6.50
Clacher2: calls $3
*** FLOP *** [6h 2s 7c]
natpoker3: bets $2
Clacher2: raises $2 to $4
natpoker3: calls $2
*** TURN *** [6h 2s 7c] [4c]
natpoker3: bets $1
Clacher2: raises $12.75 to $13.75 and is all-in
natpoker3: folds
Clacher2 collected $22.50 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $23 | Rake $0.50
Board [6h 2s 7c 4c]
Seat 1: Clacher2 (button) (small blind) collected ($22.50)
Seat 2: natpoker3 (big blind) folded on the Turn

raise raise raise raise fold.. ?

by this game i was getting sick of him, so went in with 2's hoping he was doing his thing again... so it turned out 2's were enough

PokerStars Game #12920877023: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2007/10/29 - 15:50:23 (ET)
Table 'Ibarruri' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Clacher2 ($24.25 in chips)
Seat 2: natpoker3 ($23.45 in chips)
Clacher2: posts small blind $0.25
natpoker3: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Clacher2 [2s 2d]
Clacher2: calls $0.25
natpoker3: raises $1 to $1.50
Clacher2: calls $1
*** FLOP *** [Th 6s 4d]
natpoker3: bets $2
Clacher2: calls $2
*** TURN *** [Th 6s 4d] [5s]
natpoker3: bets $2
Clacher2: calls $2
*** RIVER *** [Th 6s 4d 5s] [6h]
natpoker3: bets $2.50
Clacher2: calls $2.50
*** SHOW DOWN ***
natpoker3: shows [9h 7h] (a pair of Sixes)
Clacher2: shows [2s 2d] (two pair, Sixes and Deuces)
Clacher2 collected $15.50 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $16 | Rake $0.50
Board [Th 6s 4d 5s 6h]
Seat 1: Clacher2 (button) (small blind) showed [2s 2d] and won ($15.50) with two pair, Sixes and Deuces
Seat 2: natpoker3 (big blind) showed [9h 7h] and lost with a pair of Sixes

[AnothrSpacecat]

..im clacher2 there if it isnt obvious

[kompressaur]

Why you want to play h2h anyhow Spaceman if you dont mnd me asking/ I wuld rather get a few mugs at a table and take from all of them. Right im away to the tables. talk is cheap

[AnothrSpacecat]

i just prefer it, its easier to size somebody up one on one than it is when there a few of you.

im about to hit a table just now too, gpt $46 in the account and im not putting anymore in for at least 24 hours.. an enforced deposit ban! (shame it doesnt block the hundreds of other sites out there)

good luck komp, i really mean that, its shite when youre skint

[Scottieboy08]

Space Cat, follow what Wazik said, he knows his stuff ^^^^