nastro 1888 Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Hi lads/ladies, I was playing in my 1st tournament this weekend ( paddypower irishopen qualifier ) and somehow managed to get knocked out at the death when in a seemingly unbeatable position :wall:wall:wall just under 400 started in the 1st heat with 10 going through to the final 40 at the end of the month, 50 qualified from 400 of which I did going into the final with 31,000 chips ( 2nd best ) I disposed of all my table with me and a girl remaining, I had just over 140,000 chips to her 22,000 which to me should have been a matter of time before winning through ( started at 1200 and this was 2230 on saturday night ) this is now a " heads up " situation which I assumed to just stick to my strategy which worked successfully allday, but my mate said in work last night I should have changed my game at this stage, I was of the thinking at the time " just call or fold constantly and pick my moment as she was constantly going all in ". With the blinds at 4,000/8,000 after doing this for about 7 hands this shifted around 60,000 chips to her and she had me by the balls by this stage, my mates who stayed to watch me shook their heads at the end when I was papped out. So what should I have done ? with hindsight Id obviously have called her and likely won at least 1 hand but i was confident of picking her off as I had such a strong lead - what advice would you give if in this situation again ? cheers nas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodger Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Re: Looking for some tips/advice after blowing a great chance this weekend !! It took me a long time to get my heads up working at the end of tournaments. Tight aggressive would get me there but then I'd be bullied out of it and could never win...which appears to have happened to you here. Read a few articles about stepping up the aggression levels and started being hyper aggressive but that didn't work either...I was being too aggressive. Finally settled down to a loose aggressive heads-up style and, although by no means perfect, my heads-up game improved enormously. There are a few on here who will be able to give clearer advice but, for me at least, a higher than normal aggression level with a larger hand range made a big difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Re: Looking for some tips/advice after blowing a great chance this weekend !! I blew a place at the 2006 Aussie Millions heads up with a 5 to 1 chip lead. Need more agression, force decisions every hand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billy the punter Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Re: Looking for some tips/advice after blowing a great chance this weekend !! Obviously your strategy has to chance heads up. You don't need as good a hand to win for a start - you only have to beat one player. If you continue a ring game strategy in a heads up situation you cannot win long term. End of. In heads up play, the shorter you are the more aggressive you need to be - a lot of players incorrectly think the opposite. If you're small you cannot waste chips by folding - eg if I had 22k and the blinds were 4k/8k I would be pushing by 22k in with ANY TWO CARDS. Therefore you have to bear that in mind when you are the big stack, you should open up your calling range - if you see the small stack go all in they may not have as strong hand as you think, as they HAVE to gamble and will do so with many holdings. So you must call more than you normally would. But be sensible about it obviously, you don't want to needlessly double up a short stack. You can be aggressive with a big stack (vs short stack) but must have some sort of hand when doing so - you shouldn't really be stealing with utter garbage because again a short stack will call with many hands as he/she HAS to gamble. So sometimes it can border on loose-passive. Regardless of what some say, at times loose-passive CAN be correct play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ELCAKER Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Re: Looking for some tips/advice after blowing a great chance this weekend !! As is often the case Billy just about has it spot on (he must have been such a sick gambler in his youth :-) ) I have a few rules that I follow, which will often be determined by how aggressive I think my opponent is/will play heads up, afterall not everyone will be as aggressive as the opponent you found yourself up against. In this instance I think you set the pattern very early, by folding 2 or 3 times in a row you tell your opponent that you arent going to call unless you have a hand. This means that any a short stack, who is half decent will realise they can continue to push blindly and there's a very good chance you wont be calling unless you have a decent hand. Even then, they can win the hand if behind by getting lucky. With the blinds as high as they were (you'll find plenty of tournaments have alot "more play" at the end than this particular instance) it doesnt take long for the chip stacks to swing around, as you discovered. Without knowing exactly what your final 6 or 7 hands were that you passed up it is difficult to pass comment about a specific case but in this situation I would have called in a flash with any King in my hand and probably a queen - regardless of the kicker. Anything lower than that and you are beginning to really gamble. Obviously it goes to say that any ace or pair would have seen you call. It also sounds like you didnt take advantage of your button in the heads up play. If at any stage you just flat called in the hope of seeing a flop cheaply then you deserve a double :spank as you were giving them the chance to move in and pick up extra chips from you - which judging by their play they probably did. It is so frustrating for you and I am most on here would offer their condolensces as we've all been there at some stage.... and you may have got lucky and been dealt a hand you were comfortable calling with - which then stood up :D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nastro 1888 Posted May 18, 2009 Author Share Posted May 18, 2009 Re: Looking for some tips/advice after blowing a great chance this weekend !! thanks a lot guys :ok Ill certainly learn from this weekend, but really pissd-off when thinking back, I thought id done well allday and was happy with my game given the number of opponents ( and Id assume some heavy players in among it ) and to nosedive at the death with so much at stake is so annoying, as you can gather Im not used to competitions but play online and happy with my game. Totally agree with the advice above, I let the girl know I wasnt going in unless I had 2 good pocket cards, but with the blinds at 4,000/8,000 a couple of games later the chips started to shift, my thinking was : I dont have to get involved here, I can pick my time. Obviously I called it wrong, but as I say, Ill learn. Thanks again for the tips folks :ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nastro 1888 Posted May 18, 2009 Author Share Posted May 18, 2009 Re: Looking for some tips/advice after blowing a great chance this weekend !! I blew a place at the 2006 Aussie Millions heads up with a 5 to 1 chip lead. Need more agression, force decisions every hand ouch AJ, similair to my situation bud ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nastro 1888 Posted May 18, 2009 Author Share Posted May 18, 2009 Re: Looking for some tips/advice after blowing a great chance this weekend !! It is so frustrating for you and I am most on here would offer their condolensces as we've all been there at some stage.... :ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubermonkey1 Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Re: Looking for some tips/advice after blowing a great chance this weekend !! billy and el caker have got it spot on:ok the "average" hand your gonna get is q7 ,pretty much anything above that and you really have to think about calling an opponent thats going all in constantly.on the other hand it might have all gone wrong anyway :\but by folding constantly at those blinds it will kill you quickly and you cant win by folding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nastro 1888 Posted May 18, 2009 Author Share Posted May 18, 2009 Re: Looking for some tips/advice after blowing a great chance this weekend !! yeh, ive def realised ub, like ive said, Ill learn from this albeit it has been a costly mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatoman Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Re: Looking for some tips/advice after blowing a great chance this weekend !! Wow... apparently i have a different oppinion In Heads Up play on a tourney, when i have a massive stack i just do the following... I TAKE ALL MY TIME AND WAIT FOR THE BLINDS TO SCALATE ONE MORE LEVEL!!!! And of course... my style in that spot.... LOOSE AGGRESSIVE (not donk aggressive allin with ATC), thats how you should play HU in my oppinion when you have a big lead and the guy have less than 10bb, besides you have to put the shortie on the tough spot, you cant make things easier from him. Regards P.S Next time, you will win the tourney for sure... what doesnt kill you, just make you stronger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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