Small Stakes Heads Up Strategy The small stakes heads up sit and gos are some of the easiest games in all of poker. Lots of players join these games without any real idea of what they are doing. SNG Heads-Up Strategy Example 2 Blinds 300/600. After posting the blinds, the SB has 2,500 chips left and holds 9c 6c as hole cards. The BB has 6,600 chips and his hole cards are 6h 3d.
When you make the heads up stage of a super turbo SnG the blinds will usually be around 50/100 or higher. Since there are only 2700 chips in the tournament this means that at least one player will likely be under the 10 big blind limit for the majority of heads up play. This means that the heads up stage will be pretty much all push/fold poker. At this stage of the tournament you should play aggressive and push more often than you fold.
What is the optimal percentage of hands to push?
In fact the optimal game theory says to push about 67% of your hands if you or your opponent have exactly 10 times the big blind in chips. This percentage increases to 78% when one of you has exactly five times the big blind in chips and this number hits 100% pushes when one of you have only 1.4 big blinds in chips.
What is the optimal percentage of hands to call?
The percentage of hands that you should call a push with is of course less than the number of hands you should push with. If the effective stack size (the lowest of yours or your opponents) is exactly 10 big blinds then you should be calling pushes with 41% of hands. This amount increases to 66% of hands when the effective stack size is 5 big blinds and 95% when the effective stack size is 3 big blinds.
Are these percentages optimal against all opponents?
No. These percentages are optimal against other players who are also using the optimal strategy. If your opponents are not using optimal push/fold strategy then you can adjust your strategy to exploit this and gain a better edge.
For example, if your opponent is playing very tight then you should increase the percentage of hands you push with and decrease the percentage of hands you call with. On the other hand if your opponent is playing looser than optimal you should decrease the number of hands you push with and increase the number of hands you call with.
Too aggressive is better than too tight
The heads up stage of a super turbo SnG is all about pushing and folding as best you can to gain as much of an edge on your opponent as possible. Being aggressive is the name of the game at this point in the tournament as you can tell by the high percentage of hands you should push.
If you play too tight during the heads up stage you are basically just asking to lose. You will not be able to win any chips because you will continually fold your blinds away and when you do move in your opponent will know you have a strong hand and will fold. At least if you are too loose you are still giving yourself a chance to win.
So the moral of this article is it is better to be too aggressive than too tight in the heads up stage of a super turbo sng. That being said it is of course best to play a perfect push/fold game taking into account the style of your opponent to give yourself as big an edge as possible.
Just using optimal push/fold strategy will make it so it's impossible for your opponent to gain an edge on you, but it may not give you as big an edge as if you were adapting your strategy towards your opponent.
Heads Up Sit n Go Strategy:
Heads up Sit n Goes can be the most profitable games for poker players. Indeed, their popularity in online poker is steadily increasing due to the profitability against weaker poker players who don't actually know correct heads up sit n go strategy. And although many cash game players will be avoidant of the heads up sit n goes because of their aggressive and risky nature; the truth is a good poker player can make far more money playing heads up sit n goes then cash games or regular six handed sit n goes. Think about it, against a worse opponent we can expect to win 7/10 times giving room for variance. This will give an average return on investment (ROI) in heads up of 20%. Even if you only win 6/10 games, you'll still be getting around 10% ROI in heads up matches. Considering you can quite easily multi-table heads up games too, there is an awful amount f money to be made in learning heads up sit n go strategy.
Heads Up Sit n Go Strategy
The basics of heads up games are that they are much more aggressive then shorthanded sit n goes or regular cash games. This requires you to play a much broader range of starting hands and to bluff the pot a hell of a lot more. The maths of heads up are that your opponent will only hit the flop with a pair around 40% of the time; which means bluffing the flop will give you positive value in the long run if your opponent folds every time he misses.
Raise on the Button
Always raise on the button (3-4xBB) as more often than not your opponent will be forced to fold. This includes raising with hands like J9 or 34 suited. The position you get on the flop, turn and river is what gives this opening bet so much implied value. If your opponent misses the flop then you'll usually be able to take it down using position.
Big Stack Strategy
Being in big stack is always the best position in heads up. Your aim and heads up strategy now should be to raise the blinds all the time in order to squeeze your opponent out of the pot. His small stack size relative to the blinds will put him under tremendous pressure, and ultimately his decision with you bluffing the pots continuously will include only going all in or folding. He won't be able to afford missing flops he's called your straddled blinds for in the heads up sit n go. Also make sure you don't give away chips too cheaply however. If you're on a draw and want to see your opponent off, make sure you have a decent number of outs and pot value before you look solely at the implied odds of knocking out your opponent with one lucky card.
Small Stack Strategy in Sit n Go heads up
Your short stack strategy in heads up must be to go all in preflop with your top hands. Calling to see the flop isn't an option really because you won't be able to deal with the variance in the game – especially in the later stages of the game when the blinds rise.
With less than 10xBB, you need to go all in with your top 75% of hands. Between 10-30xbb stack, you should go all in with your top 75% hands.
Remember that even if you're 80% favorite when you get called all in; if you require 3 all ins to double up you'll only make it 50% of the time – hence why the chances of winning a heads up sit n go from small stack position are so small.
Best Heads Up Games: Carbon Poker – $600 Bonus!
Carbon Poker runs a number of heads up sit and go games from $5 – $200. These games are the most profitable in online poker in my opinion, and you should definately try there if you enjoy profitable Heads Up games against nits.
Poker Heads Up Sng Strategy Games
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What is the optimal percentage of hands to push?
In fact the optimal game theory says to push about 67% of your hands if you or your opponent have exactly 10 times the big blind in chips. This percentage increases to 78% when one of you has exactly five times the big blind in chips and this number hits 100% pushes when one of you have only 1.4 big blinds in chips.
What is the optimal percentage of hands to call?
The percentage of hands that you should call a push with is of course less than the number of hands you should push with. If the effective stack size (the lowest of yours or your opponents) is exactly 10 big blinds then you should be calling pushes with 41% of hands. This amount increases to 66% of hands when the effective stack size is 5 big blinds and 95% when the effective stack size is 3 big blinds.
Are these percentages optimal against all opponents?
No. These percentages are optimal against other players who are also using the optimal strategy. If your opponents are not using optimal push/fold strategy then you can adjust your strategy to exploit this and gain a better edge.
For example, if your opponent is playing very tight then you should increase the percentage of hands you push with and decrease the percentage of hands you call with. On the other hand if your opponent is playing looser than optimal you should decrease the number of hands you push with and increase the number of hands you call with.
Too aggressive is better than too tight
The heads up stage of a super turbo SnG is all about pushing and folding as best you can to gain as much of an edge on your opponent as possible. Being aggressive is the name of the game at this point in the tournament as you can tell by the high percentage of hands you should push.
If you play too tight during the heads up stage you are basically just asking to lose. You will not be able to win any chips because you will continually fold your blinds away and when you do move in your opponent will know you have a strong hand and will fold. At least if you are too loose you are still giving yourself a chance to win.
So the moral of this article is it is better to be too aggressive than too tight in the heads up stage of a super turbo sng. That being said it is of course best to play a perfect push/fold game taking into account the style of your opponent to give yourself as big an edge as possible.
Just using optimal push/fold strategy will make it so it's impossible for your opponent to gain an edge on you, but it may not give you as big an edge as if you were adapting your strategy towards your opponent.
Heads Up Sit n Go Strategy:
Heads up Sit n Goes can be the most profitable games for poker players. Indeed, their popularity in online poker is steadily increasing due to the profitability against weaker poker players who don't actually know correct heads up sit n go strategy. And although many cash game players will be avoidant of the heads up sit n goes because of their aggressive and risky nature; the truth is a good poker player can make far more money playing heads up sit n goes then cash games or regular six handed sit n goes. Think about it, against a worse opponent we can expect to win 7/10 times giving room for variance. This will give an average return on investment (ROI) in heads up of 20%. Even if you only win 6/10 games, you'll still be getting around 10% ROI in heads up matches. Considering you can quite easily multi-table heads up games too, there is an awful amount f money to be made in learning heads up sit n go strategy.
Heads Up Sit n Go Strategy
The basics of heads up games are that they are much more aggressive then shorthanded sit n goes or regular cash games. This requires you to play a much broader range of starting hands and to bluff the pot a hell of a lot more. The maths of heads up are that your opponent will only hit the flop with a pair around 40% of the time; which means bluffing the flop will give you positive value in the long run if your opponent folds every time he misses.
Raise on the Button
Always raise on the button (3-4xBB) as more often than not your opponent will be forced to fold. This includes raising with hands like J9 or 34 suited. The position you get on the flop, turn and river is what gives this opening bet so much implied value. If your opponent misses the flop then you'll usually be able to take it down using position.
Big Stack Strategy
Being in big stack is always the best position in heads up. Your aim and heads up strategy now should be to raise the blinds all the time in order to squeeze your opponent out of the pot. His small stack size relative to the blinds will put him under tremendous pressure, and ultimately his decision with you bluffing the pots continuously will include only going all in or folding. He won't be able to afford missing flops he's called your straddled blinds for in the heads up sit n go. Also make sure you don't give away chips too cheaply however. If you're on a draw and want to see your opponent off, make sure you have a decent number of outs and pot value before you look solely at the implied odds of knocking out your opponent with one lucky card.
Small Stack Strategy in Sit n Go heads up
Your short stack strategy in heads up must be to go all in preflop with your top hands. Calling to see the flop isn't an option really because you won't be able to deal with the variance in the game – especially in the later stages of the game when the blinds rise.
With less than 10xBB, you need to go all in with your top 75% of hands. Between 10-30xbb stack, you should go all in with your top 75% hands.
Remember that even if you're 80% favorite when you get called all in; if you require 3 all ins to double up you'll only make it 50% of the time – hence why the chances of winning a heads up sit n go from small stack position are so small.
Best Heads Up Games: Carbon Poker – $600 Bonus!
Carbon Poker runs a number of heads up sit and go games from $5 – $200. These games are the most profitable in online poker in my opinion, and you should definately try there if you enjoy profitable Heads Up games against nits.
Poker Heads Up Sng Strategy Games
Play Where the Fishes are! Join 888 Poker!888 Poker has one of the easiest to beat player pools. Don't join the sharks on PokerStars, play where the real fish are!
>>Beat the Fish at 888 Poker Now!<<Related articles:
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