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improving heads up preflop from the sb


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My preflop strategy from the small blind is the same as many top players. I raise every hand here. This works fine when I'm playing against a passive opponent, but when I'm playing against other agressive opponents should I just fold my 92 and 23? I come in for a raise every hand I play, but is there a percentage of top hand I should go by? Top 80, 90% maybe?

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I've been interested in improving my heads-up play as well (I don't feel I'm very good at it.) So this is not an expert opinion by any stretch, just some thoughts:I'm assuming that you never limp (I never do, I believe it's better to never limp than to sometimes limp, but I can't swear to that.)If opponent is folding his BB at least close to half the time, then clearly raising every hand is the best play, as you're getting 1-1 on a raise (versus a fold), and you'll win some of the time when villain calls or 3-bets.If villain only occassionally folds his BB, however, then if your plan is to always raise preflop and autobet any flop, I think that folding your worst hands preflop is a good idea (unless villain's postflop play is attrocious). If you raise every single hand preflop, then villain should play all but his worst hands (even 32o is 2-1 to beat a random hand, and the pot would be laying 3-1, but folding his worst hands would still be correct, I believe, because of the postflop positional disadvantage.So, in general, I think perhaps the percentage of hands that you fold on the button should increase as the likelihood of villain folding decreases, and that it should increase as villain's postflop skill increases.As an academic point, you obviously have to play more than 33% of hands on the button, since otherwise villain can simply fold every time you raise, and you won't make a net profit when you have the button (which obviously you should, since you have the advantages of posting less and of postflop position). I think we all agree that really, you need to play much more than 50% of your hands on the button.

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In general, you want to play your bigger pots when you do have position on your opponent.Raising every hand from the sb is pointless.Your opponent will clearly recognize your tactic.He can then call 100% of the time and have an advantage on you (naturally do to position).Or he can be slightly selective, call 90% of the time, and have both an advantage in position and with the cards.Yes you want to be aggressive in heads up play.But you also have to mix it up.

but is there a percentage of top hand I should go by? Top 80, 90% maybe?
You want most of your raises to be with decent starting cards.But don't only raise with your top hands.Throw in some occasional trash.Keep your opponent guessing.You want to play smart poker.But you don't want him to know what you're playing with based on your preflop play.And try limping into a few pots to see how your opponent reacts.He should usually raise himself if you show weakness by limping.But many opponents are to passive to do this.And they let you see many cheap flops.If this is the case, then take advantage of this!The key is to use what your opponent gives you.--cm
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Raising every hand is too much. You want to limp sometimes too. So mix in limps with strong hands occassionally so you can limp with weak ones. You're getting such great odds against a random hand that limping in position with something like 93o is profitable.

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Im not sure why you'd raise every time.You dont gain any fold equity based on your preflop aggression if you raise it in every situation.All it does is allow your opponent to call with his weaker hands, and 3bet with ones that have value against your range of hands.

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Raising every hand is too much. You want to limp sometimes too. So mix in limps with strong hands occassionally so you can limp with weak ones. You're getting such great odds against a random hand that limping in position with something like 93o is profitable.
I'm not sure about that - If you either raise or fold on the button, you give away minimal information (all your opponent knows when you raise is that you opted not to fold).By limping, you give away information (even if you sometimes limp with strong hands); villain can figure that you are less likely to have a strong hand when you limp and more likely to have a strong hand when you raise (unless you limp with strong hands so often that you miss value). Plus, villain can't fold if you just limp (unless he's JFarrell, in which case I applaud your game selection).I think limping sometimes might be good against some loose-passive opponents, who almost never fold preflop anyway, are less likely to raise preflop when you show weakness, and who won't effectively take advantage postflop of the information you give them preflop by limping. But, while I'm not sure, I suspect that against a decent opponent, raise-or-fold is probably the best approach (as long as you fold sometimes).
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Why?There are definitely situations where completing is better.They're not going to raise every hand just because you complete. Or at least they'd be best off if they didnt. If they're raising with hands well below average out of position, good for them.

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Raising every hand is too much. You want to limp sometimes too. So mix in limps with strong hands occassionally so you can limp with weak ones. You're getting such great odds against a random hand that limping in position with something like 93o is profitable.
I'm not sure about that - If you either raise or fold on the button, you give away minimal information (all your opponent knows when you raise is that you opted not to fold).
I am.Raising every time from the sb is very exploitable (tree bets) unless you are able to run over your opponent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When you limp he knows you're either strong or weak, right? So start limping with more marginal hands like T9s or something. Just mix it up. I never said you should limp all the time, or even most of the time. You should have a balanced strategy that incorporates limping so you feel you don't have to raise all the time with hands like 74o.
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There are definitely situations where completing is better.They're not going to raise every hand just because you complete. Or at least they'd be best off if they didnt. If they're raising with hands well below average out of position, good for them.
I never said you should limp all the time, or even most of the time. You should have a balanced strategy that incorporates limping so you feel you don't have to raise all the time with hands like 74o.
Against an opponent who limps frequently, I'll often raise hands like K7o and J9o (which are not hands I would normally 3-bet with). And I'll take the free flop with hands like 85o that I would fold most of the time to a raise.(I think limping with hands like 74o is fine against certain opponents, for example, those who will rarely raise you without a big A or a pocket pair, and who rarely fold to a raise preflop. But against a strong opponent, I'm folding 74o on the button most of the time, and raising if I decide to play it.)Again, I'm no expert; I feel my heads-up play needs lots of improvement. I'd like to here more arguments on this.
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The key is to be unpredictable. If you ALWAYS raise on the button, or NEVER limp, you are predictable.
you're predictable, but unreadableif the blinds don't defend enough, or well enough, then i will open raise 100% of the time from the Button
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The key is to be unpredictable. If you ALWAYS raise on the button, or NEVER limp, you are predictable.
you're predictable, but unreadableif the blinds don't defend enough, or well enough, then i will open raise 100% of the time from the Button
Yes, that will work against passive players, but I wouldn't make it a rule to always raise from the button against anybody. When I play against someone like this, I will often 3-bet them and lead out on the flop. I guess what I'm saying is that you can't have a set plan for HU. It's all about who you're playing.
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Maybe a plan like in Harrington on Hold'em will work best if I have a decent opponent who never folds preflop. I can raise with my better hands 2/3 of the time, and raise with my worse hands about half the time. However, if my opponent is folding 25% of the time, I believe raising every hand is the correct play. Then I also believe if my opponent will fold on the flop 20% of the time I believe it is correct to lead out pretty much every hand, because I'll be getting 4-1. I'm really hoping DN will respond to this, because he criticized Dreamclown's preflop and flop play.

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Raising with every hand from the SB is a bad idea. Raising from the SB in a HU match is a good idea to do it every hand because you have position. In a non-HU game, I usually play top 60%, and mix about 70% raises and 30% limps. There is no reason to get involved in a pot with 93 OOP when you won't have a big enough pot to even peel if you miss.

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Everybody has their own style when it comes to playing HU, myself personally I like to see a lot of flops with a lot of hands and I'm getting a good price to see one the majority of the time.Typically I'm raising most hands out of the sb until the bb puts a stop to it. I'll throw in a few limps just to mix it up, but I'm usually going to put pressure on the BB unless they decide to play back at me constantly. Basically, I want to be a pest and annoying to whoever is in the BB in hopes of tilting them or making them pay me off with hands they shouldn't be.So much of HU is psychological and trying to tilt your opponent. Against crappy players, you don't need to alter your strategy much, just pound pound pound them into submission. Against more crafty and better players, it's more important to have different gears. Varying your play and not auto-betting every flop after raising PF will start confusing your opponents a bit.Go with your reads, if you think your opponent is weak, don't be afraid to raise with nothing yourself. Even if you get caught, you'll have advertised that your capable of bluffing. You'll typically get called down much more often than you should when you have a hand after getting caught bluffing.

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Is there any good books on heads up hold'em? The only good advice I've seen was the 4 pages in Super System II.

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Against an opponent who limps frequently, I'll often raise hands like K7o and J9o (which are not hands I would normally 3-bet with). And I'll take the free flop with hands like 85o that I would fold most of the time to a raise.  
So?I'd be raising if i had something as big as K7off.I prevent myself from putting in 3 bets, which will happen a lot against the kind of opponent who would raise with J9off had i only completed.I mean, if (edit: they) are going to fold lots of hands, fine - raise virtually everything. But it's rare you have the luxery of playing against a heads up folder.
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