Yup, My First Heads-up

[mosley 0]

i decide, after a few beers, to start learning heads-up and short-handed poker.i sat at a ten person table and waited for action. dude x sits down and wagers a min. $5 to my max. $50. that's ok.so, i double him to ten and then double him to twenty, i'm still very okay, i've played well, i think. a few hands later, i double him again and he immediately leaves the table. i'm a little choked by the hit and run but i'm really not bothered about it.then buddy comes back after the software allows him to min. buy again and buys for five again. i type, "sit with more", and he reloads for a total of ten bucks and says, "ok?"i type, "i gave you forty, let's go", and he vanishes. he returns a few times with five dollars, only to have me sit out and him vanish again.how old is he, 12?that's not really what i want to ask, do you heads-up guys refuse to play somebody in this situation, or do you try to break him five or ten at a time?(when you respond, pretend i might be better than the other guy).

[antistuff 0]

If I think I'm better than someone I will always sit and play with them.

[offset 0]

I've learned not to play heads up online (the hard way). The rake is too high and it will probably eat up your bankroll.

[mosley 0]

If I think I'm better than someone I will always sit and play with them.

that makes sense.

I've learned not to play heads up online (the hard way). The rake is too high and it will probably eat up your bankroll.

i hear what you're saying. i'm not trying to play heads-up to make money though, just to expand my understanding of the game. break-even would be good for me, and i'd even settle for a loss as the price of education.i make all of my money in full ring games, but half is from set farming, etc. and the other half is from picking off weakness and failing tendancies. i would like to sharpen my player reading skills and am looking at heads-up as a means to do this.i was just hoping i could teach this dude that it's not cool to hit'n'run and min. rebuy. if we were live, i imagine i would cheese him until he left. i wasn't tilting or anything, i stacked a couple other players inbetween this player's visits, but i just thought it was rude. i guess it's just online poker.thanks for the advice.

[MasterLJ 0]

I've learned not to play heads up online (the hard way). The rake is too high and it will probably eat up your bankroll.

QFT.I actually blindly took the advice of a certain random FCPer who shall remain anonymous that you shouldn't play HU SnGs, you should play heads up cash. Umm... No. It's bad. The rake is horrid.Let's do some math here.0.5/1 NL. You buy in for 100 (max).Let's assume an average of 0.20 rake per hand since it's NL. In 45 hands you have surpassed the 9 dollar amount in combined rake. In 90 hands you have paid the 9 bucks yourself. Can you consistantly bust people for all their money in 90 hands?It's even worse for limit.

[RyanRizza 0]

QFT.I actually blindly took the advice of a certain random FCPer who shall remain anonymous that you shouldn't play HU SnGs, you should play heads up cash. Umm... No. It's bad. The rake is horrid.Let's do some math here.0.5/1 NL. You buy in for 100 (max).Let's assume an average of 0.20 rake per hand since it's NL. In 45 hands you have surpassed the 9 dollar amount in combined rake. In 90 hands you have paid the 9 bucks yourself. Can you consistantly bust people for all their money in 90 hands?It's even worse for limit.

Although I haven't gone into HU cash games, 2 things that u guys mentioned that keep me away are the ever accumulating rake and hit n run artists..With HU SNGs, if they leave during the match then u blind them down and take their money..

[MikeR 0]

Short stack NL ring game strategy has been gaining in popularity lately. 2+2 author Ed Miller, and Jesus Ferguson have both talked about this recently, and Ed Miller has a whole chapter written on it where he comments that a very skilled player with max chips has no advantage over an average player with a min stack using a short stack strategy. Both he and Jesus say part of this strategy is to leave after a double up and try it with the min at a different table.This was always talked about in an almost full ring game situation though, never heard anything about it headsup, where I'm sure the blinds would start ****ing with the short stack's play eventually.

[Jordan 1]

QFT.I actually blindly took the advice of a certain random FCPer who shall remain anonymous that you shouldn't play HU SnGs, you should play heads up cash. Umm... No. It's bad. The rake is horrid.Let's do some math here.0.5/1 NL. You buy in for 100 (max).Let's assume an average of 0.20 rake per hand since it's NL. In 45 hands you have surpassed the 9 dollar amount in combined rake. In 90 hands you have paid the 9 bucks yourself. Can you consistantly bust people for all their money in 90 hands?It's even worse for limit.

Nah. I averaged over $100/hr for two weeks playing $100 HU matches.It is and can be very profitable.Hit and runners are part of the game though. It happens more than you will expect, but usually hit and runners will get stuck and then keep playing until they start winning. Which usually won't happen cause they suck and eventually you've busted their entire account.I think that's what helped me keep such a lucrative average. However, I know my average was rediculously high and would come down over time. But to say the rake will eat you up is just wrong. There are some, many actually, horrible horrible HU nlhe players.And I love them.Oh, lastly, head up poker is high variance. I personally think lhe is higher, but NL can be nasty as well. You shouldn't play $100 HU with less than 30 buy ins.good luck.- Jordan

[MasterLJ 0]

Nah. I averaged over $100/hr for two weeks playing $100 HU matches.It is and can be very profitable.Hit and runners are part of the game though. It happens more than you will expect, but usually hit and runners will get stuck and then keep playing until they start winning. Which usually won't happen cause they suck and eventually you've busted their entire account.I think that's what helped me keep such a lucrative average. However, I know my average was rediculously high and would come down over time. But to say the rake will eat you up is just wrong. There are some, many actually, horrible horrible HU nlhe players.And I love them.Oh, lastly, head up poker is high variance. I personally think lhe is higher, but NL can be nasty as well. You shouldn't play $100 HU with less than 30 buy ins.good luck.- Jordan

you sir are the anonymous FCPer =P.Anyway, the rake won't take all of your profits, but on average I think that it costs more per player you bust.From my experience I will quickly take 80% of my opponent's buy in, and then spend more friggin' money in rake than the value of their last 20% in order to win it.Rake is predictable. I think it's much better.