[Closed] Time to Grind (Hu SNG)

Had quite an interesting match yesterday. after 2 matches with one guy i won one and lost one. He was quite bad yet i didn't really want to play him since he played very weak/tight and it's just so incredibly boring.

The third match.. lasted 56 minutes.. 216 hands. I was just so frustrated at the end. He'd literally fold to 80%+ of cbets so i was just raising and cbetting nearly every single hand. I got him down 3 to 1 several times but that's when he managed to get back to breakeven every time.. Now the weird thing was.. he overbet shoved all in 26 times in the match. just over my preflop raises and cbets.. that's what was really getting under my skin. Not one time did i held a decent hand when he did it. I could never get my valuebets payed off. And when i did make the correct decision by just correctly putting him on the right hand he sucked out on the river every time. It was just nearly impossible getting value from this guy. If he shoved just once when i held a decent hand preflop the match would have been over. Just one setup or cooler and he'd spew away all his chips to me. The only adjustment i think i could have made and did make was increasing my preflop raise sizes.. He started shoving alot more hands preflop and i simply wasn't getting anything decent to call with so i stopped doing it. I ended up just getting it all in with TPTK on a lowcard and draw heavy board. he had second pair and a ton of draws making him a 60/40 favorite. I knew i'd actualy be never ahead with this hand but i really didn't care anymore. I should have just never have rematched him.

Now i wasn't even tilting at the end.. i actualy tried to make myself tilt by convincing myself how angry i was near the end. But i simply wasn't tilting.. i was just extremely bored and annoyed. However terrible this guy was.. i'm never playing him again. I'd rather cut off my balls.

All other matches pretty standard.. nothing really worth discussing i think. I did finally get a husng subscription. So i'm pretty excited about that. All of my hu sng strategy/experience has come through only playing and just analysing the hands i played. And discussing hands with people and a few sweats. So it will be fun to see things from a different perspective and i will definetly pick up a few things. I'm not really expecting too much from the standard subscription to be honest. But it should definetly be worth the 2,5 BI.

If anyone has or had a husng subscription i'd love to hear some recommendations.

Also if anyone here plays hu sng and want to do some sweat sessions i'm definetly open for it! so just add me here on pokerstrategy and we can do a few.

Current plans:
- Watch 1-2 husng.com vids a day
- Try to put in alot more volume (really lacking here and always have)
- going to focus on improving my lategame especially so i can make the switch to regular hu sng's. My lategame is below average i think. Will mostly be doing this by watching hu sng vids. I literally have to wait 3-4 minutes sometimes just to get action at NBI which is the main reason i'm switching/adding regular hu sngs.
- slowly start playing some $1-2 donkaments after i read 1-2 tournament books.
- read mathematics of poker

What i'm looking forward too:
april 3: $10k Pokerstrategy freeroll on pokerstars
april 6: $100k (first) deposit freeroll on fulltilt
And might play 1-3 low event of scoop whenever they are.

lategame is different in husng to normal sng because of the payout structure

Originally posted by fusionpk
lategame is different in husng to normal sng because of the payout structure

I meant regular hu sng ♦ i'd never play regular sng's again Don't really see the purpose of playing them exept for maybe improving your final table play.

oooh ok what do you play now, deep ones?

Originally posted by fusionpk
oooh ok what do you play now, deep ones?

Still playing $11 NBI. At the deep ones you get the cowboymarco type players. My ROI is good at NBI but i'd like to add regular hu sng so i can get more/faster action.

epic 2+2 thread ♦

oh ok yeah, i played the deep NBI today, infact im still in one 2hr 20mins in, rly dont think its a great hourly haha! the upside is regs are easy to beat!

i agree, think normal husngs are better

Had quite a bad session yesterday. Not really sure about how i played.. lost 4/4.. 2 BI under EV.. pretty disgusted overall.. Cause i think i really didn't play that bad.. I was a bit spewy/maniac to be really honest with myself. But by no means was it terrible play. Just alot more high variance then how i usually play. Going to watch 2 hu sng videos today.. start reading some pages of a tournament book. Then analyse yesterday's session.

So.. There have been quite a few interesting hands.. Will post them soon. Tomorrow $10k Freeroll.. i'm looking forward to it alot.. just hope it doesn't have more then 1k players but it probably will. Could give me a nice bankroll boost.

I've really been experimenting with overbet shoves alot.. and also calling them.. While a high stakes hu reg made a great post on it on 2p2.. didn't bother reading it yet.. But yeah.. definetly will before my next session

Been running pretty bad last 3 days. yet somehow running over ev.. sick hands where opponents make terrible calls on turn then hit their 4 outers on the river.. Just have to accept it and focus on improving i guess.

So i finally played 100 hu nbi sng's.. i'm pretty dissapointed with the results.. i'm really not happy at all. I've ran so sickening bad a few times.. and probably ran good a few times too? don't know to be honest.. never felt i really ran good. But that's because i expect the best hand to always hold up ♦

So thought i'd post some graphs:

NBI on new acc pokerstars.

By hahaownedlol at 2011-04-02

To put things a bit more into perspective.. here's my total NBI hu sng graph from both accounts.

By hahaownedlol at 2011-04-02

Regular hu sng graph

By hahaownedlol at 2011-04-02

Total hu sng graph since making blog. includes regular hu sng's.

By hahaownedlol at 2011-04-024

NBI hu sng stats

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Pretty surprising how the EV line and profit line have met up.. i'm only running $0,32 over EV in hu sng's so far. I've ran sick bad in regular hu sng. And you can see in the first 30 NBI hu sng.. i had around 30% ROI yet was running under ev.. and now i'm running over ev while i'm running very bad.. That's simply why the ev line is something you shouldn't really pay attention too. Especially if you play sng's.

Currently at 16,5% ROI and 61% in the money at nbi hu sng's.. By no means is it bad.. but i'm really not happy with it. So yeah going to analyse all the big hands i've played so far in the nbi hu sng and hopefully increase my ROI. I'm such a perfectionist it's rediculous.. Don't think i'll ever be happy with my stats. But for now 20% ROI is my goal.

Exept for that.. will be skipping $10k stars freeroll tomorrow since i already have plans. last time had over 7k entrants which really makes it not +EV enough for me to cancel my plans. Might aswell play 2 $1 donkaments on stars which will reach an even bigger prize pool at the right time. Less whining and more hands soon..

20% ROI goal!!! You're an ambitious guy haha. I play HUSNG's too mostly, add me on skype to bitch about variance (and maybe discuss strategy too lol)

Originally posted by Nikiforos86
20% ROI goal!!! You're an ambitious guy haha. I play HUSNG's too mostly, add me on skype to bitch about variance (and maybe discuss strategy too lol)

Like taking candy from a baby. I'm still not happy. I should be crushing these fish with 30% ROI cause i'm the best hu sng player ever. So that will be my next goal. ♠_cool:

Just kidding ofcourse. Been playing very well today. And the players i play against are so bad it makes me want to cry. Sadly i don't really have time to grind today which is a shame. Cause i'm really feeling and playing great at the moment. Been a bit lazy with posting hands.. so i will promise to do that tomorrow.. also i haven't analysed any hands. During each hu sng i do replay every big hand (or hand where opponent played bad) to see how the person played that particular hand.. and then i come up with a plan how to abuse his mistakes if he made any. So really got to put more effort into studying. It's taking quite long to move up to 20s.. it's getting pretty boring playing $11's. But i do have to keep in mind i only started with 7 BI's and just now am i playing with decent brm. If i play about 15 hu sng's a day next week i should be moving up to 20s by the end of it. But i'm so lazy that's not going to happen

My current goal is to maintain the 20% ROI which really shouldn't be too hard i think. Because i was running over 20% ROI most of the time while playing NBI. I'm sure some experienced hu sng players will say that's a rediculous ROI to expect. But i really don't care

@Nikiforso86 i'll add you through community tool and send you my skype

Just to show you example of how bad some of these players are.. I actualy put him on like an OESD. So that's why i reraised the flop and turn. I rarely see players minbet with like made hands.. But to be honest.. everyone who minbets is absolutely terrible. I just couldn't believe what i saw at the river.. like how he can call the turn.. I just don't get it.

Obviously made some major adjustment to how i played against him after this hand and crushed the callingstation

No Limit Holdem Tournament
PokerStars
2 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
$10.50+$0.50

Stacks:
hahaownedlolz (SB) (1,575)
BB (1,425)

Blinds: 15/30

Pre-Flop: (45, 2 players) hahaownedlolz is SB 9♣ 7♦
hahaownedlolz raises to 60, BB calls 30

Flop: J♠ 9♥ 2♦ (120, 2 players)
BB bets 30, hahaownedlolz raises to 90, BB calls 60

Turn: 5♣ (300, 2 players)
BB bets 30, hahaownedlolz raises to 180, BB calls 150

River: K♦ (660, 2 players)
BB bets 30, hahaownedlolz calls 30

Final Pot: 720
hahaownedlolz shows
9♣ 7♦
BB shows a pair of Kings
K♥ Q♠

BB wins 720 (net +360)

hahaownedlolz lost 360

What i did notice is.. that i'm giving my opponent great odds to call the flop. So i need to reraise atleast to 120 in spots like that. And possibly a little more on the turn too. like 210 or something like that.

I'm finally silver status Not really like it'll be any improvement for me.. but i was getting pretty tired looking at bronze ♦ I don't think i can rake enough for gold unless i play alot so probably won't make that..

Been very busy with school.. didn't even sleep today exept for the 10 minutes while i was in the train.. I did reg a hu sng even though it's bad idea to play this tired. but i couldn't unreg in time.. Pretty funny match.. super agressive maniac.. You check and he spews away all his chips.. my favorite type of player This was the deciding hand.. the match probably only took like 20 hands anyway..

I check cause while i adjusted playing very tight (relatively. you can't really play very tight in husng else you fold way too much sb/bb) i was still valuebetting hands a few times.. which was actualy a mistake.. i should have slowplayed more hands cause he's guaranteed to try take pot with a bluff almost everytime. So i check.. he probably expects me to call Ax or Kx here cause i'm "frustrated" of his sick agression. Turn i check so he can spew more chips. I didn't expect him to shove all in here. he was very very agressive.. but to shove 9 high here is beyond rediculous.. Easy call obviously. He obviously thought like "It's so unlikely he has Q or 8. I SHOVE!@11@@!!111!!". Just terrible player.. not really worth analysing a hand over..

Stacks:
SB (1,665)
hahaownedlolz (BB) (1,335)

Blinds: 15/30

Pre-Flop: (45, 2 players) hahaownedlolz is BB K♦ Q♦
SB raises to 60, hahaownedlolz raises to 180, SB calls 120

Flop: Q♣ 8♠ 8♥ (360, 2 players)
hahaownedlolz checks, SB bets 180, hahaownedlolz calls 180

Turn: 8♦ (720, 2 players)
hahaownedlolz checks, SB goes all-in 1,305, hahaownedlolz goes all-in 975

River: 4♠ (3,000, 2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: 3,000
hahaownedlolz shows a full house, Eights full of Queens
K♦ Q♦
SB shows three of a kind, Eights
2♥ 9♣

hahaownedlolz wins 2,670 (net +1,335)

SB collects 330 (net -1,335)

Anyway.. I've been fking up at college. Not been putting in effort at all. And i really wanted to get into this college so badly.. And now i'm just throwing it away.. Always been very lazy with school.. But it's kinda now sinking in that i have to work hard to make it through the year. Most things worth getting aren't easy.. It sounds very stupid but it never really sunk in that i'd had to work hard to make it through the year. Just thought i'd just do it like i always have with school.I'm really going to study and make homework for next 2 weeks else i will fail this year. So i don't think i'll get to play much poker. probably will still play some hu sngs a day..

I hope i can continue to work hard at school.. It's really something i've never really done.. So it's quite hard for me to make homework alot of hours in a row. It's not really like i'm taking a break from the blog or poker. I will still be on forums alot so i might post some hands soon. since i have a ton of them in notepads. So yeah.. in 2 weeks i should have some more free time and be able really put alot of effort and time into poker again.

you havent had a downswing yet... 20% ROI is impossible on turbos, its even very hard with regulars to have that roi and just for info, 100games is nothing, can be upswing, can be downswing... when you will have 1k+ games, you'll see if you are winning player

i'm on a bit of downsing atm, 120$ under EV on 10$ regulars over 40 games this month, that s 12 buyins and its not fun ♦

Originally posted by Tavbi123
you havent had a downswing yet... 20% ROI is impossible on turbos, its even very hard with regulars to have that roi and just for info, 100games is nothing, can be upswing, can be downswing... when you will have 1k+ games, you'll see if you are winning player

i'm on a bit of downsing atm, 120$ under EV on 10$ regulars over 40 games this month, that s 12 buyins and its not fun ♦

Well i don't play turbos.. don't play regulars either.. I play NBI where my edge is even bigger. Wether or not i'm running hot it's too early to tell. It's clear (to me) i'm crushing these however. If my ROI does turn out to be around 20%. I think the 45 games breakeven is about as bad as my downswings will ever get.

sucks to run that much below EV though. most i've ran below EV has been about 4-5 BI. However i don't feel like it's even close to an important stat for me as it is vs you. In turbo's variance is alot bigger and you'll get it in preflop alot more often then at the NBI i'm playing. Especially because i prefer to grind my opponents down till they have nothing left to play with.. it's unlikely i will have big EV swings

20% ROI is definetly a very ambitious goal. I don't believe i could get that at regs. In fact if someone told me before this blog they could beat NBI with 20% ROI i'd probably say that's very unlikely and they're probably running hot. Yet somehow i'm doing it. I'd definetly be very pleased with 10-15% ROI in the $10 regs.. then as long as my ROI stays above 10% in the regs as i move up i'll be happy Will probably be adding a few regulars soon when i've seen some more hu sng videos. So the transition to $20 regs will be a bit smoother.

Originally posted by Hahaownedlolz

Originally posted by fusionpk
oooh ok what do you play now, deep ones?

Still playing $11 NBI. At the deep ones you get the cowboymarco type players. My ROI is good at NBI but i'd like to add regular hu sng so i can get more/faster action.

epic 2+2 thread ♦

lmao I know who the dude that makes that song is in reallife.. LMAO

Played some games today. ran alright.. ran good in all in spots apparently but also some ugly setups so it balances out. I was just going over my stats in the reports tab of HEM.. didn't really understand how it worked before.. But i added the stats i wanted to check and it really surprised me.. My agression is pretty sick.. It's disgusting how aggressive i am.. can't really imagine playing against someone as aggressive as me to be honest. So i thought my stats would dissapoint me but it's actualy way better then i expected.

hand1: Pretty funny hand this. standard cbet. He calls.. his range is something like Ax, 8x, pp and flush draws here. However i was really confident that he had the flush draw. I second barrel. Now this is where i expect him to give up all his flush draws and pocket pairs. He called and i was like huh? Maybe he does have Ax. Then he just folds river which is pretty hilarious to me. The only hand that'd make sense to do that was a flush draw that missed. Which is exactly what i had put him on the whole hand.

I really love my play here. Because my range in this spot is so wide it's not even funny. when i cbet i can have practically any 2 cards. My second barrel is probably something like pp, medium pair+, flush/oesd draws and air in spots like this. So imo calling my second barrel with anything less then top pair is a mistake. And you don't have the odds to call with draws either.

Stacks:
Hero (SB) (2,280)
BB (720)

Blinds: 15/30

Pre-Flop: (45, 2 players) Hero is SB 9♣ 10:heart:
Hero raises to 60, BB calls 30

Flop: 4♠ A♥ 8♠ (120, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets 75, BB calls 75

Turn: K♣ (270, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets 180, BB calls 180

River: 9♦ (630, 2 players)
BB folds

Final Pot: 630

Hero wins 630 (net +315)

BB lost 315

hand2: This is a hand against same opponent. Because of the dynamics and game flow i was sure he would not check flush draws on the flop. I believe he would donkbet them but i'm really not sure. However it doesn't really matter. I was quite aggressive so i wanted to slow down a bit before he'd go all crazy and starts reraising me with air. Which is obviously +EV for me but i'd rather play it safe. Also it's unlikely he would give me credit for cbet.. and it could just get really ugly if i continued to bluff. His bet on turn was quite suspicious to me. I knew he'd never have the flush here. obviously i have barely any outs except 2 aces. I decided to call with the intention to bluff him out of the pot on the river. His range i imagine is something like 10h+, 6x, some pp. Don't think he'd ever have Kx here but it's not entirely impossible. I thought there was a big chance he was on flush draw and else 6x. J of clubs comes.. pretty good card for me to bluff on. He bets 150 into 300 pot and i reraise him and take the pot. Not sure why i reraised a little under 3x cause i actually never do that (i chickened out a little ♦ ) . But basically heart draws fold and it'd be very tough to call with 6x or 4x here. My range would be along the lines of air, Kx and flushes.

Stacks:
hahaownedlolz (SB) (2,040)
BB (960)

Blinds: 15/30

Pre-Flop: (45, 2 players) hahaownedlolz is SB 7♣ A♣
hahaownedlolz raises to 60, BB calls 30

Flop: K♥ 6♥ K♦ (120, 2 players)
BB checks, hahaownedlolz checks

Turn: 4♥ (120, 2 players)
BB bets 90, hahaownedlolz calls 90

River: J♣ (300, 2 players)
BB bets 150, hahaownedlolz raises to 420, BB folds

Final Pot: 870

hahaownedlolz wins 870 (net +300)

BB lost 300

I also had another epic 1 hour match.. It's getting quite late however so i will wrap this up for tonight. Will post some more hands tomorrow.

Hey man, I noticed your blog in your sig just now and saw you play HU SnGs ♦ Whilst i'm primarily a cash game player I have started to dabble in HU SnGs over the past few days, just for some poker to play whilst i'm bored and don't have time for a full on grind. I started playing the $5 ones so if I was crap it wouldn't be a hit to my bankroll and have noticed a lot of the players are, for lack of a better word, shit. ♦ But as you mentioned in your first post they seem to be calling stations.

So I was just wondering if you had any tips for me? ♦ Such as how to adapt to different types of players quickly, and various moves that you find profitable? ♦ Thanks.

Originally posted by Wriggers
Hey man, I noticed your blog in your sig just now and saw you play HU SnGs ♦ Whilst i'm primarily a cash game player I have started to dabble in HU SnGs over the past few days, just for some poker to play whilst i'm bored and don't have time for a full on grind. I started playing the $5 ones so if I was crap it wouldn't be a hit to my bankroll and have noticed a lot of the players are, for lack of a better word, shit. ♦ But as you mentioned in your first post they seem to be calling stations.

So I was just wondering if you had any tips for me? ♦ Such as how to adapt to different types of players quickly, and various moves that you find profitable? ♦ Thanks.

Well. Not really an easy question. The way you win in hu sng's or even poker in general is by adjusting correctly vs your opponents. So it's not really a question you can just answer.

Some things to keep in mind or consider:

- There's a lot of level 1 thinkers. They don't consider the board much or at all when they play. So most players aren't complete idiots and won't call a river bet when there's 4 hearts on the board and they have 2 pair. But alot just think like "i have top pair i call" not considering what opponent has and how they will continue to play the hand if the turn completes a possible flush or straight and if they will raise/call/fold in that spot. You could say alot of them don't think ahead.

- I also noticed a lot of players either fold to cbets too much or too second barrels. Some players call cbets with nearly any hand and fold a ridiculous amount to second barrels. A pretty common strategy good players use is min raising preflop then betting half pot on flops. Because against most fish it doesn't matter if you bet half or 3/4 pot. They will fold when they don't have it and call when they do. Using that strategy will alow you too second barrel cheaply which works very well against most players. Alot of players also call flop cbet 2/3 pot with OESD/flush draw every time. Yet will always fold to a 2/3 pot second barrel. While they are getting the same odds they fold cause it's more chips. The same happen when some have second pairs.. they call cbet then fold second barrels cause they assume you have top pair.

- Continuing on that. Decent players will consider the board. But some do it too much allowing them to easily get bluffed. for example flop is 8h6hQs you cbet. It's a tight player that plays fit or fold so he always has some piece of the board. He has QK but you don't know that. turn comes 3h. you second barrel and they fold cause they think you have the flush.

- That's some examples. The best piece of advice is really. Watch how people play hands. Watch how he plays flush draws in position and out of position. Does he call cbets with flush draws? does he call second barrels when he misses them? Does he donkbet when he hits them? does he check/raise when he hits them? or does he slowplay it and check/call when he makes it on the turn. So when you know that you adjust. Does he fold flush draws to second barrels every time then second barrel a high percentage when there's a flush draw flop and it misses on turn. Write it down in notes. and then use it against them. The things i said above are examples of that.

- Also goes the other way around. Watch how they adjust to you abusing their leaks. If they're somewhat decent they will adjust. Usually badly again. Then you just adjust again to abuse that or atleast to not donate him chips ♦

- Being so aggressive has the added bonus that when you do actually have the flush draw and make it. They might not give you credit for it and stack you off light. (also applies to other similar spots obviously like with an OESD you hit)

General things:
- Play loose in position and tight out of position. It's really a great advantage.
- Don't get frustrated when you play vs a maniac and try to bluff them. They want to show who has the biggest balls. And you might just end up spewing your chips and call them off light. Just wait for good hand and trap them. What way is the best really depends on the maniac. Could range from cbetting then check/calling turn and betting out river again to just check/calling all the way.
- Same with callingstations. Most players aren't callingstations on all streets. They usually callingstations preflop or postflop and sometimes just on the flop. Don't try to bluff them. Just bet when you have it.
- If you get 3bet a lot then tighten up your preflop raising range. Some players are very tight or loose vs 3bets so you could also exploit that.
- People usually don't play exactly the same way throughout the whole match. When that maniac notices you keep trapping him the same way he will probably stop being so aggressive in that spot. In that case.. be creative and think of another line to make him bluff his chips. I've made some ridiculously creative plays vs maniacs sometimes. And it's pretty funny.. I just take the weirdest lines and they will think i'm bluffing.
- I've also noticed that when players suddenly bet big or like overbet it's nearly always the nuts. If a callingstation check/calls to the river then suddenly bets 3/4th the pot when the flush/oesd completes he nearly always will have it. With the exception of maniacs.. who can be bluffing or simply have the nuts usually not something in between.
- Very few players call a turn second barrel lightly. So three barrel bluffing is something i would definitely not advise to a beginner. It has it's uses of course. But i use it in every specific spots vs the right player on the right board. Usually your opponents have plenty of leaks so you don't really have to do it anyway. And it gets really ugly when your wrong so you really need to have a good read on him and how he plays hands.
- Consider just checking behind when you have showdown value. When you have A high or bottom/med pair it's often good to just check it down since you will often take the pot. And it's likely no worse hand is going to call your bets anyway so there's no point in actually betting.
- Always keep thinking about why you make plays. Why are you betting that turn? Why you should or shouldn't bet that turn. On what cards should you continue that bluff with and on which should you give it up. Always consider which worse/better hands are calling when you bet. And which worse/better hands are betting when you call.
- Always consider the board and how many outs you really have. You probably won't want to call a cbet on the flop 9hThJh when you hold AsJs. There's so many bad turn cards which you have to fold against it's better to way for a different spot.
- Don't play fit or fold in general ofcourse. against maniacs/callingstations you don't want to put in chips when you don't have it. Always try to keep your opponents guessing. So don't only bet in that certain spot only when you do have it or only raise in that spot with air. Because when your opponent finds out he's going to exploit the shit out of you. This probably isn't really something you have to worry about at micro-low stakes but is definitely very important in hu sng's

I just wrote this all in one go. I'm really not sure how much sense this all makes. But i hope it is of some use to you. If you got Skype you can add me on it. And we could do some sweat sessions if you want. Can only play on stars though.

play me hu and tell me my leaks plz? ive been doing really shit at hu recently i have a few $$$$ on stars so i cud play u??

its +EV for u too coz i suck hard, but i just wana improve

Thanks man ♦ Yeah that's pretty helpful ♠_cool:

Will add you on Skype some time tonight

Originally posted by fusionpk
play me hu and tell me my leaks plz? ive been doing really shit at hu recently i have a few $$$$ on stars so i cud play u??

its +EV for u too coz i suck hard, but i just wana improve

I'll send both of you my skype through the community tool. Probably better to do it tomorrow. I'm pretty tired right now so i can't play even close to my A atm. Not much help to either of us if i'm playing standard husng game and not playing focused

I definitely don't mind if the person i'm sweating against is better or worse. As long as they are paying attention to the game and really trying to help the other person out too. It's always nice to have a different perspective on your game. Sometimes you just don't see your spewing chips in certain spots but someone else can.