Lesson 9: Heads-up play

A player more eliminated the sit'go and you're now heads up. In the previous example of the sit' don't go to $ 10, I said that this guarantee you a profit of $ 16. On the other hand, the profit for a first place is higher than that of a third and a second place combined. This reason, which is an important part of heads-up sit ' n'go and so profitable.

Congratulations again! A player more eliminated the sit'go and you're now heads up. In the previous example of the sit' don't go to $ 10, I said that this guarantee you a profit of $ 16. On the other hand, the profit for a first place is higher than that of a third and a second place combined. This reason, which is an important part of heads-up sit ' n'go and so profitable. In this lesson, I will give you a basic strategy for the heads up game. First, I will dwell on 3 concepts:

Then, I will go more in detail about how you should play the big blind and the small blind.

The Small-Ball Poker

You've probably already seen players like Daniel Negreanu and Gus Hansen play a lot of hands and see a lot of flops. It is almost ' impossible to place on one hand especially because they could play any two cards. If they miss the flop or if the situation is not favourable to them, they will withdraw from the hand quickly or will at least try to keep the pot small. On the other hand, if they hit, attention to you... they will take your stack complete.

This is what is small-ball poker. In a heads up situation, you want to see the most possible flops and you want to see them for cheap. The maps you should quickly throw early in sit' n'go can become solid starting heads-up hands. The small-ball, it is also to keep the small size of the pot and take little by little little tokens of your opponent. Some players become machines to push all in when they're heads up. It can be a good situation for some, mainly for people who have difficulty to play post-flop. However, the winning strategy is to play several small pots and win tokens slowly, gradually.

All about the ICM

ICM is an acronym for Independent Chip Model. It is a mathematical method that calculates your fairness in a situation where you push all-in. Heads-up, when your stack falls below the yellow zone, you should move away from the strategy of the small-ball for a strategy of all in/fold. However, to be able to make the right decision, you need to know what hands are mathematically profitable to grow and you need to know with what caller hands when your opponent goes all-in. Here is what the ICM.

There are a few good ICM calculators on the market. Most people who use them do to review their decisions (all in/fold) after a session of poker. I use a tool called SitNGo Wizard to evaluate my game heads up (software which can be referred to by SNG Wizard). Most of the ICM software allow you to evaluate only a situation where a player pushes all-in in front of you or a situation where everyone fold before you. SitNGo Wizard will also calculate the situations where someone limpera or raisera before you. SitNGo Wizard interface is also the best ICM calculator.

An assessment of your game, you can identify your mistakes, learn from them and apply what you learned to your next session. I'll get into some interesting details about the ICM (all in/fold) method in the Advanced section of the lesson.

Most flops Miss

During heads-up play, most flops miss most hands. About 2 times on 3, will miss the flop. If you flop a pair, even the pair average, the odds are in your favor and you will have the best hand most of the time. And even if you miss the flop, it is likely that your opponent has also missed the flop. At least to be against an opponent "trappy" (to see in advanced lessons), the player the most aggressive will be the most successful. We will cover the post-flop aggression in the next two sections.

The Small Blind

When you are in the small blind, you have a different advantage against your opponent because you have to act first before the flop and last after all the other rounds of layoffs. As a result you should be more aggressive with your starting hands. However, play more aggressively doesn't mean play any two cards; It would be a big mistake to do that. Why?

Here's why. The small blind, you always have the sides for caller, regardless of your cards. If the blinds are 50 and 100, there are already 150 in the pot of departure. It will cost 50 to caller in a jar of 150 giving you on sides of 3: 1. Earlier, I mentioned that the flop will miss about 2 times on 3 of the time. This means that you will hit the flop once on 3, giving you the correct sides to call.

Therefore, the small blind, suppose you have a M greater than 7, call with any two cards. Even if it is 72o, you can win the pot if you hit your 7 or your 2 on the flop (most flops miss most hands). In poker small-ball, you want to see the most possible flop.You have the correct sides for caller. Make sure you do not miss this opportunity.

For any hand with a positive EV, go ahead with a raise minimum. Use Tournament Indicator to correctly identify the EV hands more when you're heads up. You want the action of your opponent. Raisant the minimum, you will give your opponent the correct sides for caller. Are they you minimum raise, go ahead with a call instead of a raise (unless it is an in all). You want him to run as soon as possible the message to the effect that it will not exclude you any pot. The exception to this is if your opponent does minimum raise only very rarely. in this case, it is likely that he really has a good hand. Call with any pair and any two figures. Push with AA and KK.

As discussed above, the game heads up must be an aggressive style of play. Is it check after you press the button, go ahead with a bet on the flop, regardless of the flop. You were the aggressor before the flop and you must be on the flop. Do not give the opportunity to take control of the hand unless you have completely missed the flop and the flop is coordinated. If you feel resistance (it call or raise it), return to the strategy post-flop on the turn. Feel free to leave him the pot if you think you are beaten.

Source: http://www.sitngotraining.com

• Lesson 8: Playing when you're in the money

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