Final 2 at the SNG

Johnith · May 2008

I was playing an SnG tourney yesterday and i got to heads up with about a 2-1 chip lead on my opponent, at this point the blinds were huge 400/800 with my stack size being about 10,000 and his like 6,000, i get K3 from the SB and i raise to 1600, he calls. The flop comes 3 7 9 a rainbow, i bet 800 in the pot he raises all in and i call. I figure since i have a pair and an overcard it gives me enough outs to end this right there, i know bottom pair isnt that great but hey he could have been bluffing too right? So turns out he had a pair of 7's and they held up to the showdown. My question is, was my call reasonable or just dead wrong?

STR82ACE · May 2008

I'm wondering what would make you think that bottom pair would be good here. Did your opponent show alot of bluffs? Was he overly aggressive? Without reads, I would have to say you made a bad move. Bottom pair is very beatable, and since he pushed into you, you had to think he hit something better.

Johnith · May 2008

yeah it was the first hand of our heads up play and i figured he was adopting an overagressive strategy for heads up. I was wrong though.

m_dolens · May 2008

first hand on HU and you're a 2:1 chip leader. yeah this was not a good call. you could have definitely waited for a better position. in HU play your chip stack compared to your opponent is key. having any lead gives you the huge advantage of being able to bust your opponent at any time. next time, don't be so quick to push when you have this advantage.

Johnith · May 2008

yeah i definatly see that my call was dead wrong, thanks for the input guys.

Graham · May 2008

I think your raise was kinda weak also... it was only 800 more for him to call and your hand is pretty bad, so he is probably gonna call with any 2 cards there. The bet of only 800 showed that you were weak also, so with him coming over the top you kind of have to fold. I would wait for a better starting hand before trying to make a move.

blackmagicz · May 2008

With a 2-1 chip lead on someone don't expect them to be shoving light. Remember they need to catch you, not the opposite.

I think I would have bet the flop but any resistance I would look to fold. Especially with your first hand heads up you want to develop some sort of pattern so you can exploit it later on, as HU is a different game from 3-4 way action.

Bottom pair at that point is not enough for you to call. Even with the over, as you figure that is a potentially draw heavy board (108, 68,56gut).

A lot of people try to take down HU as quick as possible, but the key here is trying to get your opponent to make a mistake. Control the pace of the game and you will win HU 95% of the time.