Hey Ripp and all who use this strategy.

If any of you remember from some of my other posts I'm the guy who plays the majority of my poker in live games and just a little bit online.

I have a great track record as far as making it into the money (2nd, 3rd). I make it to the money more than 50% of the time. However I have trouble winning tournaments. Only 3 in my last 35. Its really frustrating always making it heads up and then losing. I'm proud of my play as of late and credit this site for a lot of my success.

In the past I've been playing way too conservatively and I've identified that as a problem for me when the game gets shorthanded. I've been studying many of Ripptyde's posts on playing rags and feel like I have a good handle on the way he plays heads-up.

I've been trying to play more "Rippy" in the last few tourneys I've played when shorthanded and heads-up. Problem is I've been "ripped" to shreds playing rags. I've managed to win many hands playing this way but inevitably it comes back to bite me in the a$$.

Late in tournaments with huge blinds it seems like I'll be getting rags a large proportion of the time. Inevitably I lose a lot of these hands and get beat. I'm starting to wonder if successful heads up play is much more weighted on luck than any skill. Especially when playing quality opponents who won't let you push them around heads-up.

The caliber of players I've been playing with has improved considerably as of late. These guys play very strong heads-up and I've had some real battles. I read all the testimonies of people having success with this style and I want to believe it but I just haven't seen it yet.

I guess what I want to know is:

1. Do you have more success playing this way? Sure its easy to remember all the successes but what about the times it fails miserably.

2. Have you had success playing this style in live games?

3. Have you had success playing this way against strong opponents?