Ripptyde's Rag theory while heads-up

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?

Raising with rags is a lot more difficult to do in live games than online. for multiple reasons.

Energy. At the end of a SnG or MTT online, you are still relaxed and OK. It doesn't take much energy to sit in a chair pushing a button. The stress is still there a the end, but not as much as a live game. If you play in a live game you are out of your comfort element. The people that you took out are still there rooting for you or against you. You have people noticably watching you to see how you are doing and you feel under the gun to make sure you don't make any mistakes. The energy it takes to play in a live game makes a lot of people give up easier. They feel they have done well already and they will be fine with 2nd place. This theory makes it more difficult to bluff people out of pots. Bluffing is what raising with rags is all about.

Reads. People who get far in these tournaments almost always pick up on reads. I have never had the opportunity to watch myself play, but I would be interested in getting that video. I would analyze what I had and when I had it. It is possible that someone is picking up on this as well.

Chips. In most MTTs and a lot of live games, the blinds are so high at the end that it gets crazy. You may have 500,000 and be the chip leader, but when the blinds are 50,000 / 100,000 you don't have much room to bluff, and people are a lot more desperate to make their move. You have lost your intimidation on them.

Finally, math. In live games you cannot judge pot size, 2X BB, or stack size as easily as you can online. The numbers are in front of you online. The rasing with rags technique is best used when you have a big stack and apply pressure to smaller stacks. In live games, it's not as obvious and sometimes unknown.

Sklansky's Hold'em for Advance Players has some really good info on playing heads up and short handed. Granted, its a limit based book, but I think the ideas apply to NL and tournaments.

He goes through the strategy of always raising. Basically, if your opponent raises the pot every time and you only call half the time, he is a big favorite. Say the blinds are 5k/10k and he raises to 20k. He risks 15k to win 15. If you fold half the time, he is guaranteed a profit. Over two hands, say you fold the first time and he takes your 10 + the 5 he had to put in blind. That puts him up 15k. Second time you call and it plays out that he loses the hand. Now he's back to even. Because he won't always lose, you have to call at least half the time to stand a chance!

Sklansky argues the best way to fight this strategy is to raise back aggressively. You can't let the guy get away with this strategy. He has to know that if he raises with rags, you're going to make him pay. He also goes through the hands that will get you to a theoretically correct % of calls/re-raises. Its basically any pair, any Axs, any Kxs, suited connectors above 67 (I think), gapped suited connectors above 57 (I think) and a few other hands.

He also points out that this strategy can be just as effective for you if your opponent doesn't understand how to thwart it.

An especially important caveat is that you also have to be good post-flop to make sure that 15K loss doesn't turn into 45k!

When I was playing lots of SNGs, I found this approach to be pretty good at getting the win when I made it to heads up.

My problem is getting that far!

When I'm headsup I like to push all in preflop everysingle hand that I play, otherwise I'm folding the hand. I know I it can be criticized as the stupid way to play texas holdem, going all in every hand you play, but you know, I win the majority of my headsup matches simply because my opponent is always waiting for the premium hands, and I'm sitting here pushing all in on Q4s. I'm going against most people's headsup methods but I hate to see flops unless we're both all in. If my oponent completes his SB, I'll often push all in since they usually aren't willing to push all their chips in on a hand they wanted to limp with. I like to exploit my opponents weakness and insecurity to go all in. Some opponents might eventually catch the drift and limp AKs and wait for ME to push all in as sort of a slowplay maneuver, which happens but alot of the times I still endup winning the hand because the hands are almost coinflips.(assuming it isn't AA vs 65o) Just my lame 2 cents, just posting what works for me. (Either that or I am lucky son-of-a-gun.)

How much do people generally raise pre-flop when heads up?

Let's say blinds are 100/200 and you each have 4000 chips.

You are dealt Q8o or some medium hand in the SB, and decide to attack.

I would normally raise it to about 500, maybe 600. I don't like raising just the minimum, becuase I know that I will almost always call a minimum raise when heads up. Maybe I'm on the wrong track though. Maybe a minimum raise is the way to go, because of the risk/reward ratio....I just can't see people folding to it that often.

How often do you just call in the SB heads up? Ever? With monsters/medium hands or both?

How often do you raise from the BB vs. a limper? How big of a raise relative to the blinds?

I'm still working on my heads up game also. I get too aggressive short handed. Eventually somebody gets a monster hand against me and I try a bluff that can't work

Originally Posted by allLiving

When I'm headsup I like to push all in preflop everysingle hand that I play, otherwise I'm folding the hand.

Do you only play better than 50% hands then?

For the most part yes.

Allliving: I have a question about your approach. About how many hands on average do your heads up play go.

It seems that would be a pretty much all or nothing approach and would go very fast. Do you end up on 2nd more than 1st? How much are the buy ins in the tournys you play.

Originally Posted by ShadySully

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.

Maybe I'll take some heat for this, but I believe that heads up play involving two skilled players is basically a game of luck.

Originally Posted by TheNatural

Maybe I'll take some heat for this, but I believe that heads up play involving two skilled players is basically a game of luck.

I have to disagree with HU being luck of the draw. I agree there is a degree of luck in HU play. Especially if your on party poker when the blinds are so damn huge.

But if your paying close attention to your opponents HU play you can avoid getting trapped or landing in a coin flip.

When I'm heads up I like to push all in preflop every single hand that I play.

Just tweaking what allLiving had to say, I do also like to start a head's up match VERY aggressively (e.g, a quick raise or all-in with any ace or King) to see if I can push the guy around. However, I especially do so if I'm big stack or small stack, as opposed to even with him.

If I'm a big stack, and he calls and wins, it doesn't hurt. If I'm small, I probably need to double up anyways to catch-up, so if I lose, who cares. But if I'm even, I might try a couple 1x or 2x BB raises to see what he'll do.

After 5-7 HU hands (combined with your previous knowledge of this player) you should have some idea of how he plays.

Another good strategy, is to be friendly about showing cards. I often can get someone to start showing cards when I fold, which only helps me understand them.

A lot of times when i get heads up my opponents aren't amazing and i feel i can outplay them post flop, i tend to raise when on the button and call when not on the button, if i get a jucy hand i'll raise to 3BB which is what i do throughout the whole tourny, AA or ATs it's the same raise so i don't give much information out.

If they check to me when i'm on the button i'll try to bluff them off the pot, if i'm off the button i'll play it pretty straight up, most of my opponents will call small bets so bluffing doesn't have huge value, in my last 20 SNG's i've won 8 and come second twice (third 4 times) so first is my favourite place to come

The only hands i'll fold are non suited where both cards are below 7, anything else is worth a call unless i'm thoroughly short stacked. If i get a raise/re-raise at any time from my opponent i'm usually folding as most of my opponents are quite passive, when i run into a good heads up player i struggle a little and it can often come down to a coinflip but i think that's usual when you're both a similar standard.