Question. Heads up SnG, luck or skill?

[JJgoneMAD]

A small sample, but i played 10 heads up $5 SnG recently and i won all of them. If i count all the heads up SnG i played so far, they'd be about 20 SnGs. So i probably won about 14 of them. The previous 10 heads up SnGs, i played them when i lacked many poker skills i have now. I remember i played about 10 of them and lost 6, if i remember it correctly. So as i said, my record is around 14 wins and 6 losses.
What i want to know is this, i would like to know how many of you think heads up SnG is mostly a game of luck and how many of you think heads up is still a game of skill. My winning all of 10 Heads up played recently undoubtely luck had to be part of it, but i do believe i outplay lots $5 heads up players at Stars. I'm thinking of playing higher stakes Heads up SnG, i hope i ain't trippin on some good streak.

[Legendash]

10 in a row is fantastic, if it was mostly luck then chance would probably have lost you a game, what is your strategy, how do you do it?

[JJgoneMAD]

I was taught how to play heads up by Ripptyde. I just can't be as aggressive as Ripp is at Heads up SnG, but i'm aggressive enough to take down many small pots. Heads up SnG would be a game of chance if equal amount of money is always in the pot in any given time and if you let the cards decide the winner. But since that is not the case with NL Heads up SnG, showing slightly more aggressiveness than your opponent and a small dose of weakness here and there will allow you to take down many pots. You want to put your opponent on a guess all the time, you don't want to be raising on every hand. Ripp finishes Heads up SnG in about 5mins, usually wins them. For me, it takes anywhere between 10mins to 25mins. I build my stack to about 4 to 5 times the size of my opponent and make the kill with AI no matter what kind of crap i might be holding, cause i know chances are good that my opponent is also holding rags. Leverage as Ripp puts it. If my opponent doubles up, i go back to work again.
$5 SnG players at Stars play very honest game of poker, a raise usually means raise hehe, and check usually means check. If check raised, i fold. They all slowplay their monsters. If you play like a school girl, that's when your opponent starts to bully you and you won't be able to turn that around easily. I let my opponent be the aggressor 20 to 30% of time during SnG, i don't want him thinking i'm there to bully him all the way. But essentially, that's what i'm doing, i just disguise it better.
That's all i think, i keep heads up SnG very simple. Forget the cards, just outplay your opponent.

[SteveO]

LUCK, LUCK and more LUCK with a dash of skill.

If you go in with relatively equal stacks you are going to run into a lot of coinflips. Online the blinds are at 300/600 and up by the time it gets heads up. A single raise will commit you to most pots.

That is assuming equal stacks. I have won heads up after being at a 6-1 disatvantage in chips. I have also lost when I had the 6-1 lead.

If the blinds were smaller there would be a lot more skill. Another thing is that heads up live requires more skill than online.

The only time skill is a big factor heads up in a SNG is when you run into a new player with no heads up skills. You can spot them a mile away and crush them. It is my recent experience that heads up we can battle anywhere from 2 hands to 25 minutes, but sombody is going to get lucky eventually.

The last $20 SNG I played we were heads up at least 1/2 hour. Blinds were 800/1600. There were only 8000 chips in play. I got lucky to win.

[JJgoneMAD]

If you go in with relatively equal stacks you are going to run into a lot of coinflips. Online the blinds are at 300/600 and up by the time it gets heads up. A single raise will commit you to most pots.

Thanks for the input SteveO, but i'm really talking about the One on One games here. Not counting heads up resulting from 10players SnG or MTT.
Stars Heads up SnG you start out with two players and the blind increase is somewhat slow and small. It'd be nice if you could give me your opinion on it again.

Another thing is that heads up live requires more skill than online.

I think any poker game requires more skill live than online, it's just a nobrainer.

The only time skill is a big factor heads up in a SNG is when you run into a new player with no heads up skills. You can spot them a mile away and crush them.

That's what i'm saying about stars $5 SnG. Sometimes you run into people like Ripp playing not for the money really, but to get some satisfaction out of ripping fishes apart. But most of the part, they don't belong in there in the first place. Maybe that's why it's $5 only you know.

[SteveO]

My mistake. Thought you were talking about the end stage of a full table tournament where I feel there is a lot of luck involved. Never played one on one online. I do crush my wife heads up at the kitchen table if that's worth anything.

[JJgoneMAD]

I do crush my wife heads up at the kitchen table if that's worth anything.

A win is a win, that's gotta count for something

[mike4066]

LUCK, LUCK and more LUCK with a dash of skill.

If you go in with relatively equal stacks you are going to run into a lot of coinflips. Online the blinds are at 300/600 and up by the time it gets heads up. A single raise will commit you to most pots.

That is assuming equal stacks. I have won heads up after being at a 6-1 disatvantage in chips. I have also lost when I had the 6-1 lead.

If the blinds were smaller there would be a lot more skill. Another thing is that heads up live requires more skill than online.

The only time skill is a big factor heads up in a SNG is when you run into a new player with no heads up skills. You can spot them a mile away and crush them. It is my recent experience that heads up we can battle anywhere from 2 hands to 25 minutes, but sombody is going to get lucky eventually.

The last $20 SNG I played we were heads up at least 1/2 hour. Blinds were 800/1600. There were only 8000 chips in play. I got lucky to win.

THIS is why I like poker stars better than Party poker.
Party poker you get heads ups with someone its more luck than skill.. on party poker you can battle it out and play some good heads up poker.

[JJgoneMAD]

THIS is why I like poker stars better than Party poker.
Party poker you get heads ups with someone its more luck than skill.. on party poker you can battle it out and play some good heads up poker.

It's probably the 800chips that lure so many fishes to PP. Luck does play a bigger role when you have so little room for error.

[VeraN]

Against good players, a lot of luck. It all comes out to a coin flip because good players will play aggressive with any face card they see in their pocket.

Against poor players, a lot of skill. Mainly because they are going to be passive and fold when they don't have anything, raise when they do. So it's much more predictable and easier to play against.

[JJgoneMAD]

Against poor players, a lot of skill. Mainly because they are going to be passive and fold when they don't have anything, raise when they do. So it's much more predictable and easier to play against.

You are exactly right, but they do get pretty aggressive when they start to realize that they are being bullied. I think it's important to let the fish show some aggression as well, let them think they are playing well. I had a lot fun playing heads up SnG at stars lately, it gets real tense when you go up against a good player. It's only $5, so it isn't really about the money when you are up against someone good. It just feels great to beat someone heads up. When you do lose to a poor player though, and it will happen on a rare occasion, $5 loss feels like $500.

[johnnyawe]

With 2 skilled players, I think its a luck game.

[JJgoneMAD]

With 2 skilled players, I think its a luck game.

I would have to agree with you on that. I bumped into a few good players at stars, i won all but one, but i was really lucky to have won those. I know when i'm lucky lol, and i know i was very lucky on a few occasions. The game is basically decided on a coinflip if your opponent is too aggressive as well.