some micro HU SNG hands

[baudib]

I'm starting to play some micro HU SNGs cuz I suck at HU and all the cool kids play HU these days.

Hand 1
Villain is a total non-believer and check-raises a ton with any part of the board or draw. I'd like to get thoughts on flop/turn before posting river.

This flop is so terrible (i'm flipping with a ton of his random trash hands) I'm not sure I'm thrilled with getting it in here so I check the flop back. I instantly regretted not betting the turn bigger.


No Limit Holdem Tournament
2 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
Step 1 Heads Up Shootout

Stacks:
Hero (SB) (1,195)
BB (1,805)

Blinds: 25/50

Pre-Flop: (75, 2 players) Hero is SB A A
Hero raises to 100, BB calls 50

Flop: 9 6 4 (200, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: 6 (200, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets 100, BB calls 100

Hand 2
This is a $2 deepstacked tournament and I started out owning this guy postflop. He has resorted to overbet-shoving about 30% of my opens (I started to limp more, which stopped him) and open-shoving from the BTN about 20% of the time. However, he is open-limping on the button with some good/premium hands so he has a ton of trash in his shoving range along with goodish hands. Not that we even got to showdown often, but when he limps the button and shoves 2,500 into a pot of 60 on an Ace-high board, it's pretty obvious what he's doing.

He was incredibly weak-tight without a hand postflop, probably check-folding the flop about 75% when he flatted. On rare occasions when he did bet he telegraphed his hand strength, min-donking a lot with bottom pair and potting with 2-pair+.

So, meh. I don't think he shows up with an Ace on the river here very often unless it's AA, A6, A5. He wasn't very floaty and never raised draws. Trips seems like a huge hand in a HU game and he probably doesn't put me on something like that but wow, I think I puke fold?

No Limit Holdem Tournament
2 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
$1 + $0.10 Heads Up Sit & Go

Stacks:
Hero (SB) (3,180)
BB (2,820)

Blinds: 20/40

Pre-Flop: (60, 2 players) Hero is SB 4 6
Hero raises to 116, BB calls 76

Flop: 6 5 6 (232, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets 166, BB calls 166

Turn: 7 (564, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets 455, BB calls 455

River: A (1,474, 2 players)
BB bets 1,474, [color="#777777"][i]Hero


Hand 3
A few hands later, same guy as hand 2. Again I don't think he can have an Ace very often so I think he has either Jx or Kx a lot; he'd probably 3-bet ship turn with 2pair+....based on last hand where he donks out with a strong range, my shove should be good, right?

I know betting smaller than a shove will save me some chips the times he has JQ and decided to trap but I think he can hero call with Kx/JT or something with a smaller bet...

edit: I realize I am not representing much (QT, AQ, KQ maybe) and a lot of people will snap this off with Kx but I am not sure he even realizes I have cards, let alone a range.

No Limit Holdem Tournament
2 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
$1 + $0.10 Heads Up Sit & Go

Stacks:
Hero (SB) (2,555)
BB (3,445)

Blinds: 20/40

Pre-Flop: (60, 2 players) Hero is SB 6 5
Hero raises to 111, BB calls 71

Flop: 9 A J (222, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets 133, BB calls 133

Turn: K (488, 2 players)
BB bets 40, Hero raises to 333, BB calls 293

River: 10 (1,154, 2 players)
BB checks, [color="#cc0000"]Hero goes all-in 1,978

[Nakamura]

I'm trying to learn HUSNGs, so take my advice with a pinch of salt.

Hand 1 knowing the guy check-raises a ton with any piece of the board, I probably bet and then shove to a re-raise. The flop sucks, but we should still have loads of equity when he raises us.

Hand 2, idk. I don't think I can fold trips ever HU. Even though pretty much every draw has come in, he could still be betting 88-JJ. There is a possibility you have bullied him to the point of floating you with good Ax type hands. The fact that it's the Ad that has come in cuts down a big number of diamond draws that might play this way. I would cry and probably call this one.

Hand 3. I'm really bad in these spots and tend to spew chips when I 3 barrel bluff. I think part of the problem is a lot of opponents aren't thinking on a high level and looking at the river as a separate equity decision in itself. They tend to call the river because they called the turn, which is a bad way to think.

[baudib]

nak
the guy in hands 2/3, this is later in the match but this hand illustrates how passive he was oop with good hands and mega draws.

No Limit Holdem Tournament
2 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
$1 + $0.10 Heads Up Sit & Go

Stacks:
Hero (SB) (3,606)
BB (2,394)

Blinds: 25/50

Pre-Flop: (75, 2 players) Hero is SB A 9
Hero raises to 100, BB calls 50

Flop: 6 3 K (200, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: 7 (200, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets 100, BB calls 100

River: 9 (400, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Final Pot: 400
BB shows
3 A
Hero shows a pair of Nines
A 9

[Nakamura]

Yeah hand 2 is probably more about how big my balls are and less about my opponents hand. If you think the guy is never betting without the nuts, then yes a fold is obv in order. He would need to be bluffing, or at least value betting a worse hand, 1/3 of the time to make a call profitable. On reflection, that's probably unrealistic given the strength we have shown in the hand.

I think that probably also makes hand 3 a check. This guy is going to have some FD's in his range here, but probably pitches up with two pair, or broad-way hands way more often. Any broad-way has us pretty much crushed. I do like the double barrel, just not a fan of firing again on the river.

[baudib]

hmm, I think if he were more stationy or a thinking player or if I had even minimal SD value I would check it back.

here's the river on Hand 1

No Limit Holdem Tournament
2 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
Step 1 Heads Up Shootout

Stacks:
Hero (SB) (1,195)
BB (1,805)

Blinds: 25/50

Pre-Flop: (75, 2 players) Hero is SB
Hero raises to 100, BB calls 50

Flop: (200, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: (200, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets 100, BB calls 100

River: (400, 2 players)
BB checks, [color=#cc0000][b]Hero wonders how to maximize value against villain's entire range....

[baudib]

Villain in this hand fancies himself to be a skilled player and likes to tell you why. He hasn't done much overbetting. His bluffs seem to be mashing the "bet pot" button. He would expect me to lead or check-raise top pair most of the time OOP. I suppose the most likely scenario is he's trying to push me off a chop, I beat his many missed draws and air, and lose once in a while to KQ or 5x. So pretty easy call?


No Limit Holdem Tournament
2 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
$5 + $0.25 Heads Up Sit & Go

Stacks:
SB (1,745)
Hero (BB) (4,255)

Blinds: 15/30

Pre-Flop: (45, 2 players) Hero is BB 9 K
SB raises to 60, Hero calls 30

Flop: 5 7 Q (120, 2 players)
Hero checks, SB checks

Turn: K (120, 2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets 90, Hero calls 90

River: 5 (300, 2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets 900, Hero

[Nakamura]

Hero wonders how to maximize value against villain's entire range....

IMO shove river. Our hand looks a lot like a busted draw. Expect to get looked up by 9x, 6x, PP between TT and KK if he decided to slow-play them (as many low-stakes players do) and flushes. I see a lot more value in shoving than just making a standard value bet.

[baudib]

Do you think the fact that he flats the turn means he more than likely has a made hand rather than a draw? That's what I was debating. He'll certainly call it all with a flush or 6x.

[Nakamura]

Do you think the fact that he flats the turn means he more than likely has a made hand rather than a draw? That's what I was debating. He'll certainly call it all with a flush or 6x.

Doesn't matter, if all he has is a draw, he isn't calling a value bet. There is a tiny part of his range that calls a value bet and doesn't call a shove, so makes sense to over-bet pot to me.

[baudib]

I had half a thought to min-bet the river and let him bluffraise (which I thought he was capable of doing) but I decided to shove because I felt he had a pair a lot more than busted draws (I think if he had a big club, let alone the Ac, the hand would have played out a lot differently).

Personally I get into trouble in spots where I feel like any bluffcatcher is as good as another when their range is theoretically polarized but I suppose I should take relative hand strength into consideration...