Finally won my local tournament last night

[dalecooper]

And I just wanted to brag. Big thanks to this forum and web site for helping. Actually, I do have a strategic subject to mention. This is just an example of how a long-term strategy can help you win or lose... an extra thing to think about other than pot odds and tells.

The situation was, I had played tight all night and with mostly bad cards, was just in survival mode. It worked okay and I made it to heads-up play, but the guy I was going against had probably five times my stack. If I remember right, there were 20,000 chips on the table and I had 3 or 4 thousand of them. The thing was, this guy was a very tight player and had made his fortune by getting an amazing string of good hands and betting heavily on them.

I knew in heads up play I didn't want him seeing a lot of flops, certainly no turns at all if I could help it; I also didn't want him pushing me with his big stack. So I started immediately with hefty pre-flop raises. At first I was just buying blinds and he gave them away readily. Then I got a little trickier, smooth-calling, letting the flop come down, egging him to bet, then raising three or four times his bet to buy the pot. Part of this strategy was knowing the player - I knew based on his bet size and tendencies what kind of cards he likely had. The other part was just knowing that occasionally I was going to get burned, and he would have a hand worth calling my bluffs. That happened twice and I folded to his raise on the turn both times, but I bought so many pots apart from that that it didn't matter. After 45 minutes or so I had overtaken him.

Here's where the long-term strategy comes in. Any monkey can play aggressively like this in heads up, betting big without really playing their hand at all. But I could feel him getting sick of his changing fortunes, and on cue he started trying to play back at me. Pre-flop raises mostly, buying the blinds (not quite as money-making as what I had been doing). I folded a few times, even with decent cards, and let him have a few pots. Just waiting patiently for the hand I needed with this set-up. The important element here is that he thought he was getting back in the driver's seat. Getting his stack back.

I got Kc 8c on the little blind and called. He bet the minimum and I called again. Given my pattern of raising all night, he probably felt at this point like he had the better hand. Flop comes Ac, 10c, 5c. I check. He thinks he's dropping the hammer and goes all-in. I don't even wait for him to count his chips, just turn over my nut flush and break his heart right there. Interestingly, I had been setting him up to bet like this with almost any hand, but he actually had a good one: top pair (ace in the pocket) and flush draw (9 of clubs).

Just an example of how you can use long-term tactics to drive an opponent nuts and outside of their comfort zone, until they do exactly what you want them to do at the right moment.

[stevedonel]

That's the key to HU play, especially when you are out-stacked. If he lets you, go ahead and take the driver's seat. Otherwise, let him take it and build his confidence up to the point that he will raise with anything thinking you are weak/tight. Then you can slow play your monsters, while he bets his 3rd pair. Changing gears is the key. Check out this one as my prime example:

Steve's ownage

[dalecooper]

Nice. That's a sort of reverse example of the same tactic.

[Xianti]

{Moved from Hold'em Strategies}

[LugNutz]

Nicely done, congrats on the "W".


Lug