9-to-9 today. I tried to isolate my heads up matchs into sets, like trujm does. It works realy well for me, because I don't mind if I lose or win some money, I just try to win the sets. Here they are :
win-loss
1-2
1-2
2-1
2-1
2-1
1-2
First set I played realy bad, I totaly misjudged my opponents and let them to grind me down. They raised a couple of time early on the match and therefore I thought they were maniacs but it was not the case.
I have reviewed my HHs just after and corrected myself quickly. I have played the next games truly well. My strategies are well defined, and work well. I easily adapt my strategies to the weak opponents, and I feel like I have some sort of edge against the tough ones too. In my opinion, a good strategy is a set of three things which must be bounded : how play your opponent, your preflop strategy and you postflop strategy. Postflop and preflop must work together giving your overall strategy, hopefully beeing the most effective against villain's strategy.
Unfortunately, I still make some isolated mistakes here and there. It were not that illness if they were not occuring at the end of the match, when the blinds are high. It's currently the major leaks I have to clean up. They occur when I'm a little annoyed, tired. Sometimes I KNOW these likely are mistakes, but I do them, though ! I must take care, since they are really, really costly. I play the match perfectly, and, bing, the mistake, the match is lost...
Here is an exemple :
PokerStars Game #19667142113: Tournament #102535784, $22+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level IV (50/100) - 2008/08/16 - 17:14:46 (ET)
Table '102535784 1' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: babaorumi (1640 in chips)
Seat 2: choucroute12 (1360 in chips)
choucroute12: posts small blind 50
babaorumi: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to babaorumi [Ah 6s]
choucroute12: raises 1260 to 1360 and is all-in
choucroute12 said, "call"
babaorumi: calls 1260
*** FLOP *** [8h 3c 9d]
*** TURN *** [8h 3c 9d] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [8h 3c 9d 4h] [6d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
babaorumi: shows [Ah 6s] (a pair of Sixes)
choucroute12: shows [As 8d] (a pair of Eights)
choucroute12 collected 2720 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2720 | Rake 0
Board [8h 3c 9d 4h 6d]
Seat 1: babaorumi (big blind) showed [Ah 6s] and lost with a pair of Sixes
Seat 2: choucroute12 (button) (small blind) showed [As 8d] and won (2720) with a pair of Eights
Villain already did some pushes before, so I thought I had to call. Then I realized how bad it was, I knew it during the match, I did it though.
Here an other exemple :
PokerStars Game #19667765104: Tournament #102539920, $22+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level IV (50/100) - 2008/08/16 - 17:39:55 (ET)
Table '102539920 1' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: DanHoppe (1325 in chips)
Seat 2: babaorumi (1675 in chips)
babaorumi: posts small blind 50
DanHoppe: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to babaorumi [Kh 6c]
babaorumi: calls 50
DanHoppe: checks
*** FLOP *** [6h 5h Qs]
DanHoppe: bets 100
babaorumi: raises 200 to 300
DanHoppe: raises 925 to 1225 and is all-in
babaorumi: calls 925
*** TURN *** [6h 5h Qs] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [6h 5h Qs 3c] [4c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DanHoppe: shows [Qc 8d] (a pair of Queens)
babaorumi: shows [Kh 6c] (a pair of Sixes)
DanHoppe collected 2650 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2650 | Rake 0
Board [6h 5h Qs 3c 4c]
Seat 1: DanHoppe (big blind) showed [Qc 8d] and won (2650) with a pair of Queens
Seat 2: babaorumi (button) (small blind) showed [Kh 6c] and lost with a pair of Sixes
This opponent was the most tough I ever played heads up. Average stack $30 on sharkscope, he already has won some good money. However, I did pretty well until this hand where I cracked up. Here is a hand :
PokerStars Game #19667711484: Tournament #102539920, $22+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level IV (50/100) - 2008/08/16 - 17:37:44 (ET)
Table '102539920 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: DanHoppe (970 in chips)
Seat 2: babaorumi (2030 in chips)
DanHoppe: posts small blind 50
babaorumi: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to babaorumi [Jd 8c]
DanHoppe: calls 50
babaorumi: checks
*** FLOP *** [8s Ac 4s]
babaorumi: checks
DanHoppe: bets 155
babaorumi: calls 155
*** TURN *** [8s Ac 4s] [Kc]
babaorumi: checks
DanHoppe: bets 715 and is all-in
babaorumi: folds
Uncalled bet (715) returned to DanHoppe
DanHoppe collected 510 from pot
DanHoppe: shows [9h 6h] (high card Ace)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 510 | Rake 0
Board [8s Ac 4s Kc]
Seat 1: DanHoppe (button) (small blind) collected (510)
Seat 2: babaorumi (big blind) folded on the Turn
I limp OTB, so I don't think he has an Ace, so I call. turn comes a King of clubs. This card is a key card because all the hands he bets on the flop he'll fire a 2nd barrel on the turn, that means, spade draw, air, and perhaps aces or kings. The all in bet say he doesn't want to be called, so I should have called. I felt like I had to call but the fear that he had an Ace or King made me fold. Now I realize it was a big mistake because I ccould have won the match right now.
Then I noticed There is 3 kinds of HU players :
1) The bad or not-so-good ones : you have to play a standard game
2) The good, winning ones : you can take an edge beeing a bit more tricky and agressive than them
3) The best ones : you no longer have any edge anymore and have to make hero calls here and there to stay alive, like the hand above. BUT you won't be crushed as long as you know what you have to do.