The heads up stage of a super turbo sng is all about pushing and folding as best you can to gain as much of an edge on your opponent as possible. Being aggressive is the name of the game at this point in the tournament as you can tell by the high percentage of hands you should push. To be a successful winning tournament player you have to have a solid heads up strategy. Thankfully you can train your skills playing heads up SNG's that most popular pokerrooms offer. Also, you can specialise in heads up poker and make profit playing heads up only. Here is a solid heads up poker strategy.

• Turbo Heads Up Sng Strategy
• Heads Up Sng Strategy Example
• Heads Up Sng Strategy Template

Pot Limit Omaha SNG Tournaments provide their own challenges – the ‘mechanical strategy’ used by no-limit Holdem SNG experts is difficult to apply where pot-limit betting and close pre-flop hand values affect play. This guide looks at the various stages of a PLO SNG Tournament and provides key strategy factors to consider at each stage.

The Early Stages

Heads-up Strategy by Stack Size When it comes to specific HUSNG strategy, it’s best we break it down by stack depth rather than by format. Let’s start by diving into The Deep End of HUSNGs (50 BBs or more). In the columns you see the variants Sit and Go tournaments, Double or Nothing (DON), Heads-up SNG, 18- and 45 man SNG and Multi Table Tournaments (MTT, tournaments with 100 or more players). If you want to pursue an aggressive BRM, then for Sit and Go’s (SNG) 50 buy-ins and Double or Nothing (DoN) 30 buy-ins are the minimum bankroll requirement.

Staying tight and waiting for premium hands in the early stages will keep you out of trouble – but, compared to Holdem SNGs, this also carries many risks. The problem with ‘waiting for aces’ is that your raise will tip off any observant opponents to your holding. Allowing them to call with a wide range of hands and put you under pressure on many flops . To balance this you will need to raise with a range of quality hands, include double suited high-card / pair combinations and medium rundown hands such as 7-8-9-10 (preferably double suited). The fact that no hand is a huge favorite before the flop, combined with the pot limit betting, means that ‘waiting for monsters’ will actually involve seeing the flop first – do not be scared to see a few cheap pots in position – particularly against loose / passive opponents.

The Middle Stages

As the blinds increase and the number of players goes down tight and aggressive play will be rewarded. Avoid calling raises when a continuation bet by an opponent would commit you to the pot. If this is the case then your choice should be between re-raising before the flop or folding. The real key to the middle stages is to manage the betting in such a way as to ensure you make the final bet on each hand – in this way you retain the ability to get your opponent to fold… giving you an extra way to win compared to simply showing down.

The exact method of getting the last bet into the pot will depend on the size of your stack (and that of your opponent) and your position at the table. For example, if you call a raise from the blinds and have 15 BBs left in a 4BB pot then checking to your opponent and allowing them a pot sized continuation bet will allow you to re-raise enough to have fold equity. If you are in position this will depend on the tendencies of your opponent, a re-raise pre-flop would be ideal if your opponent will usually check to you – now you can assert the maximum pressure by getting the rest of your stack in on the flop.

Card Player caught up with Pellegrino to talk about heads-up sit-n-go strategy. Steve Schult: Let’s say somebody is transitioning to heads-up sit-n-gos from six-max or full ring sit-n-gos.

The Bubble

Mechanical ‘ICM’ based bubble play is less effective in a PLO SNG – since you will not usually be able to get all-in before the flop without giving an opponent the correct odds to call your re-raise. Stack-sizes are critical here, especially where there is a small stack present at the table. Where the smallest stack is out of the hand you can raise with a wider range of hands to take the blinds. If you have a medium stack then once again the key concept of the ‘last bet with fold equity’ should be noted. The chances of any opponent waking up with a monster hand while 4-handed are small, aggressive play will ensure that it is your opponents (and not you!) that are forced to make the difficult decisions. Remember, individual opponents tendencies are important, if a tight player re-pots enough to commit themselves while a shorty is present they will usually have a monster!

In The Money And Heads-Up

The button is your best asset at any stage of a PLO SNG, when in the money and heads-up the importance of this is magnified. Once again the chances of any opponent having a monster hand are small and so a wide range of hands become raising candidates when in position. Keep up the pressure when down to 3 or 2 players – you want to be the one deciding whether the pot is a big one or a small one, not your opponents.

Heads Up play is often a weak area for a lot of players. This is because you will play the other stages of a Sit and Go much more often than you will heads up, for some players it’s a very rare occurrence.

So it’s important to maximise the time you do get playing heads up and there are 3 steps that we will teach in this lesson to help improve your heads up performance.

The 3 Steps to Improving Heads Up Performance

Committed SNG players must make a serious effort to maximize their results in heads up play. First place is where all the money is, and the jump in prize money from second to first is usually significant, especially to your long term profits.

Here are the three steps we will discuss to improving your Heads Up Performance:

1. Tracking results
2. Studying play
3. Practising

Step 1: Tracking Results

Keeping a track of your historical performance in heads up play is important.You should keep a note of the following:

• The opponent
• The stack sizes when heads up play began
• The results

Noting the opponent allows you to keep records on who you beat and who seemingly owned you. If you find an opponent you can’t seem to beat, change your style against them. If they counter your aggression with all in re-raises, beat them to the punch. Raise them all in first. Try mixing in some check raises out of position, or simply checking behind a little more often when they check to you.

Recording the stack sizes when heads up play began is important. If you are a 10-1 chip underdog and lose, it’s probably not a reflection on your play, as you were unlikely to win anyway. Keep ranges similar to this chart:

Expected wins is the probability that you will win giving the % of the total chips you held at the start of heads up play.

Target wins are a goal that you should set yourself and is over and above the expected win %, since this helps overcome the rake (fee you pay to the poker site each time you play a SNG which is a real cost to your bankroll that you need to cover).

Actual Wins is where you record how you are performing which each against each of the targets. If any of your numbers in this chart are below the target, you can study your play in those situations and try and work out where you are going wrong and look to improve your approach.

Don’t adjust your results tracking for bad beats. Bad beats go both ways, and you are allowed to lay them on someone too. In the long run, those will even out.

Studying Play

There are two ways to accomplish this:

1. To study your own hand histories (in a replayer if you have access to one) for possible leaks in your play.
2. To obtain a calculator like Poker Tracker to plug hand ranges into, to see how various hands do against expected calling ranges. It can be helpful to know that if you think your opponent is playing the top 25% of hands for a raise, you can call with J-9 suited if you are getting better than 1.6-1 odds.

Turbo Heads Up Sng Strategy

Practice

Since heads up play is not always easy to get playing single table tournaments, you can practice it in heads up sit and go tournaments. Drop way down below your normal limit, and play some of these.

Heads Up Sng Strategy Example

There will be a slight adjustment, as the blinds in these will be much smaller than what you see at the end of an STT, but if you can make the mental adjustment for that, you can learn a lot.

An even better method is to get a friend to play you heads up, and agree before the start that you will not play any hand for more than 10 big blinds to simulate late STT situations.

Heads Up Sng Strategy Template

Two-player no limit holdem cash games can be used as well, if you both buy in for the absolute minimum (and play for lower stakes than your bankroll can afford, since you’re using these for practice, not profits.