1:45pm: This is a well written article contributed by SteveK (using the submit an article button). He brings up a lot of good questions, and I think it’s a good idea to ponder these things before moving forward with the answers to them. Enjoy
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Have you thought about it?
I mean, have you thought about it? By ‘it’, I mean how you would handle each type of player you run into at the tables. To me, that is the beauty of Heads Up matches; that you can label someone as a “calling station”, “maniac”, on tilt, too tight, etc. You do everything you can to exploit this current (or permanent in some cases) leak in their game like no other format. This applies to ring games and MTTs as well, but it is far easier to get deep in someone’s head in a heads up match. I play and talk to people on a regular basis that need to ask themselves the following questions, among many others:
- How do I handle a Maniac?
- Do I expand or tighten up my calling range?
- How do I handle “Tight Ted”?
- Do I try to bet him out of more pots or do I try to wait for a huge hand and hope he calls?
- How do I handle someone I’m pretty sure is drunk?
- Should I make any adjustment at all?
It gets more complicated if you use Sharkscope. You ask yourself, “Wow, this guy runs at a 10% ROI and he is raising every pot, what does this mean?” and “This guy runs at a -15% ROI, is my top pair with a crap kicker good here when he is putting me all in?” Upon looking at this guy’s chart, I see he does quite well at these stakes but moves up and gets crushed at the higher games. Sound familiar?
How should this affect my approach? This guy usually plays much higher, so why is he down here and how should this affect my approach to him? It’s essential to have a plan of attack going in, but in any competition adjustments are everything. Do you know how you would handle each type of player once you have put an appropriate label on them? You should.
Start a Clean Slate at a New Room, a New Sharkscope, and Keep HFL Free in the Process