curtinsea

Well I think the biggest variance in any tournament is heads up. The blinds are usually high, there's not a ton of play and eventually both players think they have the best hand since they are only up against a semi-random hand depending on how much blind defending is going on.

It has a lot to do with chip count I think too, my main idea when it gets to three handed is I want to be the chip leader at HU. With this style, I tend to finish 3rd or 1st more often than I do 2nd. The only time I ever really 'wait out 3rd' is if i'm in really specific spots: Off the top of my head would be a sng, where top 3 pay and the leader has 40 Big Blinds, I have say 10 and 3rd has three. In a spot like that, I will probably wait out since odds are likely I am not going to catch the leader now, and have a more promising situation heads up.

I also think it comes down to image, both you and your HU counterpart. I tend to play tight for the bulk of a tournament so when it gets down to short handed or heads up, the inexperieneced player might give me some respect on pre flop raises or continuation bets when I have air. It's kinda like a head start until he 'sobers up' and realizes I am not just playing top pair or better anymore. As for HIS image, I tend to dismiss what I know about him for HU, cause people tend to make extreme changes usually for the looser. People seem to think HU you have battle every hand, every card OR they make no changes at all. I think a lot of people play the same way HU no matter if they are ahead, behind, even stacks, against a tight player, loose player, passive, aggresive etc. They just kinda play almost 'system poker' which is usually 'losing poker'.

Anyways to answer your question (since up to this point I just kinda danced around it) I would stay focused by trying to find something to exploit. If he is going to call everything pre flop...raise more pre or even shove...if he's too tight scale your post flop bets accordingly so he can't shove on you and you can't get away. You can get a picture of how someone is going to play heads up sometimes by seeing how they play short handed. For instance if they are a nit and they don't open their hand ranges...they probably won't do so much during heads up either. If they go insane once it hits six handed and start playing any two cards, expect the same HU with probably more aggression.

Hope that was helpful.

When I get to the final table, I will still be patient. Once it gets to 6 players, I will hoefully be right of a couple of players that have less chips. If I have double the chips, I will pick good cards to go ahead and shove on those players. I will do it with normal good shove hands. But, I will shove with suited connectors (at least a 10) and one gap suited connectors (minimum 10). Since the percent of having good hands is 20%, I have to guess, especially internet poker, that they do not have a good hand. If I am called and have double chips, I am still ok. If I do not have a lot more chips, I will continue to raise!

To continue! If I have really good hand, not necessarily "pat" hands, I will shove on the chip leader. That player will call if they have a "pat" hand since they do not want to lose the chip lead. I gues I am playing to win rather than playing not to lose.