Play the Opposite Game.

If your opponent is playing very aggressively, you play passive check raise more, smooth call. I am looking to play big pots against these guys when I know I have it.

If your opponent is playing passive play small pot poker by just taking down as many pots as possible without any major confrontation.

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Kickboyswoop

Smart question. Blinds are only one factor and not the most important one IMHO. The temperment of your opponent and the current flow of the game are slightly more salient.



If you are patient enough to track down the hand-by-hand HU battle I had with Hugertilt in a WPT Qualifier last year on FullTiltPoker. It is in my poker Blog at MySpace.com - Yves - 50 - Male - Vancouver, CA - www.myspace.com/flintsword and look up May 20th, 2007. The actual dynamics of a HU match depend on a lot of factors, that are constantly changing, and I tried to describe what I thought was actually happening.

• What 'gear' is your HU opponent in?
• Do raises by your opponent mean anything? (ie) Can he raise w nothing?
• How honest is your opponent? This is actually a percentage measurement in a long HU game after some showdowns.
• Does the size of the raise mean something? You want to know if a larger raise is designed to 'push' you off a hand.
• Does he have a hand threshold? (ie) plays nothing under an eight, which is a weird way to play HU, but I have seen it.
• After your opponent loses a pot, does his behaviour change?

You know, the list goes on and on, but this should give you an idea of what goes into what I term "the flavour" of the HU battle.

I hope this helps a little. Use a big stack to answer some of these questions and you will be ahead of the game.

Don't fall asleep reading my Blog ... alas a common occurance ... some entries are long

Great Post Flint.

Lots of excellent tips and guidelines to measure your opponents style and aggression.

Jason

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I'm Not Lucky, I Have Good Karma !

Have been busy moving so it's taken a while to get back to this.

For me in HU SNGs or cash games, when the blinds are small, like in the first few rounds of a standard SNG there is no reason to get too tricky with an unknown opponent. In these cases you have far more than 20bbs. Ofcourse when you get to know their game, and in HU SNGs as the blinds go up you can adjust accordingly. Obviously "good" hands for me are a looser range than it would probably include any pair, any ace, any king, most high Qs and Js, and most suited or connecting cards. I just like to have something with a bit more potential if I'm going to commit more chips preflop and play the rest of the hand out of position.

Ofcourse when I have the button I can then use it to put pressure on my opponent and really mix it up with literally any two. Position is far more key to me than my cards.

In the <20BBs scenarios, such as at the end of a regular SNG, I usually revert to a more push/fold strategy and my ranges would completely depend on my opponents ranges and our stack sizes.

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Still Trying to Learn the Science & Discover the Art

table awareness. :)

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Online Poker, Online Poker UK

I prefer the opposite game...if your opponent is playing tight you play aggressive. If your opponent is playing aggressive you play tight.

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Kickboyswoop