question for ripp

[TheDoc]

I deposited at pokerroom to take advantage of their 30% bonus. I found myself playin a lot of heads up cash games and have been very successful. I find that finding a .5-1 2 person table with someone with a small stack and sitting down with double their chips or more has proven to be very profitable. I can just sit there and hammer away at them, untill I break them. There are nights when ill bust the same guy 3-4 times in a row. I know you like HU matches tourny style, but what do you think about playing a cash game heads up where you can sit down with a lot more chips then the otehr person.

[stevedonel]

I do the same thing on Interpoker. I try to get 3 full tables, but normally wind up with 2 full and I start a new empty table. Weak-tight players come by one at a time, to donate me money; its like they're lined up waiting their turn.

HU is all about aggression and changing gears; you gotta pound on them for a few hands, then play a few hands passive to make them think they are in control. You want them thinking they are the better player, and you are just getting lucky on a few hands. I generally try to cycle from LAG -> LP -> TP -> TA -> LAG....etc changing every 6-8 hands. The only time I deviate from the cycle is when I get AA through TT or AK, always raise and reraise with these of course. Everyone expects you to raise.

In LAG gear, raise no matter what your cards are, no matter what the board is, until the board looks like a draw hit, or you get raised, and even then keep betting sometimes. This creates a reckless image and gets you action on your monsters

In LP gear, you are the definition of a calling station, the typical fish. Your hand might be good, but you are not sure so you're afraid to raise even with stuff like two pair (until the river of course, you need to get that value in). This will confuse the villian into thinking you dont know what you are doing, and start to make him think he can control the game.

In TP gear, you do alot of folding preflop or on the flop. Occaisonally raise with a trash hand with the intention of check/folding on the flop. You will appear to be playing cautiously and waiting for big hands. This will further confuse people, and get them to start trying to push you around. Occasionally, this check/fold plan will go south when you flop a Rippilicious monster with 74o, dont complain, drag the pot and look like a dumbass at the same time. Two birds with one stone.

In TA gear, play your normal game. Now that you have them trying to play aggressive, you're playing tight and more aggressive, while they think you're a bad player. They will assume you have hit a good run of cards, you can drain them for a while. Stay in this gear as long as you think you can. If you notice that you have won the last 5-6 pots without a showdown, you should consider skipping LAG mode and go to LP; you have a passive player on the line and you need to keep him at the table.

Otherwise switch back to LAG, they think you're still on your rush. Steal, steal, steal. Go through your LP and TP stages again, to get them thinking you're fishy, keep them at the table, and you're off to the races in TA again.

[TheDoc]

Pretty much described my play perfectly.

[dsaxton]

I think that's part of it. But it doesn't really make a lot of sense to just randomly change your play. You should do what's effective for as long as it's effective. If you're getting away with bluffing every single hand, why stop? If your opponent is playing wildly for the entire match, then you should play appropriately for the duration of the match.

Also, I don't think understanding your opponents perception of your play is enough to play optimally against him. You also need to understand how he plays. That is, what different bets mean, how likely he is to bluff with nothing, how prone is he to slow-play, what it means when he calls a bet, what it means when he check-raises, how he is likely to respond to any action you may take, what hands he is likely to raise with before the flop from each position, etc. I think all these components together are what's necessary in order to play "optimally" against an opponent.

And the size of your stack doesn't mean very much in a cash game, aside from the maximum amount that can be risked on a single hand. A player won't necessarily be playing more cautiously just because they don't have much at the table at the moment.