A while back on UPF, when I was messing around with HU, someone said that the book hadn't been written on HU. Well, now I guess it has (or, while not a full book, at least a very good start). Anyhow, I checked out the HU section in Harrington (including a hand by hand analysis of Ivey vs. d'Agostino), and it completely changed a lot of my thinking.

First, he suggests raising very small in position (SB). You WANT a caller here because you have the advantage in the hand. Minimum raising isn't bad and no more than 3 BB (I guess you could go bigger if they're always calling).

On the other hand, if you're in BB, you DON'T want a caller, so you raise much larger on premium hands.

Also, for this reason, he recommends completing from SB with any 2 (again, something I hadn't been doing). He revises this a bit, scrapping bottom 30%, if you're getting raised a lot on your limps. Bottom 30% is T4o, 93s, 94o and worse.

Now, in a usual HU matchup (as opposed to final tournament HU), you have very high Ms (ratio of stack-size to blinds). So, you raise small from SB on top 30% USUALLY.

These hands are: Pairs 44 and up, A2s, A3o, K5s, K7o, Q8s, QTo, J9s. But you only raise 2/3 of the time on these because you also want to have some strong hands with which to limp and call a raise.

Harrington also has a nice randomizer: The second hand on your watch. So, if you want to do something 2/3 of the time, you just do it when the second hand is from 0-40 and don't when it's at 40-60. Thought that was also pretty nice.

Finally, from SB, you only raise 1/3 of the time on your monsters, namely QQ-AA.

With high Ms again, from BB, you raise top 20% (a little tighter). These are: 55, A3s, A7o, K8s, KTo, QTs, QJo. Basically, lots of aces, medium suited K, strong open K and strong Q. You also re-raise with these hands unless your opponent is a very tight raiser (then you tighten up your re-raises).

I'll just leave it at that for the moment. There's a wealth of material here and in the incredible hand by hand analysis of Ivey-d'Agostino, which I highly recommend. The latter really shows a lot about mixing up plays and stuff.

Anyhow, this seems to me to be a really great HU foundation, so I'll probably post some more on it as I read further and try putting it in practice.

Hope some of you guys will discuss it here, as just discussing it over and over is a great way to commit a lot of this to memory.

Is this from book 1 or 2?

I've been meaning to get them but haven't gotten round to it. Don't suppose there's a chapter on short handed in general?

Moliina

This is from vol. 2. Don't know about links to it, but I think the volumes will pay for themselves easily.

There is a short-handed section, but I haven't really started studying that yet. It's definitely the kind of book where you read a little, play a little, re-read, etc. But everything I've seen up to now seems incredibly good (although I do have a few "issues" with some of his recommendations for the early phase, at least in terms of whether or not they all apply to cash game play).

As for me, short-handed is definitely my weakest spot, but I figure trying to "master" HU, on the one hand, and full table on the other is a start, before attempting to get my short-handed game into a condition where I'm really happy with it.

One more thing: The analysis of Ivey vs. d'Agostino is just incredibly good, and really helpful to me because on a lot of these kind of "unusual" plays, you just never get a truly sound commentary from those who understand them (certainly not Norman Chad...).

So, you see Ivey raising 98s from SB and folding K3o to a raise, and I, at least, am inclined to draw quite incorrect conclusions from this without hearing from someone who actually understands it why these plays are occurring. I think it's really valuable to hear what moves Harrington takes as just basic bluffs and what moves are just strict "correct play." Obviously, HU you have to have some healthy mix of both, and understanding when and why is probably the most important issue of all...

you mention that some of the advice dosent translate to cash game play but you should understand that not some but a tremendous amount isnt good cash game advice. in a low m tourny situation i try to chip away and am willing to put the hammer down anytime i think i have the best hand and play a big pot. this is different then my cash game strategy where i
still am chipping away but am much more cautious about playing a big pot. you need to trap more in a cash game.
still a great book with some great advise in general

As far as heads up, I rasie from the sb 60-80%, limp 10 - 20%, and fold the rest. From the BB I will call just about any small raise....I think it is imperative to 1. see the flop and 2. to KNOW the tendencies of your opponent which you can pick up on in the first 12 hands....after the flop, I mix up my bet sizes from 1/2 the pot to 2X the pot and will fire in with anything...depending on his reaction, I proceed accordingly....