So I'm trying to be a bit less weak and try to avoid plays that telegraph my hand ...




Villain stats are 56/44 or something but it's a 12-hand sample of short-handed so not really worth anything. This HU situation only came about after a 6max table broke down.

On the flop it seems like a donkey move to fold for a small bet when he could easily not have a flush and be probing; same rationale applies on the turn when I'm also beating bare aces and a range of other such hands.

So, by the river... I haven't given away anything about my hand other than that I usually don't have the nut flush. And he hasn't given away much about his hand either, it's compatible with air and with a flopped high flush.

it seems like he was being tentative on the flop and turn and it's doubtful that he would suddenly value-bet a set or something so I would say he has a polarised range here. He would think I have a weak hand (say, a baby flush) and hope to bluff me off it. Perhaps he has the dry ace.

So... how terrible is this?

I never play HU because it involves a lot of risking whole stack with very little information to go on, against good players who will have a line planned, so it is extremely high variance. HU vs aggressive players you end up calling down light a lot because they never stop betting if you never stop calling.

I guess I fold on the river. You can just call every time you have a flush instead. I mean, if you don't fold this hand on the river, do you even have a folding range on the river? I guess you could fold zero club hands or something but still.. This is heroic

only play heads up vs free money loose passive fish. don't take on the hyper aggro whales since hu play is their natural domain and they luckbox into optimal strategy by their overly aggro nature. challenge these maniacs at six max tables where they are out of their element

The problem calling down this hand is that you don't necessarily beat all his bluffs. If he has the A or J of clubs in his hand, he could easily be turning KQ/K7/Q7 combos into a bluff here. Not necessarily the best flop and turn line to take with those hands, but when he gets to river with them like this, I think he's going to be bluffing with them rather than looking for a showdown. Since he kept his flop and turn ranges so wide, I wouldn't be surprised if he had quite a few showdown value hands that he's now handcuffed into bluffing given typical pf 3 bet ranges.

vs overly agro players HU u have to raise flop with these type of hands if your going to play them on this board. don't expect turn to check often

I guess you always go away if reraised. But in HU every time I raise and get reraised I feel like the guy is just testing me to see if I am bluff raising.

What is the relevance of the A or J club being in his hand? I guess you mean that he knows I'm not trapping with the nuts or second nuts, but I could have any other flush.

calling down aggro players with weak holdings is the wrong way to adapt. call them down with strong holdings instead, especially on lockdown boards such as this one. this would be a good line with nut or second nut flush

It's so tilting when you do this and they show a gutshot that gets there on the river. (Not on a mono flop obviously)