There is some debate as to whether it is better to chop or play. Most of the pros/grinders I know in Vegas won't chop. They feel they have an advantage in heads up play. And while this may be true over a huge sample size, chop situations may only come up a handful of time throughout a session so realizing this potential EV may take a very long time.

Personally, I see more value in being friendly. If a tourist wants to chop, why not chop and keep him happy and in the game? This isn't much different than if a fish with a big stack wants to give his wife $100 out of his stack to go play slots. Keep the fish happy. On the other hand, some people say if not chopping pisses him off he may give you action with bad hands. I think this is hard to speculate. Sure some guys may do this, but its not a sure thing. Some guys may just respect your decision to play and gladly go along. I have yet to see someone get pissed off and 3 bet shove with something like A8 out of spite.

Most of the time in b v b situations you both have junk, so the chopping evens out. Positional advantage also evens out. Or if one person has a hand and the other doesn't. Its rare that you both have a hand. And in the rare case you didn't want to chop and then win a big pot off the fish, do you think it would make him want to leave because you are being Mr. Serious? Is this a pleasant gambling experience for him? He will go home and tell his buddies these "***holes in Vegas don't want to chop, I'm not going back anytime soon!" These people who want to chop are rec players playing for entertainment. What is entertaining to them about someone who doesn't chop when that is what they are used to?

On the other hand some Europeans do not chop because it is not custom in their games. Some do not even understand the concept. In these situations I wonder if it is worth explaining or to just go ahead and play. Since they don't see it as a unfriendly thing to not chop, maybe in these cases I should just go ahead and play.

In Vegas, I would say its about 50/50. But in some places, if you don't chop they will want to stab you.

Thoughts?

Is there any proof not chopping is +EV?

I with their was a way to quantify this.

This is 100% quantifiable.
Someone with a decent sized heads up database could tell you for a fact.

If they are a winning player from the SB then yes, it is gtd to be +EV to not chop given the right skill level.

If they aren't, then probably not (but it's still not certain because of the likely higher degree of parity in a heads up game vs the average 1/2 game).

If some has this information, please PM and I'll be happy to post in the thread.

Otherwise, this has been covered before.