Q&A #55: Aggression in Shorthanded and Heads-Up Pots (aka Oops, I Folded Again)

very nice sumup of these games.

the other advice I would give would be to drop down a few levels and try to become competent at headsup play.

headsup play mimics many of the blind steal situations that you’ll see in the aggressive wpex shorthanded limit games, and will do a good job of illustrating which hands can showdown in which situations. It’ll also teach handreading and movemaking vs people with wide ranges and low showdown standards.

Nice read as always mr. Miller. I love the state of mind you are giving as in all your artikels. I dont really know how to write this but I can see you still trying to stress it that everything is a learning process which I forget all the time, thanks for pointing it out for me again.

Hi Ed,

I have a related question about aggressive games where most pots are two- or three-handed (this includes full-ring games). Should I loosen up with certain hands in shorthanded and heads-up pots?

I’m specifically thinking of overcards. For example, with a hand like AK, is it necessary to devalue all my outs against a single opponent? It seems to me that overcard outs are more valuable in shorthanded situations. Perhaps instead of counting overcards as 3 outs, we count them as 4.5 instead? Say I hold AK on a Q-x-x rainbow board. Against a single opponent, one overcard could make a second-best hand; however, another could give me a winner. This, combined with the fact that ace-high alone might be good, would encourage me to stay in the hand. In short, I think overcard draws have more value in shorthanded pots than they do in multiway pots. Is this line of thinking correct?

Another question: Are middle-pair draws valuable in shorthanded pots? (Again, this includes shorthanded situations in full-ring games.) Suppose I hold AT offsuit on a J-x-x flop with two hearts on the board. Obviously, my ace outs are weak (unless I hold the ace of hearts). But what about the tens? If I hold the ten of hearts, is it worth drawing to the others in a decently sized, but not huge, pot?

Of course, the right move always depends on the opposition and other situational factors. I’m not that concerned with the specific scenarios I’ve outlined above. My main concern is how to handle high-card hands and marginal draws (including backdoor draws) in shorthanded pots.

Thanks,
Matt

This isn’t the easiest problem to solve just via a Q&A on a blog.

What would be the best way to solve this problem (or it’s opposite)? Is this the time to look for a coach?

For example, with a hand like AK, is it necessary to devalue all my outs against a single opponent? It seems to me that overcard outs are more valuable in shorthanded situations. Perhaps instead of counting overcards as 3 outs, we count them as 4.5 instead? Say I hold AK on a Q-x-x rainbow board. Against a single opponent, one overcard could make a second-best hand; however, another could give me a winner.

I’m taking your “devalue all my outs,” to be referring to the general thought process that Ed teaches in SSHE. If I’m understanding you correctly, then you’re basing this on material where Ed has taught that you need to consider context very carefully. You certainly shouldn’t be automatically figuring overcards as three outs; sometimes they’ll be better than that. Sometimes, for the reason that you identified (that A-K high has showdown value), they’re effectively worth even more than six outs!

So the short answer is yes, hand values go up in short-handed pots for drawing hands like overcards because your one-pair hand is more likely to be good.