I played a live $20 buy-in 7 player tournament where 1st got 100, and 2nd got 40. Down to the final two, and we trade pots for about 30 minutes, then the blinds go up to 2/4, with each of us at about $70, and this hand came up. I'm BB with KQo. He raise 4(the min raise). I reraise him 8, and then he goes over the top all-in. Now, he's an tight player and when he bets, he usually has something, but what he thinks are good hands are not always good hand. I could see him pushing here with low pocket pair, KQ, KJ, KT, QJ, QT. I figured even if he had an ace, hopefully I had two live cards. Well I called, and he flipped over AQs. I got a king on the flop, but he got an ace on the turn.

I'm left with 2, and believe it or not, I build that back up to 58, playing completely reckless. This hand comes up. Blinds are 3/6 and I'm in the BB with K6o, and he calls. I check, and the flop is 8Tx. Both check. Turn is a blank. He bets 6(the miniumum). I call, and the K falls on the river. He ponders awhile and then goes all-in. WHat do you do here? I was getting tired (lame excuse, I know), and I called. He flipped over T8, and took home the pot, and the tourney.


I think I played the first pot fine, but the second one I know I screwed up on badly. Opinions?

I don't think it is possible to have any intelligent answer to your question. Headsup is such a ebb and flow kind of thing that if you have played that many hands with him already it is more of a gut feeling based on how he has played thus far. Who's to know he flopped two pair?

I can tell you that preflop I am reluctant to go allin without a pocket pair or Ax, preferably where x is 8 or above. I could care less about suitededness, it is only a slight advantage headsup preflop. Unless the opponent is going allin frequently and playing like a maniac, those are the only hands I want to have allin if the other guy is playing "normal". HOH II is where I learned a ton about headsup play, really opened my eyes, and while you can't play out of a book I certainly follow that section pretty closely with my play..

The other thing is, if you have been "trading pots" for 30 minutes headsup then you are both playing fairly conservative headsup without alot of allins. I would want at least an Ax (x> 8) in my hand or a pocket pair (>8 or so) before I called. If he hasn't been playing fast/aggressive headsup and this was one of his first hands he went all in with preflop you are a huge dog with KQ to many of the hands he would finally push with.

I dont think I would want to war that early with KQ and a stack 35x the BB.