When you get heads up, the value of starting hands is very different from when you're still playing at full tables. The average starting hand is said to be about Q8, so anything better than that rates to be ahead more often than not. You can afford to play a waiting game if you have a deep stack relative to the blinds, but if not, then you just have to play the cards you're dealt.
Howard Lederer, for example, advocates raising most of time when you're going to have position after the flop. That means he'll raise at least some of the time with less than the average hand of Q8.
Obviously, the opponent in this case must have been raising at least some hands with rags. And why not? If you were only going to play back at him 10 or even 20% of the time, it's silly not to. And look at how the situation played out. You did get in with slightly the better hand, but even if you had won, you were just going to be back to where you started, at a 2:1 chip disadvantage. |