PokerStars HeadsUp SNGs

I've been playing a few heads up SNGs ($2 + .20) at Stars lately, and at least for me, this seems to be a good way to build my bankroll, albeit a bit slowly (1.80 profit per win). I've only played 15 matches total, so quite a small sample, but I've seen an increase in my winnings once I decided to take a more aggressive heads up approach.

For the first 5 games, I was allowing my opponents to see the flop cheaply - they would just call from the SB or check from the BB. But with this method, my bankroll didn't change much; just a buck increase. Also, these matches were also taking me 20 minutes to finish on average.

So then I adopted a more aggressive approach where I would constantly make preflop raises. I'm not saying that I'm raising with nothing but I decided to prevent players from seeing the flop too cheaply. This has worked out much better so far with 8 wins out of 10 games with a 7 game win streak currently. Also the length of my matches are about 7.5 minutes. This type of aggression usually puts the really passive players on tilt because they know that I don't always have a good hand, and it has the added benefit of masking your really powerful starting hands like QQ, KK, AA.

A few things I should note in case you're wondering:
- I make an effort not to get involved in large pots early on unless I have a good hand
- I try to use my aggression smartly. I usually won't raise with rag hands like 2-7, but instead, I will either check it, complete the bet from the SB, or fold, depending on how my opponent is perceiving my play at that point in time.
- I test out my opponents early on to see what they will fold to (or not) preflop and postflop. Once I figure out this range, I vary my bet sizes around this range (e.g., plotting a bell curve as Phil Gordon would say).

Admittedly, the cards have been good to me of late, so that certainly
accounts for part of my success. I guess we'll see how I continue to do
as I take this approach. I'll try to update things as I continue
playing more HU games.

Well, my heads up match winning streak's gone. Since my initial post, I hadn't played that many matches on Stars and my streak ended at 9 consecutive wins (12 across multiple poker rooms, 15 including tourney wins). Not to obsess on the streak because that's not as important as being a successful heads up player, but my KK got busted by AK in the loss that ended the streak (called a preflop all-in).

Anyway, I think I've still been able to keep up my aggressive play but without playing too many heads up matches, my reads haven't been as good. But one thing I've been trying to do more of late is evaluating what I think my opponent has after every street (pre/post-flop, turn, river) and I think that's been helping me out with other aspects of my game.

Just some random musings...

Very good practice good luck with the next streak.
Hey we were at the same table the other day in one of the larger private forum freerolls.
Anyway good luck @ the tables,

Thanks - I vaguely recall seeing you at the table as well. I'm currently playing some really bad heads up so I think I won't be playing much, which is a shame. I need to seriously evaluate my play and see where my holes are. I think since the previous post, I've broke even in terms of wins and losses (5 each), which of course means I'm losing money due to the rake.