I am in a heads up scenario and got dealt AJ, I just doubled up twice from 450 to 1800,
so I wasn't in a big risk taking frame of mind at this point psychologically...


Seat 5: Hero (1830)
Seat 8: Villain (6170)
Villain posts small blind (150)
Hero posts big blind (300)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ Jd, As ]
Villain calls (150)
Hero raises (600) to 900
Villain calls (600)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 6h, 7s, 8s ]
Hero checks.
Villain bets (300)
Hero calls (300)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 3d ]
Hero checks.
Villain bets (2400)

Hero.. ??????

I folded here, but it probably cost me 1st place, and it did Thoughts?

I think pushing the flop here, you win 50% or more times uncontested... And, I sure as hell wouldn't have called, ready to check/fold the turn...

You put 1/2 of your chips in PF, only to check/call and check/fold... that's pretty weak.
I probably would've pushed PF, but if not, DEFINITELY the flop...

Heads up AJ is a huge hand...I'm pushing preflop here no doubt in my mind as he's got you 3.5 to 1 in chips and blinds will eat you up . You can't wait ...PUSH

Thanks, SunBob.

Yes, in this case you should definitely push preflop in my opinion. If not, then push in on the flop no matter what it is (except maybe KQX). Even after your preflop and flop play, you could save the hand by pushing all in on the turn, at least as an alternative to calling his bet. On the river, there's no way you can fold. There's already 2400 in the pot, and your stack is how small now? 500? You're getting about 5-1 pot odds, and there's only a 50% chance that your opponent hit a pair, and he will put you all in if he has hit anything.

Be aggressive heads up! Here's what your mindset should be in a sit and go when it's down to two -- if you play really really LAG, you will probably have about a 40% chance of winning the hand when you are finally called. If you play like a rock, you might push that up to 60%. However, you pay very dearly for that extra 20% chance. I've had dozens of SNGs where I got heads up with only 2500 out of 10,000 chips, I kept raising and pushing and my opponent kept folding until I was up to 6250 or more! Guess what? If I go all in and he calls and I LOSE, I'm just right back where I started.

That kind of thing is not as unusual as you would think. You want to be uber-aggressive with almost any two cards at this level. If the blinds are up to 200/400, any hand with a queen or better, any pair, and any suited connector are worh pushing. If your opponent has raised, you need to tighten up a little bit, depending on stack sizes. BE AGGRESSIVE, it pays off big time.

What backs this up? My all-time 1st/2nd ratio at 10 person party SNGs from $10+1 to $50+5 is more than 2/1. It's not because I'm super-skilled, its because hit another gear of aggression when guy #3 gets eliminated, and I usually get 4 or 5 folds before I get called. That's a big edge.

If that strategy is too risky for your tastes, then try this watered down version -- when #3 gets eliminated, push all in the next 3 hands, no matter what cards you have. Then back off a bit. See how often that works over 100 SNGs, and then tell me that aggression isn't the way to go.