Friday, December 10, 2010

HU4ROLLZ vs. Barewire

About two weeks ago I posted a thread on 2p2 that I was looking for some sort of HU4ROLLZ challenge for myself for the month of December.

For those of you who don't know, here is the urban dictionary definition of HU4ROLLZ:
Short for 'Heads-Up For Rollz' (as in bankrolls), usually phrased as a question. HU4Rollz is frequently used by poker players to challenge other players to play heads-up for their entire bankroll.


In this case, we are not playing actually for our whole bankrolls, although theoretically that could be possible if one of us got truly crushed (probably less than 1% chance of this).

Here is the link to the original thread: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/58/heads-up-nl/200nl-hu4rollz-challenge-926513/
and the OP:
I am not sure if this belongs in the HU4Rollz thread or here, mods please move if this is the wrong place.

I am looking for a HU4Rollz challenge. Here are the conditions:

*Stakes are 200nl
*4 tables at all times
*A minimum of 10k hands
*A maximum of 20k hands
*The challenge must be finished by the end of December
*Either player may opt to break a table if the effective stacks are over 300bb
*20 bi sidebet (depending on who you are, odds can be changed in either direction)
*Winner must win by 5 bi. If this is not so by the end of the agreed sample, we will play an additional 2500 hands. Winner will be first to +5bi, or the person leading after an additional 2500 hands.
*Escrow required

I may edit these in the future and they are negotiable. I am also interested in possibly playing the challenge at 50nl to reduce rake and having us ship the difference as if we were actually playing 200nl.

I am hoping that this will be a learning experience for both myself and whoever I end up playing, and also a good vehicle to get in a bunch of hands.


I think the OP pretty much sums up why I decided to issue the challenge. I think partially it is also for my ego and desire for attention, a desire we all seem to have. However I think I also wanted to do it for the other reasons listed as well.

Barewire accepted the challenge and we made this thread: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/58/heads-up-nl/barewire-vs-entrncdrnr-hu4rollz-927743/

I suppose I should go over a quick overview of my opponent. I won't go into very specific details because I still have a ton of hands to play vs. him. My impression going in was that he was an above average HU cash reg, probably of similar skill level. It seemed that he approached the game in a strong analytical fasion, with a good understanding of the mathematics and psychology of HUNL. I had played a few hands with him before, and he also seemed to overall have some nitty tendencies.

So far the match has been pretty even. Currently, he is +4Bi after about 4500 hands. With mixed feelings, I have found that he is much tougher than I expected. First of all, he's definitely not a nit. His vpip/pfr are are 76/55, which is pretty loose even for HU. Despite his extremely wide ranges OOP, I have been having a very tough time with him. He doesn't fold to c-bets much, or turn c-bets. He check raises a medium amount on the flop, and a relatively high amount on the turn. He seems to be capable of bluffing in basically every scenario, but somehow I keep running into the top of his range. His ranges are very dynamic and he reacts pretty quickly. He also seems to make very few mistakes. I think of the match so far, only about 5-10 hands would I say he played poorly, which is pretty amazing.

This has tilted me quite a bit to be honest. I am bringing my A+ game and at worst B+ game to almost every hands and he is still beating me, which is a shot to my ego. However, there is a definite + side to this. Because of how tough he has been, I have been learning a ton. I am doing more review and database analysis, and my game is becoming massively stronger. Most other regs now feel like fish in comparison. The metaphor I use is that it's like going from running with a 15 lb. weight to running without one. Everything is just so much easier and fluid. For this reason, even if I lose this challenge, I think it will be +EV long term.

That being said, whether I win or lose this hu4rollz, I am going to work my ass off and make it difficult for him. I'll try to post updates on here every couple of days.