H2Olga's Heads Up Poker Player Profile

Welcome to H2Olga's page.  Here you can find information about the heads up sit and go specialist.

Quick Stats

Started Playing HUSNGs: 2008

Poker Handle: Lotte Lenya (PokerStars), H2Olga (Full Tilt)

Birth Year: 1991

Birthplace: Netherlands

Went Broke on the Way Up: Never

Secrets to Success: Volume, improving outside of the game instead of solely playing.

H2Olga's Strengths: Planning strategy, adjustments relative to population.

H2Olga's Weaknesses: Playing too long, lack of game selection.

Early Days 

H2Olga began playing poker when he was 17 years old.

Approach

H2Olga approaches poker using logic, ranges and game theory.  "I believe that approach makes me overrate players who play that way and underrate players who play differently," he says.  "Almost all HUSNG regulars tend to play based on gameflow, timing and a more psychological approach.  This works well with HUSNGs because you usually one table, play [lower caliber opponents] and the game has more unique and less static situations than cash."

"You need ot be good at both to do well," he added.  "And pretty much all regulars except SkaiWalkurrr, heybude and livb112 make a lot of mistakes in the logic and ranges aspect of poker," he concluded.

Retards

In his August 2011 TwoPlusTwo Well, H2Olga received some criticism for referring to many heads up SNG players as "retarded."  He later explained his words in a post, "When I call someone out to be a retard I'm referring to their poker game.  Compared to many other thinking games, poker is very undeveloped and young and the players are very poor in skill.  This is especially so given that there are large sums of money involved and it is amazing how poor a lot of regular think their plays through, or don't think about them at all.  I do this a ton myself by the way.  I think I am right with calling most players' games retarded and it's nothing personal and no one should take offense by it," said H2Olga.

Heads Up From Scratch

In August 2011, H2Olga outlined his keys for beginner players:

1. Button range and defending range.

2. Continuation betting and playing against continuation bets.

3. 3-bet pots.

4. How to use HUD stats and what tendencies to note down and pay attention to.

5. Reshoving ranges.

6. Turn and river play in position.

Lifestyle

Despite his impressive career winnings, H2Olga does not live a flashy lifestyle.  He does not drive a car, spends about $500 a month in expenses and has lived nearly free with two friends in an apartment for a good part of his poker career.

In September 2011, H2Olga began attending Utrecht University in Holland, one of the world's top mathematics schools.

Reg Wars

H2Olga has lost an estimate $220,000 against Bjoerni89 lifetime and made roughly $41,000 against riyyc225.  However, he says he actually feels riyyc225 is one of the players he would absolutely prefer not to play, while he does not consider Bjoerni89 to be particularly tough.  "Bjoerni obviously crushed me, but I don't think he's that good.  I think I just played very poorly against him, though he is very tough to play because he is so aggressive," H2Olga said in August 2011.

Livb112

H2Olga wasn't initially friendly with livb112.  They had faced each other at the tables, however, and on short notice livb112 needed to borrow $30,000.  H2Olga said yes, and livb was appreciative.  Soon after, livb invited H2Olga to the United States to stay with him over Thanksgiving 2010.  H2Olga accepted and a friendship between two of the best HUSNG players was born.  He planned on staying with livb112 for a week and ended up staying for six.

In an August 2011 interview with HUSNG, livb112 credits H2Olga specifically for helping him see the advantages of using a HUD.