In need of heads up advice

[Turbieturbo]

Hi everyone,I'm a relatively new player but have noticed a trend in my game that I am concerned about. I have been playing single table $5 SNG's on stars and have about 150 games up now. So far I have managed to cash about 40% of the time, I'm fairly happy with that as a further 50% of the time I finish 4 -5, these are usually the result of lost race or bad beat.My problem seems to be when I cash. I seem to be finishing 3rd and 2nd alot more than 1st. About 50% of cashes are 3rd and I can handle that as a few times I have stumbled into 3rd courtesy of others knocking themselves out. I seem to struggle in heads up play. I have been finishing 2nd - 40% of cashes - and win 10% of cashes. Given the prize difference between 1st and 2nd, I think I am missing out on alot of profit due to this.My basic pre flop strategy when heads up is to fold unpaired numbers, see the flop with a picture card, raise with 2 pictures or an ace and go all in with pockets or Ace with >7 kicker. Is this a reasonable strategy to use when heads up? or is this my flaw?

[Gtrain24]

Your HU strategy seems a little strange to me - after a numerous amount of hands it would not be overly difficult to determine your range based on your pre-flop action. For example, each time you limp you basically have a weak hand (Jx, Qx Kx), each time you push you have a specific range of hands etc...

It obviously depends on how many BBs deep both of you are and often neither of you will be very deep when you get HU in a SNG but I would make your raises standard for all the hands you choose to play - 2.5x is plenty at this stage of a SNG. Obviously if you have 10BBs or so you should just be open shoving and anywhere between 10 - 17BBs or so is perfect to re-shove all in over a raise.

I would also eliminate all limping HU in a SNG, unless you have a big hand vs a villain who has been overly aggressive. Im either raising, re-raising, shoving or folding at this stage. I may be wrong but I have had good success with that strategy.