[jdunford]

I don't know. First of all, I don't like this behaviour in general, and wouldn't do it myself. However, it's clear from the beginning what he was trying to do. I mean, it was heads-up after everybody else was leaving. His intentions were clearly to win some of the money off the other player. Why else would he have asked to sit and play a few more hands? The other player obliged, and thus was willing to risk her chips. It should have been obvious that the first time the guy hits his hand (or thinks he has a chance to draw out), he's going to go for "double or nothing", and if she doubles him up, it's her own fault for taking that risk in the first place, rather than stopping when the 3rd-last player left.

In the games I host, I generally try to avoid heads-up cash games after everyone else leaves. The only time that I can recall allowing it was when a very lucky (and very bad, inexperienced) player was up to about $200 from a $20 buy-in. I don't think he'd ever played heads-up, and it was obvious he was just lucky (played ATC, probably 90% of all hands, and had sucked out several times, calling against the odds and almost never raising, to build his stack). The other player was solid and much more experienced (plays online for about 40 hours per week), and had about $40 in front of him (had bought in for $40; can't remember if he'd re-bought / topped-up at any point). I asked if they wanted to quit, and the experienced player said he'd be "up for playing a few more hands". I think out of politeness, the bad player said "sure". Maybe 10 hands later, they were even (at about $120 each), and I asked if they wanted to keep playing. At this point, the bad player recognized he was severely outmatched and decided to quit while he still had some chips.

I saw no problem with this. If you're willing to play heads-up, then you're willing to lose your profits. Period. That's what heads-up poker is about. Sure, it's "rude" to win and run, but what do you expect? If you wait until the player with fewer chips busts out, is that a better outcome? What is the outcome you'd like to see?

Like any competitive game, poker is ultimately about winning and losing; it just happens that the way we keep track is with money. If you don't want to risk losing your profits, you shouldn't give another player the opportunity to take them from you. If someone quits while he/she's ahead, so be it.

When I'm not the host, I usually tell people a time when I'll be leaving, giving at least 15-20 minutes notice. I think that's the polite thing to do, but I've never seen a rule about it. If the table breaks up so that there are fewer than 4 players remaining, I generally quit with however many chips I've got; doesn't matter if I'm up or down, or if I gave prior notice or not. 2 or 3 handed play is cut-throat, and not for the weak stomached. When it's a social game among friends/co-workers, I'd rather still have friends the next day than take all their money in a heads-up cash game.