5 Tips To Use When
Playing Heads Up Poker
Some Quick Tips for Your Game
In last nights impromptu on-line poker games I noticed something that seems to be pretty common. A lot of players who play great poker through an entire game lose it when they get to heads up play.
Playing heads up, meaning playing against only one other opponent. If you're a winning tournament player you'll always need a strong grasp of ideas and concepts that go into a good strategy for winning heads up. Remember, these tips are for Heads up Poker Strategy
In last nights online game I ended up heads up, even stacked, against a player who had played extremely well throughout the game. In fact, going into the heads up match, I thought I was going to have to get lucky to beat this guy. But that wasn’t the case.
He, as so many players do, went into super aggressive mode... not a horrible strategy, but possibly not the best.
He was raising, calling raises, bluffing. Not that any of these things are bad, but when you just apply them arbitrarily, more often than not, you’re going to come in second place. He ended up calling my all-in with A2o and lost to my AKs. Now, I guarantee that he would have folded that at any other point of the game.
It was over a couple hands later.I think short table and heads up play are my strengths. In fact, most of my poker experience has been at short tables. My first year and a half of poker was spent playing 4-6 person home games. Then when I started playing on-line I mainly played 5-6 person SNG’s and cash games and then went on a stretch of Heads up Sit N Go's.
In fact, I feel much more comfortable playing heads up and short handed than I do at a full ten person table. Especially on-line where I get bored and distracted waiting for hands at a 10 person table.
Anyway, I haven’t read a lot about Heads Up Poker Strategy so I don’t know if this is the correct approach, but here are my thoughts, based on what I’ve seen, on heads up play. You can read more good articles on playing heads up poker here. Learn how to set up a Heads Up Poker Tournament and get access to brackets and blind schedules.
Here are my 5 tips you can use to improve your 'Heads Up' poker play
1. You don’t have to play every hand. It’s ok to fold your small blind if you have a lousy hand. Most players heads up play every hand. IMO, this is a mistake. You can’t wait for the best of the best, but you don’t have to play 63o either.
Don’t worry about the chips you’re losing here. Folding the small bind makes the other player think you’re only playing good hands so you’ll be able to raise him off of his BB enough to make up for it.
2. Don’t limp from the small blind, at least not very often. For the most part, you should either fold it or raise it. Save your limping for the BB. You don’t have position, so you need to win most of these hands pre-flop. The BB will probably raise you anyway. You need to be the one leading the betting.
The exception is if you get a monster like KK or AA.
3. Slow play the monster hand. If you get a big pocket pair, let the other overly aggressive player do the betting for you. This is player dependant, but if you’re against a player like I was playing last night, who kept using the all-in bluff, why not let him lead the way.
4. Mix up your play, a lot. I like to play a few hands in a row where I raise every hand and follow that by several folded small blinds. Switch up your raises from the minimum raise to a big half your stack raise. Keep the other player confused.
A confused player tends to be a passive player.
5. Don’t forget what got you there! If you’re a tight aggressive player and that’s what got you to the final two, then keep being tight aggressive. Don’t suddenly become loose aggressive. You’ll be out of your element.
Obviously your play has to loosen up when you get to this point, but you don’t have to be an “any two cards” type. It’s still ok to fold middle or bottom pair to an all-in bet.Do you agree or disagree with anything above? What are your heads up poker strategies? Feel free to add more to the list or tell me that I have no idea what I’m talking about
-jtd
If you're interested in practicing your heads up play a great way to gain experience is through playing tournament style heads up matches. Also known as Heads up Sit-n-go's and they are available online 24/7. These are fantastic practice tools to improve your game!
You can play heads up poker for as little as $1.00 and these are great experience in playing heads up poker. Check out the Gaming Club Sign Up Guide for instructions on creating an account . You'll have plenty of heads up choices starting with ring games as low as .50c and tournaments for a dollar. These are great for improving your heads up play!5 Tips To Use When Playing Low-Limit Poker - Low-Limit Poker Strategy
