What kind of strategy do you guys use when playing Heads Up?

[Spuddy]

Thanks in advance

[Talking Poker]

I try to win.


Here are a few tips for you - well, things for you to think about anyway:

1. Change the majority (see next point) of your play based on your opponet (is he loose, tight, passive, aggressive)? Will he let you walk all over him? Will he put his chips at risk unnecessarily?

2. Mix it up a LOT... and I mean a LOT. I'm not trying to sound cocky or anything, but anyone that tells you they have a good read on me heads up (online) is flat out wrong. Cause whatever they think they know, they don't. That's not to say the opposite is true either. They MIGHT be right some of the time, but it won't be because of my betting patterns.

3. It's often a mathematical mistake to fold the SB - if your opponent isn't raising from the BB much, you should be raising/calling almost every flop from the button.

4. Obviously (?), a LOT more hands are playable HU they they are otherwise. You need to really open your game up.

5. I can't stress how important #1 is, so for #5, I'm going to say to go read #1 again.

[Zybomb]

This is highly dependant on my opponent, if I believe I am a better player than him, his aggression, and my read on him.

Some players like to stick to a basic strategy that works for them -- generally preflop they are either small pot oriented or large pot oriented.

This means on the button, some players like to raise often (with anything) and CB a lot.

Other players like to limp in, see cheap flops and then use solid post flop play to win the bigger ones and lose the small ones

This may be a leak in my HU game, but I allow my opponent to set the pace. Im naturally more comfortable with a lot more limping, seeing cheap flops, having pots be small, and using my small edges I (hopefully) have to grind out some chips. So if my opponent does not go raise crazy or ultra aggro, I stay passive preflop for the most part. I raise my good hands ("good" being a far larger range than "good" at a full table) and limp with fair hands (and trash). With trash hands, Im more likely to raise (since they play so poorly post flop). I'll also mix in raises and call with ultra premium hands (QQ-AA). If I play it slow one street though, I play it fast the next.

I believe the fact that I'm more likely to raise with a agrbage hand than limp, takes away the information Im giving away when raising most of my good hands. When I limp, it's observant players will put me on a medium strength hand (if they pick up on my strategy), but I'll mix in limps with AJ AQ and medium pairs enough to keep them guessing.

If my opponent is in aggressive mode however, I have to adapt. If he's raising on the button 2 out of 3 times, Im playing back at him 1 out of those 2 (either by reraising preflop, or calling then bluff raising the flop/calling the flop with intentions on stealing on the turn) unless of course I feel it's a bad spot.
In addition Im raising a lot more on my button, and Im valuing hands more as well.

Since I think (correctly or incorrectly) that I tend to be a better player than my opponent more often than not, that is the reason I prefer a slower paced game with small pots and more flops... it gives him more opportunities to make a mistake and me more opportunities to capitalize on them. It gives him more chances to catch a hand, overvalue it and then pay me off. If my opponent is aggressive however this strategy will not work, as I will just be run over (If he raises every button then bets every flop, if I don't play back Im easily losing this match)

I try and put my opponents on hands, and get a feel for the type of player he is very early in the contest (how will he play draws, how often will he check 3 times with a hand he knows cant win a showdown, what kind of calls is he making and with what strength of hands, is he careful, reckless, does he overvalue hands, can he easily be moved off hands with a big bet, how does he bet his monsters, his bluffs etc)

I rarely fold preflop from the SB unless the BB often raises, in that case Im folding the bottom percentage of my hands 50% of the time (and raising the other 50%)

Drawing hands like small pairs and suited connectors/1 gappers all go down in value.... big cards (KJfor exaple) go up in value.

When all in, remember an unplayable hand with a big card i sbetter than a playable hand with medium cards. For example, K7 is stronger than JsTs, simply because of high card value, although K7 is not normally a playable hand and JTs normally is.

This is by no means a complete strategy or discussion on the topic -- but it's a little to get you started....Im sure some of the better HU players on this forum may be able to add more

[Talking Poker]

I want to play you Heads Up, Zybomb.

Name the stakes. It should be fun, and may make for some good railing.

I'd say we could play Heads Up at one of the league events, but that would require you to score points, which you seem to be allergic to this time around.

[Zybomb]

You'd kill me

oh I forgot...you can't seem to beat ANY forum members HU

As for your last jab , after my dominating performance last league I figured I'd give some others a shot

The fact that I've only played in like 3 events thus far (since my work schedule has increased making me unavailable for a lot of these events) doesn't help matters though

Maybe later in the week we can get a nice HU match goin on Stars or somewhere

[Kurn]

To quote something Greg Raymer posted on 2+2 before he became famous, "the biggest mistake you can make heads-up is to fold preflop too often."

Note that is the exact opposite of good full-table poker.

HU at the end of a tourney is a bit different from just playing HU. The following ideas are more valuable shallow-stacked at the end of a tourney.

Randomize your play, but don't fold in position preflop more than 2% of the time. Be aggressive. If you complete from SBB and he checks the flop, bet. If you flop a pair, any pair, bet. Raise in position more often than not.

OOP, you find out soon enough what kind of player you're facing. How he plays in position will help you define what his postflop actions mean.

Randomize your play. You know, there's a stupid concept newbies have in hold'em that loses them money at full tables that is absolutely the way and the light HU - ANY 2 CARDS CAN WIN. Play with that as your mantra at a full table and you'll go broke. Play with that as your mantra heads-up and you're on your way to winning (of course, you have to know how to play postflop for this to work).

HU at the end of a tourney, no player who understands that the two most relevant factors in these situations are aggression and luck is as much as a 3:2 dog to the best player on the planet. A player who does not understand it is a huge dog to any player who does.

[eejit101]

my game aint bad HU, but it needs improving.

I play anything and everything. Make some weird raises. Raise/reraise/rereraise/push. whatever. I go with instinct

[Akverno]

i usually play pretty tight for the first 10 or so hands. Only raise with good cards at this stage and test the water with my opponent. See if he is a careless raiser or if he plays passive, find out what size bet he folds to. Yadda yadda yadda. Then about the time that the blinds go up I start mixing it up like crazy. All of it is based off of my opponents, but at the low limits I generally play at it is quite common that I'll raise with any hand that is better then 50% to win and almost any suited connector. I try to play most of my pocket pairs pretty hard, even the low ones. I make an attempt to raise almost any ace that I have and show when the guy fold after I've made my pair, then occasionaly I'll mix it up and check the BB when I'm holding a weaker ace and generally trap the guy after it falls.

But mostly I agree with everyone else here, mix it up a lot and try to focus on each heads up completely so I can get a good read on a player. See if he is willing to bet that bottom/second pair. See if his betting pattern dictates which pair he is betting or if he's betting a draw. I try to shy away from the all in pre flop battles because I can generally out manuever my opponent fairly easily after the flop.

End of tournament heads up are completely different generally you both have small M's and are forced to play far fewer hands. I try to maximize my aggression pre flop, not so much by pushing a lot, but more of the min-3x bb raise range. I try to stick to raising with hands that play well heads up, any Ace, any pocket pair, decent Kings, and any combo of QJ10. Then of course I fast play any pair I hit because each pot you take down gives you a huge advantage.

Slow playing, hardly ever do it, need to be an extreme lock. Generally when I flop a crazy straight or a set with a harmless board. Plus, I hardly ever check after I've been betting so it looks weird.

And that's generally how I play heads up.

[studiopet]

Modifications/corrections - see above.

[Reel Deal]

Don't really have anything to add to what has been said but I will point out there is a very good section on HU play in HOH vol. 2

[lightfungus]

He definately has my number, thats for sure.

[Talking Poker]

Yeah, I do ok. That little fluke came to an abrupt end when I rolled through our furst big HU tourney on Stars and then finished second in the next one.

I just needed to realize I was giving you guys way too much credit and had to dumb down my game a bit.

[lightfungus]

I guess thats funny.

[ashmc2]

I'm not much of a HU player. But I stop and go, stop and go. I also raise often preflop. If they are passive I always raise PF. 1 big leak I have is putting too much stake in 2nd pair heads up. later.

[Talking Poker]

All this HU talk got me in the mood. I took a run at these last year and did pretty well with them (I never did finish my 100 match sample though - maybe I should do that now). Anyway, I played one for the first time in 5 months just now.

Here's how it ended... I feel like it should be OBVIOUS what I had, but I guess not. I can't BELIEVE he called this all in:

-----
PokerStars Game #5324739671: Tournament #26844226, $100+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2006/06/21 - 21:09:55 (ET)
Table '26844226 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Rogue23 (1870 in chips)
Seat 2: Chartez (1130 in chips)
Rogue23: posts small blind 10
Chartez: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Rogue23 [Ac As]
Rogue23: calls 10
Chartez: raises 60 to 80
Rogue23: raises 95 to 175
Chartez: calls 95
*** FLOP *** [Kh Jc Jd]
Chartez: bets 220
Rogue23: raises 1475 to 1695 and is all-in
Chartez: calls 735 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [Kh Jc Jd] [Th]
*** RIVER *** [Kh Jc Jd Th] [7d]
Rogue23 said, "nice call" <--- heh.
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Chartez: shows [8c 8d] (two pair, Jacks and Eights)
Rogue23: shows [Ac As] (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
Rogue23 collected 2260 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2260 | Rake 0
Board [Kh Jc Jd Th 7d]
Seat 1: Rogue23 (button) (small blind) showed [Ac As] and won (2260) with two pair, Aces and Jacks
Seat 2: Chartez (big blind) showed [8c 8d] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Eights

[sjay2k]

Make small/mid sized bluffs on the turn and river at the beginning. Then after you get caught once or twice, stop bluffing and start overbetting your made hands.