 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!
Permission is granted to reprint
this article on your site provided you include
the entire article, with the exception of
this paragraph. You must include the
links back to my site if you decide
to reprint this article on your site.
Poker
Final Table Strategy - A detailed strategy
on how to play at the final table of a poker
tournament
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