2008-07-02 - Texas

[railbird]

2008-07-02 - Texas

I agree with this one 100%. In heads up, it's mostly about aggression. Mixing up your play and having aggression at the same time is an extremly good thing. Like the quiz says, if you know your opponent will sometimes lay down hands pre flop, take the pot right then and there if you can. If not, you have position on this person.

I think you have to vary your play Heads up, and how you play certain hands, should depend on the hands you are comfortable playing, and depending also on the hands you have been getting before.

Head's up, you really need to be careful about NOT playing your hands the same way all the time.

Folding is clearly wrong...the only way I'm folding the small blind pre-flop heads up is if my opponent is playing a "raise EVERY pot pre-flop" style...and even then I'll play most hands. Whether I play this one really would depend then on what's happened the last several hands.

But in this case, folding is clearly out of the question. Past that, it's not so clear-cut...sometimes I'd call, sometimes I'd raise (but not usually quite so much as 3xBB when we're head's up--usually 2 to 2.5 works just as well). I DON'T want to get in a habit of only raising with quality hands and always just calling with mediocre cards...but I ALSO don't want to get in the habit of playing mediocre cards aggressively and always trying to trap with my good cards. How my opponent perceives my play is really important in a heads up situation...this is when the old poker adage "you play the player, not the cards" really is the deal.

In the vacuum of a single hand, I don't have a problem with either a straight call or a raise. Over the course of the event, I'd mix it up between both options.

The only other case is one of those rare times when your opponent's strategy is to simply go all-in on every hand...then you have to wait for something fairly decent (not great, just better than average) and take your chances...

average hand? that's a crappy hand, I would go with something better

Heads up you should almost always raise it from the button no matter what you are holding!!

Ok, so I'm supposed to bump it 30x the BB? I must have misunderstood something, because I get heads-up and aggression and yadda yadda. But I'm not raising to 30 with the blinds at a mere .50/1.00, and I'm not limping with these towels.

To fold shows my opponent that I am actually considering hand selection as well as position. This will help me in the long run by appearing tight.

Yes, get uber-aggressive. But show a soft side, too, to keep your opponents guessing.

Originally Posted by Phingroov

Ok, so I'm supposed to bump it 30x the BB? I must have misunderstood something, because I get heads-up and aggression and yadda yadda. But I'm not raising to 30 with the blinds at a mere .50/1.00, and I'm not limping with these towels.

To fold shows my opponent that I am actually considering hand selection as well as position. This will help me in the long run by appearing tight.

Yes, get uber-aggressive. But show a soft side, too, to keep your opponents guessing.

It can be ok to fold some if your opponent is extremely aggressive. But against a random hand heads up, you pretty much always have good enough odds to play. T5 is trash at a full table, but a perfectly good starting hand heads up.

I very much agree with that being a crappy hand!!

Originally Posted by amaralnz

average hand? that's a crappy hand, I would go with something better

I soooo Agree!! I can't see calling or ever raising pre-flop with that hand, unless I had my Lucky draws on!!