Playing heads up

[allstrs5]

It seems as though anytime I get heads up, I can never really decide how to play it. How do you guys usually play it? Are you extra aggressive or do you wait and allow you opponent to make the major mistake on a bluff? Well, I am just curious what you guys have to say.

[imphic]

My heads up play is relatively weak (at least for live play). I attempt to become more aggressive, since I always have to put in the blinds and antes (which are usually high by heads up) and since my opponent will only have an above marginal hand a small percent of the time. That said, I certainly try to watch for opportunities to trap or call a bluff.

[MRGskiier92]

when i have had success playing heads up i might bluff and be aggressive for smaller pots at the beginning so i have that image of being and aggressive bluffer. then later on if i have a big hand and im involved in a big pot there is more of a chance that i will get called because i have an image of being a bluffer

[Sharpcushaw]

Change according to your opponent. If your opponent raises every pot, put him / her to a real decision by coming over the top often. If your opponent is a better player and is happy to outplay you after the flop on small pots, put large amounts of money into the pot whenever you feel you have the best hand and don't allow yourself to get outplayed. (Basically try to get into a race with a better player. If 50/50 is your best shot, take it. ) It also depends on the blinds relative to the stack. If you have about 7-12 blinds, push poker is good poker, but if stacks are deep, limping and seeing flops are a good strategy. Hope this helps.

[aleanrahel]

You have to be aggressive. It's virtually your hand against one random hand, the blinds are high and rising, so waiting for the monster is getting you nowhere.

In the SB, call with a lot of hands, any face card, connectors, gapped and double gapped connectors. If your opponent raises a lot from the BB, be more selective, so you can reraise him on a good hand (good being relative here: JTos is a good hand heads up).

From the BB, either check always, both with monsters and with mediocre hand, so your opponent cannot guess your hand later. Or raise with a lot of hands, to deny him limping in (as described above).

The single most important tip is: be observant. When I make the final table, I try to observe my opponent, especially the big stacks, to see if I can spot a pattern. When heads up, I'm willing to call a few hands on the river, just to see what his hand selection is. It might cost me a few chips, but I will make up for that later, when the blinds are higher.

Some other things to remember:
- your opponent cannot have a huge hand every hand
- with unpaired cards he will hit the flop only 1 hand in 3
- with T8 os against his AK os, you still have 2 live cards to hit. And most importantly, he will not know what you have. If your opponent mostly plays face-cards, lead out with a big bet if the board shows only low cards. Not many players dare to go all-in on just a high card.

Besides all this, it still depends on being lucky
But an aggressive player creates more possibilities for his luck to manifest itself...

One last tip: read Harrington on Hold'em part 2 for an excellent section on final table and heads up play. It improved my game immensly. I won the last two heads up in my homegames, and 2 out of the last 3 in online games.

[firedro]

I usually try and play aggressive especially if i have a substantial cheap lead. If i am playing the smaller stack i also will play aggressive...but i will usually switch up my play and see if i can trap.

[leo2328]

In the SB... try to see as much flop as possible if your opponent plays passively... don,t let them get away without working for it! They'll be tempted to see the flop for free anyways... Raise when you think you could get somethin big or nothing at all, second best hand can be atrocious heads up so be vigilent!

number 1 tip though is to adapt to your opponent's game and remember your expected value on bluffs dont be too stupid

[maskedraider]

i usally play agressive when behind and tight when ahead my problem is at the halve way point of a mtt i get there easy but then seem to get stuck

[Alacran]

I usually play my hands in an aggresive style, this has made me loose many hands against slow players, yes, but in a long term aggresive style will be better than waiting for the opponent's bet, or for the monster. In heads up, unless you have a monster, you should dry out your opponent, or force him to take big decisions.

[danny112]

I'll change according to my opponent's tendencies. Usually in a SNG you've had a chance to observe how the people you might be heads up with will react.

Can they let a hand go when check raised or will they defend, how do they tend to play top pair, weaker pairs, big hands, etc.

Also what I like to do is pay attention to how they play position. Do they have a betting reflex when checked to, do they slow down on the turn when called on the flop, do they overbet or value bet and with what hands.

You need to be able to change gears to exploit your opponents tendencies.