How to consistently win Heads Up?

Originally Posted by Scottishben

Scottishben’s heads up guide

Many players have asked for a heads up guide. I am not the best heads up players in the world but in heads up matches I win about 75% and have a decent record if I reach heads up situations in sng’s. This guide is written from the point of view of a head up match where the blinds start real low and don’t force any action. It will be less relevant if you are talking heads up after a biggish tourney as the blinds will probably force the action a lot sooner.

There are 2 main stages of a heads up hand

1) preflop betting to 1st reraise on the flop
2) rest of the betting on the flop, turn and river

in the first stage it is not particularly important what cards you hold. You could actually make a profit never even looking at your cards. Now don’t get this wrong you are not going top want to fold AA or KK preflop but you can often bet on hands like 27os. You are looking to steal blinds but not to any great extent as the blinds are not really worth anything at this stage. Your main game is trying to exploit betting tendencies. If your opponent calls a moderate bet pre-flop with little then make him suffer from that when you have something. If he folds to moderate bets then do smaller bets/call when you want action and routinely bet on little. You should be prepared to fold plenty preflop if you feel that he is willing to invest plenty chips post flop or call biggish bets with little preflop as that way you will probably have much better hands when decent amounts of money are risked. That deals with standard bets but what about big bets…. Generally speaking I will fold these if I don’t have a monster AA, KK simply because I reckon that I will win games 75% of the time and calling such a bet where it could easily be 50/50 (eg AKs v 22 or JJ v AQ) makes that average pretty difficult. If you feel you are outclassed by your opponent then this kind of play is much more acceptable.

There is a rhythm to heads up preflop, get into the rhythm and exploit it. If you are not getting the rhythm you are acting in ignorance which is never where you want to be. Watch for subtle changes and adapt if need be.

OK on the flop. Some players will fold if they don’t have anything. These players are easy to exploit so long as you don’t make what you are doing (generally betting with nothing) too obvious. If you feel that they have a hand and you are making a good profit stealing pots with bets on the flop then you should often fold or just call bets sometimes even when you hold top pair. If you are up against someone who normally bets on the flop then there is some margin in check-raising or even slow-playing. It is important to remember that you will often not be making that many chips just by stealing the pot though so don’t get too excited. Even if your opponent bets, say on a flop of A84rainbow a re-raise with nothing is an excellent play as often your opponent doesn’t actually hold the cards and sometimes will even fold a paired A if they don’t lick their kicker. A re-raise will make them more cautious of betting on nothing in the future and will win you a decent number of chips. I prefer doing this kind of play when I have something to chase however. That way if their Ax just calls me (worried I have a better kicker but not about to fold the hand) there is a chance of me catching something that will win me the hand if they don’t fold. Something like if I hold 2s5s in the hand given if there is a spade on the board. That way if a 4 comes I have a straight and if 2 spade come I have a flush.

I would finally say that slow playing on something small like top pair that can be outdrawn is much more viable as a play than in a normal game. This is for 3 reasons 1) there is a much bigger margin of hands that they would play and on many of these hands there will sometimes be fewer ways for them to outdraw you 2)they often wont read you as having the hand that you do so will often call. Similarly they are more likely to bet on nothing “representing a hand” 3) it has psychological effects which can be exploited e.g. stopping them betting on nothing on the flop etc.

Anything after this and you really need to look at your cards. If you are making a solid profit in section 1 then you don’t want to get too involved in section 2. Reads that you can exploit against a player when there are others in the pot normally hold true in heads up. If there is something that you can exploit BIG then engineer hands to get to that possibility. Something like someone has difficultly folding top pair etc or will risk all his chips when he has the bottom straight when there are both higher straights and flushes on the board. If you are not making a big profit on section 1 then you have to be a little more involved. This can mean creative but really slowly eating away at your opponent’s chips is a better way to go if you can.

Beware of betting too much with less than the nuts. If there is a possible straight and you only have top pair or even 3 of a kind try not to be too much. Call rather than reraise on the river. That way if you are beaten you wont lose big. Sometimes you can rely on reads and bet big anyway – sometimes you will call them when they represent a straight in the believe that they don’t have it but capping hands when there is a moderate chance of being beaten is how you win heads up tourneys.

If you are up against someone doing a lot of heavy betting then you may have to take a stand against them. Depending on the blinds and the size of their bets will depend on what you need to make a stand. If you are good you want to avoid anything near 50/50.

When the chip stacks are unequal then the nature of the game changes. If the blinds are reasonably low then anything over 1/3 or your opponents stack and you don’t need to worry, it might affect marginal decisions, you wont have the chips to advertise to set up big pots or to chase on certain hands but you can more or less play the same way. If you get less than 1/3 of your opponents chips then they have you against the ropes. Thus you want to try real hard to avoid this position. If you get into this position you will often have to make a stand on a particular hand. Fortunately you will often be called but you can find yourself going out 40% of the time and if you win having the same amount of chips as your opponent. How you play here depends on how your opponent is playing but it will be a struggle for you to get back in it.

When the blinds are getting higher you need to get more aggressive. Often in sng’s when you get to heads up you are up against someone who plays a tight game and cannot change pace for heads up and aggressive play will win the match for you without you having to get clever or anything. If they catch a few monsters (AA, trips on the flop etc) then you might lose the odd game but normally you will win easily. Occasionally your opponents will be able to change their pace or will have got where they are through aggressive play. If the blinds are still low you can play tight and kill them with a hand but if the blinds are high you cannot concede many pots to them and may have to settle for a showdown where you only have a small edge eg a2 v kqs or something like that or a low boarded pair v a good draw. As the blinds get higher you need to start making more and more hands “fatal hands” ( hands that if called will lead to someone being knocked out). This is particularly true if you are short staked. When you are short stacked and the blinds are high then if you play a hand you have to be willing to risk all your chips in it!

If the blinds are high and you are about even staked then you probably want to avoid actually playing many hands on the flop as the pots will be hard to fold. Similarly you have to be more wary of playing trash if you think you will get called. Focus on the rhythms of the game and if you are gaining chips carry on with what you are doing, otherwise start betting big and forcing action.

It should be stressed that heads up is completely different from other poker. You need to approach it the same way you would approach playing tennis after playing badminton - it is that different.

Originally Posted by Blackinks

Heads up play is probably one of the least understood concepts in poker, as most strategy is geared towards full table play. Think about it… we rarely play heads up. The only practice a lot of players get in heads up is when either the tourney goes heads up, or the SB/BB confrontations. But, with some good strategy, and knowing some simple facts, heads up can be much easier.
· Fact 1: There are 1,326 different possible starting hands in Hold ‘Em. There are 78 ways to make a possible pocket pair preflop. That means that you will only hold a pocket pair 1 out of every 8 hands on average.
· Fact 2: If one player only gets a pocket pair 1 out of 8 hands, the odds of both players having a pocket pair preflop drops to 1 in 17. This means that the majority of confrontations in heads up play are just pocket pair vs. big cards, or big cards vs. big cards. If you have a good pair, 10’s or higher, and he re-raises you, it’s likely he just has big cards. Pair over pair situations heads up are extremely rare.
· Fact 3: Calling and Raising standard drop during heads up. With less players in the hand, you cannot wait for premium hands to play. They just will not come often enough. While K-10 offsuit is not playable in early position at a nine-handed table, it is actually much stronger heads up. It’s only behind pocket pairs, ace-x, or a bigger K (domination). Domination is when both players share a card, but one player has a bigger kicker (example: AK, vs A8s). Also, keep in mind that drawing hands are weaker heads up. Flushes and straights are more rare heads up, so you have to play a more solid style. Remember that being suited pre-flop only give you about a 2-3% edge post-flop over the same two cards unsuited. If they aren’t worth playing offsuit, they just are not worth playing for the simple fact that they are suited. Now, this is not to say that you should never draw to your hand heads up. Only draw if the implied odds make it favorable.
· Fact 4: You are getting pot odds to call pre-flop. In the small blind, you are getting 3 to 1 to call. You can call with virtually any two cards. It helps if your opponent is passive, but you can call. This does not mean that you should call a raise with rags, but occasionally even this can work out. Do you remember what Joe Hachem won the WSOP Main Event with? He took it down with 7-3 offsuit ; yeah, it does help when you flop the straight, but rags do occasionally take it down, and it is a good way to change gears. On the flip side of this coin, you can also start folding your small blinds often, and lull your opponent into thinking that you are waiting on good hands. Then when you wake up and bet, he will be more likely to give you credit for a hand.
· Fact 5: Position is vital in heads up play. At a full table, position can be a little dodgy. You may raise from middle or late position, but unless you are the button, there is no guarantee that someone in later position will not enter the pot. Heads up position is static. If you are the button, you have the disadvantage of acting first pre-flop, but it shifts to the advantage of having position post flop throughout the entire hand. As such, I advocate playing more aggressively when out of position. Try to end the hand quicker when you are at the disadvantage.
General Strategy

There are really two ways of playing heads up. We’ll call them “small ball” and “long ball”. Small ball refers to a grinding method, where you try to keep the pots smaller, and force solid play post flop. Long ball is the big bet, big raise play. Your chip stack, along with your natural style of play generally dictates which strategy you use. When you are heads up, with a large chip lead (at least 4 or 5 to 1), you need to use your chip lead to your advantage. Be more willing to play your coin flips. If you have a 4 to 1 lead, you only need to win one of two coin flips to end the match. If your chip stacks are relatively even, it’s more advantageous to play small ball. You want to grind him down through solid play to take a big chip lead. Wait for the key hands to really make big moves. This makes getting away from marginal hands post flop much easier, and simplifies your decision making process, while still looking for positive expected value situations to arise. Once you have the big lead, then switch it up. Put your opponent to the test with aggressive play. If you are the short stack (he has you more than 4 to 1)… you have to play long ball. You just don’t have the chip stack to grind it out. You have to find your hand and double up. Put him to the test with any good hand (top 15% or so).

General Tips

Play your game. If you entered a STT or an MTT, you got to heads up for a reason. It is obvious that you know what you are doing, and probably have your own style. If you are very aggressive, and suddenly change to being passive, it will not work. Mix in your style with knowledge and patience.

Study your opponent, and test him. Watch what he is showing if a hand goes to the end, and keep notes on it. It gives you ranges of hands that he plays, and you will notice tendencies, such as overvaluing paint, or playing draws too aggressively. These will come in handy in tough situations, where you can turn your hand into a winner.

I rarely slow play hands heads up, pre-flop (less than 20% of the time), as it cuts down on the possible value that you will get. Post flop, however is different. If he is willing to call a raise pre-flop, and you flop a monster, give your opponent a chance to commit himself before you push him out of the pot. If you can feign weakness long enough, he will often try to buy the pot, knowing he cannot win it in the showdown.

When in doubt, err on the side of aggression. Force your opponent to make the hard decisions. Heads up is not the time for the timid. Heads up is a battle of wills, and if you can frustrate your opponent, this can be a huge edge. It can force him to make the mistakes that can be a key to your success. The winner of a heads up match is generally who makes the least mistakes. Yes, you can get outdrawn, but positive value is always positive value. In the long run, you will come out a winner.

Practice your heads up play. Most online poker sites offer Heads Up Sit n Go’s for a pretty cheap buy in. Play several in a row, and keep at it. If you notice you are losing regularly, pull the hand histories and review to see where your leaks are. If you play live also, get a friend or two that play, and run a series of heads up matches for low buy in. Try to play several matches against players with different styles. Not everyone plays the same way heads up. You need to be familiar with each style of player you could end up facing. This practice will help out immensely when you are fortunate enough to make it to heads up for big money