Heads-up Limit Hold’em is the most fun I’ve had in a long, long time playing poker. I’m not anywhere good enough to play several tables, so I end up playing just one - but man the hands go by fast. And it’s fast and furious action. And it’s ridiculously profitable against most opponents. I have made quite a few observations about both the game, my opponents and myself since making it my primary choice (basically I’ll sit at any heads-up table $1/$2 up to $3/$6 if any opponent is available, or play 6-max until one is).

The first one is that it’s fun. Not a whole lot of strategy involved in that observation, but it IS fun. It’s fun to have ONE opponent that I can focus on, adjust to and attempt to trick and manipulate. Playing three tables of 6-max is a grind, playing one table is a match. It tickles my competitive instincts.

The second is that it’s swingy. Since the format of the game makes you play almost every hand (you’ll get eaten alive if you fold anything more than 20% of your hands preflop, and you probably shouldn’t even be folding that many), and virtually any pair is showdown-bound (or at least mostly ought to be), a streak of four lost showdown hands in a row will usually mean a -20BB loss. If you lose eight showdowns in a row (certainly not unheard of, nor should it be surprising to anyone that that will happen pretty often) you’re looking at what’s probably a 10% hit to your bankroll. And this can happen in the scope of just a few minutes. “Be overbankrolled,” is certainly the recommendation for these games - or rather, the line for “overbankrolled” is certainly not in the same place as it is with 6-max or full ring.

The third is how emotional people can get - myself included. A tight/passive player who folds a lot becomes nothing short of a maniac after playing with me for only a few minutes. He - I assume - notices that I raise virtually every hand, and he decides that he’s going to “punish” me so he starts re-raising and raising with everything. And it’s difficult not to tilt. Really, really difficult. It makes for a good practise in self-discipline.

I’ll return to this topic in my upcoming posts.