Heads Up Play

Hey there CC,

I normally play sit&go's or small tournaments, but I really like play heads up too. However I'm having trouble realizing the difference in starting hand strengths between sit&go's and heads up...I always find myself folding my blinds away in heads up and its an obvious read when I'm strong. Any help or suggestions as to what hands are good starting hands in heads up play?

FT: CheckmateYates

Open your range and Attack much more on the button.

See what your opponent's tendencies are and play against them.

3-bet his Raises once and a while to slow his aggression up.

All that being said. IMO Heads-up is a tuff way to grind.

^agree

u get shitty hands hu

so then it's being more aggressive. it is definitely tough to grind, but i play it when i tilt a lot to get money back quickly haha not exactly a good idea but im still working on discipline

HU and Tilt DO NOT GO TOGETHER...stay away from HU when you are tilting IMO. In HU, one should have positive confidence and not be tilting at all. Wally

HU is a tough way to win consistently. I rarely if ever play HU games.

HU sngs are how I started playing PLO regularly. I now play HU sngs almost every day and also mix in 6 max turbos and cheap MTTs.

Aggression is definately key.

Just play a lot of cheap HU sngs and experiment with your aggressive style.

Position is important in HU, so in general, I'd suggest playing a lot of hands from the button and relatively premium hands from the BB.

Definitely try to be more aggressive on the button. In a HU situation, I've read there is only a 35% chance your opponent will pair one of his cards on the flop. That's why you'll see a lot of people raising every button, and c-betting every flop, because most of the time neither player will of hit the flop, and the aggressor will take it.

I play a lot of the 4 person HU shootouts, and find them to be profitable. I would take the previous posters advice and not play them while on tilt though. It's easy to spew money fast playing HU, if you're tilting.

boy do i hear that. i've gone through about 600 bucks before in like 20min tilting on heads up. that's for the advice though. i tried out these strategies on some micro heads up games and i already see a difference.

Haha, yeah. I've crippled a few bankroll's playing HU for more money than I should of. Oh well.

Good luck, man.

I go for the small ball poker for the heads up sit and go. I find that alot better then being aggressive.

I to love the heads up sit and go and I'm pretty good at it, and the cash games as well heads up

you can also check out my video that I did just for heads up SNG matches

YouTube - Dreams of Tragedy Heads Up Video # 1

Good choice of music. My first time hearing that song.

What stakes were you playing at in your video?

Playing HU SnG will really help you read and identify players. Aggression is great, but if you are up against a call station, you are going to get called if they get any part of the board. The trick to HU is identifying what type of player you are up against, then making the correct adjustment.
For example:
1) Call station: person will call anything as long as they have a pocket pair or hit any part of the board. Strategy: Do NOT bluff. Be patient enough to get 2nd pair or higher than VALUE BET on every street.
2) Tight weak: they tend to fold if they don't have a strong hand pre-flop and will fold if they don't hit the flop. Strategy: steal all their money. If they play back at you, fold, they have a hand.
3) Maniac: Big raises almost all the time. Strategy: get a hand and shove it all in there.

I think I'm missing one, but too tired to figure out which. lol. It's a start.

haha. its funny i posted this because today in about 6-7hours. i took my br from $60 to $500 haha all playing hu

That's great, but doesnt seem like bank roll management

it's not at all man. haha i admit. i felt like gambling once today. caught some good cards. tried it again. caught some good cards. it just kept going. i already cashed out though, because i know i can blow it just as easily as i made it

some 5 dollar and some 2 dollar .

I like Playing Heads-Up...

No Limit Hold'em
TURBO Limit RAZZ
TURBO Limit Stud Hi
Pot Limit Omaha Hi

I stick to the $2 - $5 sit and go range... wish they had heads-up cash games at lower stakes... wouldn't mind playing that...

As a regular HU sng player, I can honestly say that hand strength isn't nearly as important as reading your opponents tendencies. Begin to recognize his/her betting patterns both pre-flop and post flop. Top pair good kicker is normally good, unless you get played back at. Mix up your pre-flop game a bit if you encounter an agressive opponent and focus on tendencies. On the flip side, attack blinds vs. a tight opponent. Setting an image is also key in determining moves you want to pull later in the match (when the blinds get juicy). GL.

If you are interested in these HU SNG's, feel free to PM me. I have a few videos if you want the link. I'm strictly HU sng player and joined this site to help others with HU and open up my game as well.

full tilt has 1.10 heads up sng

Lowest HU cash stakes are .25/.50, which I think is what they were referring to.

I wouldn't mind a microstakes cash HU table either.

your right I thought that he was talking about the sng...guess i over look it

I generally call lots and raise less. So as to never give away the strength of my hand. It seems to work for me as i win heads up quite often.

Try to focus on more reading the player.
Then start from that info build your game.

If the players is tight try be more agressive with weaker hands. ..if he is agressive try to reraise him or to be tight...

Be more aggressive heads up and dont just wait for good hands because that will take too long. Loosen up your play and play to your opponents weaknesses. In the sng's, you can stay tight at first and then loosen up but not as aggressive as heads up.