Heads up

xOneCoolHandx · Mar 19, 2019

I have getting down to heads up fairly often lately, I have won a few but seem to be losing more than I am winning. I used to be super confident when heads up, I play pretty aggressive but I normally adjust my game to counter what the other player is doing. There are those who want to push a lot, there are the limp, limp, limp players and there are the fold everything that is not an ace or king, and a few others. It seems like I am losing a lot of the big hands, some by bad beats, some by bad decisions. So, how do you prepare for heads up? Do you take a standard approach or do you also take different angles with different opponents based on their play before heads up and how you think your table image appears to be to them?

grumblbrumbl · Mar 19, 2019

First you need to understand your opponent's style of play. Then start acting. The action depends on the opponent. Of course, you can impose your game, all the time to go all-in and stuff. In different ways you can play HU. The main thing to understand the opponent.

Russian Idiot · Mar 19, 2019

All this is very difficult, there is no recipe, it is a question of chance and extrasensory abilities. I personally feel when a player does not have a card and he bluffs.

Erpherk · Mar 19, 2019

I guess use the info you collected on that player during the final table and consider what they think you will let them get away with also. I take the aggressive approach heads up, Raise every hand from button and try to avoid the all ins pre flop with deep stacks and just chip them away if they allow it to happen. Get a nice lead and go for the kill.
Just finished a HU at final table,I played FT tight nursing short stack the whole way so he thought he could push me around.. I started with 250k vs his 1.7 mill but I came out aggressive playing every hand. Figured out he shut down on the turn after check raising flops out of position I exploited it a few times and he became a fold machine and i chipped up to 1.2 mill.
At this point he adjust and starts betting pot when i check to him so i check fold to the pot bet a few times.. So i get top pair and check to bait the pot bet, i call and check again he pots again then i raise and he called out of anger i think.. i jammed the river and he called it off with 3rd pair. It couldn't have possibly went any better.

Been so long since i got a 1st, i really needed that! I hope this provides some info about HU approach from another player.

xOneCoolHandx · Mar 19, 2019

Erpherk said:
I guess use the info you collected on that player during the final table and consider what they think you will let them get away with also. I take the aggressive approach heads up, Raise every hand from button and try to avoid the all ins pre flop with deep stacks and just chip them away if they allow it to happen. Get a nice lead and go for the kill.
Just finished a HU at final table,I played FT tight nursing short stack the whole way so he thought he could push me around.. I started with 250k vs his 1.7 mill but I came out aggressive playing every hand. Figured out he shut down on the turn after check raising flops out of position I exploited it a few times and he became a fold machine and i chipped up to 1.2 mill.
At this point he adjust and starts betting pot when i check to him so i check fold to the pot bet a few times.. So i get top pair and check to bait the pot bet, i call and check again he pots again then i raise and he called out of anger i think.. i jammed the river and he called it off with 3rd pair. It couldn't have possibly went any better.

Been so long since i got a 1st, i really needed that! I hope this provides some info about HU approach from another player.

Congrats, it sounds like your style of play is similar to mine...read, exploit, adjust when the opponent adjusts and try to exploit again. I honestly think HU is one of those faucets of the game that is hard to really work on because you are not in that position frequently. So I do appreciate the words from everyone. My philosophy is that if you discuss and think through different parts of the game then you become somewhat stronger for when you are in that position. So I appreciate people taking the time to read, think about and reply to the stuff I post.

This Fish Chums · Mar 27, 2019

Most sites have Heads Up Cash tables. Although cash does have different skillsets, one variant of tournament heads up is better than no heads up practicing.

Yanko57 · Mar 27, 2019

My first hint would be to be myself absolutely unreadable...

Second would be to adjust to my opponent.

Kenzie 96 · Mar 30, 2019

Can't imagine anyone winning HU consistently without playing an aggressive style, obv if you know your opponent well you adjust.

Ropa · Mar 31, 2019

Im also pretty confident HU player. If i played with opponent whole tourney and learned her/his play style and he/she also learned mine, i usually try to change my play style a little bit when we got to HU, so he/she gets confused what hands i used to play aggressively or what hands i didn't played at all. HU is pretty much 50-50, even with chip stack difference.

TeUnit · Apr 1, 2019

Think the best practice is hyper hu sngs.

CTAPYXA · Apr 2, 2019

xOneCoolHandx said:
I have getting down to heads up fairly often lately...

In the game one-on-one strategy should be present. There are zones of your presence in the game. These are: "danger zone"; "dominant zone"; "comfort zone". The use of these zones depends on your skill.

Newzooozooo · Apr 2, 2019

Hi.
It depends on what style the game has my opponent. At first I play cautiously. I rarely play aggressively and usually try to lure my opponent into a trap.
Good luck.

maxi_j · Jun 16, 2019

Hire a heads up couch. Its easy to have edge over tournament players in heads up.

619Leafs · Jun 20, 2019

Usually I like to play a grinding style in heads up because I want to try to take less chance out of the game as much. However if the opponent is super aggressive, it foils the strategy thus calling a large chip stack with a good enough hand at least ace high with paint or kq or qj or pocket pairs.

Jdjakubisin · Jun 20, 2019

Heads-up games seem to go in streaks. Leaders on sharkscope.com who play a lot of 2-man tourneys usually don't get over 60% if they are lucky. I just try to keep at the grind and make hands and not over-analyze things.

Skills in terms of timing your bluffs to take pots are what heads up tourneys are good for. Just get a solid tight-aggressive start and try to keep that image in the guy's head. You start weak you have to get lucky to turn it around.

Vallet · Jun 22, 2019

It is necessary to say the check always. This brings one-on-one victory in many cases. An aggressive player does not understand your hand and gives all his chips.

Aremaz95 · Jun 22, 2019

I think it's a matter of studying your rival and trying to beat him in his moments of weakness by applying what you saw about his behavior at the tables, the odd bluff can help

Heads up

xOneCoolHandx

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Russian Idiot

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Erpherk

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