HU General Strategy

Hello everyone,

I was looking for some useful tips to get better in heads up (especially NL Holdem). I'm still not really happy with my plays while being HU, and afterwards I still don't know what I should have done.
Any written texts (books, posts, ...) on HU Strategy would be really useful too.

Thanks in advance !

Fernand

FernandPoker said:

Hello everyone,

I was looking for some useful tips to get better in heads up (especially NL Holdem). I'm still not really happy with my plays while being HU, and afterwards I still don't know what I should have done.
Any written texts (books, posts, ...) on HU Strategy would be really useful too.

Thanks in advance !

Fernand

Click to expand...

1. Learn to adjust your ranges on the fly
2. Pay careful attention to your opponents tendencies, and find ways to exploit them
3. Defend your big blind with the majority of your range
4. Raise your small blind with the majority of your range
5. Widen your 3 betting range

These are just tips given in a simplistic manner, I can go much deeper if necessary.

MemphisGrind said:

1. Learn to adjust your ranges on the fly
2. Pay careful attention to your opponents tendencies, and find ways to exploit them
3. Defend your big blind with the majority of your range
4. Raise your small blind with the majority of your range
5. Widen your 3 betting range

These are just tips given in a simplistic manner, I can go much deeper if necessary.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your answer. The problem I often face when being HU (my level is average, I don't play lots) is that when I'm the SB, and I have some average hand, BB goes all-in. I really have no ideas what the range of his all-in could be. Does it depend mostly of the player, if he's tight, aggressive, or should I really not worry to go all-in with an average hand ? Maybe also sometimes below-average ? I guess I'm way too scared when being HU.

Thanks for your time.

Fernand

FernandPoker said:

Thank you for your answer. The problem I often face when being HU (my level is average, I don't play lots) is that when I'm the SB, and I have some average hand, BB goes all-in. I really have no ideas what the range of his all-in could be. Does it depend mostly of the player, if he's tight, aggressive, or should I really not worry to go all-in with an average hand ? Maybe also sometimes below-average ? I guess I'm way too scared when being HU.

Thanks for your time.

Fernand

Click to expand...

A lot of it depends on how many Big blinds the player has. So it's a culmination of who the player is, their tendencies, and their stack size.

I guess first off I would ask what do you consider an "average" hand?? I would also suggest you check out an App called snap shove and go over the ranges for HU calling and shoving ranges.

first of all you have to notice if your villain is good player, bad player, passive, aggressive etc/ Rest of hu play is an adaptation. And to be a successful hu player you have to understand poker. You just can't play static range preflop. It's so dymanic. Same goes postflop. For begginers I would never advice to play hu. You need to understand concepts like cbets, pot controls, barrels, blockers etc. And if you are in hu in some sngs or mtts you just take consider mostly big blinds. It's impossible to answer your questions about ranges, because every villain is different. That's why hu are hard and variance game. As simple advice I will tell you going allin with more than 12-15bbs is just senseless in hu if you feel an advantage over your villain. Check hu nash equilibrium. It could help you somehow when your stack or villain's stack is pretty low.
of course hu cash are different things. There you mostly play with many big blinds so your game is much different.

Thanks for your messages, it helps me. I will check out the "Snap Shove" app, I think it may answer most of my questions. I'll come back if I have any further questions.

Fernand

FernandPoker said:

Thank you for your answer. The problem I often face when being HU (my level is average, I don't play lots) is that when I'm the SB, and I have some average hand, BB goes all-in. I really have no ideas what the range of his all-in could be. Does it depend mostly of the player, if he's tight, aggressive, or should I really not worry to go all-in with an average hand ? Maybe also sometimes below-average ? I guess I'm way too scared when being HU.

Thanks for your time.

Fernand

Click to expand...

imo you have to play way more aggressive when playing hu. I would claim that most of the players on a final table are too afraid to not win, so they are playing very tight. To counter that, just loosen up and play more aggressive. As you can see in most of the bigger tournaments its also just a variance game. Just to name one:

The PCA 2019 final table with Maria Lampropolous, Koray Aldemir, and Bouchanan. the last lets say 6 hands were just All Ins and Maria luckily won all of them.

seven_outs said:

imo you have to play way more aggressive when playing hu. I would claim that most of the players on a final table are too afraid to not win, so they are playing very tight. To counter that, just loosen up and play more aggressive. As you can see in most of the bigger tournaments its also just a variance game. Just to name one:

The PCA 2019 final table with Maria Lampropolous, Koray Aldemir, and Bouchanan. the last lets say 6 Hands were just All Ins and Maria luckily won all of them.

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Hey, thanks for your message !
About the PCA 2019, you're totally right, in heads-up luck is more needed.. Maria played well during the tournament though

FernandPoker said:

Hey, thanks for your message !
About the PCA 2019, you're totally right, in heads-up luck is more needed.. Maria played well during the tournament though

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yeah but thats what i mean. you have to make good decisions and plays in order to get to the final table. but once you are under the top 3 you are playing under new conditions. Variance plays a big role when there are only three good pokerplayers left. GL HF

FernandPoker said:

Hello everyone,

I was looking for some useful tips to get better in heads up (especially NL Holdem). I'm still not really happy with my plays while being HU, and afterwards I still don't know what I should have done.
Any written texts (books, posts, ...) on HU Strategy would be really useful too.

Thanks in advance !

Fernand

Click to expand...

HU you want to be alot more aggressive and it depends on your opponent.

If your opponent is letting you easily take pots on the flop then keep stealing them and don't look to get in marginal spots against them.

If your opponent is super aggressive then you may want to trap them by calling down a little lighter than normal.

HU at a final table and HU cash games are different animals due to stack size/blinds but same general idea is you want to be aggressive.