Heads Up Strategy
When playing heads up I massively widen my opening range and play aggressively when I have premium hands. But I also try to set up the opponent for this.
First, I start out by playing super tight. Now I have to war n you, this will make you lose chips heads up, so don't do it if you can't afford to lose many chips. But, I start out by folding small blinds without good holdings and fold to even low preflop bets with marginal holdings. After about 5-20 hands of this the opponent thinks your a super tight heads up player and even after you change your style, this image of you remains in the subconscious. Remember, first impressions and all that.
When I have a good idea of how they play, then comes the actual heads up strategy. First, I open my range really wide and vary my bet based on the size of my hand. It's important to mix up the betting within ranges, but here's what I do:
Premium hands, play the normal way you play them.
Any Ace or pocket pair, bet or call 3-5 BBs
Any King or Suited Connectors, bet 2-4 BBs
Any Queen or suited cards bet 2-3 BBs
Any Jack or Ten or any connecting cards which are not suited, Call 1 BB or bet up to 2 BBs
Any non-suited, non-connectors, non Ten or better, just fold pre-flop.
So the first key is you don't want to be just giving away many blinds. Blinds are important heads up because they happen so frequently.
On and after the flop people tend to think top pair is good enough to bet big. Or that you should
bluff a lot more heads up than you do at a 9-handed table. Don't fall into that mentality. Post-flop play the same way you would play if you were playing 9 handed and got it in heads up on the flop. Analyze how the opponent is playing and then play against that type of player. Identifying the type of player is ultimately important in heads-up play. If they are a TAG then
bluffing more is good, but folding more when they bet big is also good. If they are playing LAG then you need to be very careful bluffing, but sticking around when you have something is a good idea as well.
Finally, pay very close attention to how they are playing throughout the session. Good heads up players are going to switch up their playing style every so often just to throw you off and find the style that works best against you as an individual. It is way easier for them to keep track of your style heads up and so it is way easier to adjust to your style. So don't just start TAG and switch to LAG one time, but mix it up probably every 40-50 hands or so.