Heads Up Help

OK I'm willing to admit that my heads up play definitely needs improvement.....any suggestions on the best way to do that....In the last 3 days I've come in 1st on a $250 GTD..... 2nd and 5th on 2 $500 GTD and 2nd on another $250. I've been playing wonderfully in all phases except heads up. My one victory was basically due to the fact that I had amassed such a stack through good early play that my opponent didn't really stand much of a chance. I'm quite frustrated with consistently making final tables and getting ITM but not winning. I understand that variance is going to play into it a lot but I have to think that if my heads up game was stronger I would've won at least one of the two 2nd place finishes. I'm going to be playing the $1000 GTD at midnight on Carbon and if anyone has nothing better to do but watch and give me some advice (if I make it deep) that would be great! Otherwise any suggestions on improving my heads up game would be great!!! Thanks!!

Folding too much is the biggest leak you can have....

You basically have to spray and pray a lot.

I mean if the guy is 3B jamming a bunch you can back off but....you really need to be aggressive and jamming most every hand you play once effective stacks get to 11BB or below.


Playing Hypers will help you bc youll get used to a short stack/push fold and SH play/.....plus hopefully a bunch of HU play as well.

I've been thinking about it and actually I think my problem is I'm not patient enough when I get to HU. I can play tight aggressive for hour after hour and not lose my composure or patience but when I get HU it's like I throw all caution to the wind and patience goes out the window. If anything I may be playing to aggressive.....don't know.....just gonna continue to play my game to get there and try and tweek it when I'm in the situation. I'm trying to stay in a positive mindframe because I am consistently getting in the position to win but second is kinda like kissing your sister......keep the Alabama jokes to yourself on that one!!!

Try not to over think it and don't deviate from playing solid-strong poker. Remember the most important fundamentals that don't change, but become even more important, like position.

Don't suddenly get into fancy-play mode. The goal should be to capitalize on your opponents mistakes. You don't need to be aimlessly aggressive. One reason to be very aggressive would be if you're opponent is overly passive. Try to always have a reason behind your play, and adjust your play according to how you're opponent is playing. If you have 10 BB's or so though, you can just play nash if you're opponent is decent and you feel that's the biggest edge to be gained.

Also, you need to have super thick skin to play MTT's and just know that a few games means very little and you can't really assign blame, nor have much control over you results HU in such a small sample. That goes for HU in general, let alone tournaments where you're likely short-stacked.

Thank you for that......what I'm trying to figure out really is how to judge success...ROI...final tables...wins...I just finished another $500 GTD finishing 7th...once again happy with the $ but should I measure success by the fact that I'm consistently making final tables and ITM on MTTs??

Measure success on how you play each and every hand. Results will fall in line now, yesterday, and tomorrow, but in the short term it'll be any one of those in no particular order (and can be next year rather than tomorrow) so its not really in your best interest to judge your play based on results. Play a few thousand games and you'll have a better idea. I don't mean that sarcastically, and honestly in MTT's I'd rather say over 10,000. This is coming from a person who knows all too well and has played over 10,000 (and not near a true ROI).

You'll draw too many incorrect conclusions if you base your judgement of your play on tournament to tournament results. Focus on the hands, one at a time and post them in the hand analysis section of the forum if you want to review them. It will also drive you mad or make you overconfident and learn bad habits and if you're going to play MTT poker you want to have the most even keeled attitude possible. It's a lolercoaster.

Good luck and have fun

Very good points......I've been playing for years but very seriously now for just the last 3 months....by no means am I over conifident at this point but I have been in a zone. I want to get better each and every hand and I think that's happening....thanks again....-S-

Cheers, you're doing great!

Your thread made me think of a blog I read and recommend to friends whever it comes up, and I decided to link to it on CardsChat to share with others here. It's in this sub forum if you're interested, it explains much better than I can, about variance and MTT's.

I'm gonna be away for a while so gl to you. Keep it up!

Another $500 GTD another final table....just got in the $$$....maybe this streak of 2nds and 5ths is about to come to an end!!!

Well I didn't come in 2nd!!!!! I came in 3rd lol!!!! But it was a decent score....gonna go to sleep and rest up for some poker maximus action tonight!!! Have a great day all!

Post some hands of your short handed or heads up play.

Then again, it depends on what the effective stack size is, if you're short then it could just well be variance.

I would reccommend u look at the HU play like this. In the end you have two cards and your opponent has two cards. They will not have something all the time so I would recommend agressive play so that you can make them pay for bluffing constantly

HU is my weak game too. Good stuff.

(I missed this one last month so my apologies for bumping an old thread)

I think this is an issue lots of MTT players face (since how often do we end up HU). My suggestion is to play low buy-in HU SnGs. This will really let you practice this aspect of the game (and give you an advantage over other players in the MTTs).

There is an art to HU and it is very different than playing a full table.

@nabmom...this is the best advice so far in this thread, i think in this way he can further improve his game