Heads up is where the real money is

[stil370]

it seems to me that many of the superstar or once superstar online players, Polk, Dwan, etc made most of their money playing heads up with the exception of hitting it big in a mtt. It just seems like that is there is a greater probability of making an extraordinary amount of money playing heads up as opposed to anything else if you can master this type of game. Thoughts?

 

[1noname1]

This kind of game requires from ogrok great concentration and stress resistance, for this it is not for me.

 

[theblizzardofoz]

Would def speed up game time. I know I need the practise heads up. I normally play sng's and it took forever to learn to navigate the different swings from 6-9 players in..to 4-5 and finally top 3... I could see that heads up could certainly be profitable if its the one you are good at

 

[Andrew Popov]

Heads up allows you to fully realize your advantage in the level of the game. At a long table, you can always be against an opponent who is dealt a better card. The more players in the bank - the more difficult it is to predict the outcome, unless you have received the nuts. Heads up are easier to calculate mathematically and if you know how to do you will be ahead in most games.

 

[chronical]

yes and not. In any HU, even hyper SNGs, the more skillfull player will get the greater edge. put simple it is easier to abuse 1 op then 8/5/2 ops, the problem lies that most top reg figured that out long ago and now most HU games are reginfested even on ABI15 games, so you really have to have an edge over your op to show that +3%ROI or 5+BB/100. On the other hand even on stars you can find some fishy regs on nl100 , and mtts are always/will always be fishy.
the reason (I think) to why a lot of good players hand some what of a run with HU is beacuse HU as nothing else trains your postflop play, and is somewhat importaint in any poker game =)
yes I think if you can manage to get on that leve you will show good results. for refernce you can check something like this as they post weekly res of stars regs on HUSNG

 

[pietpikel]

it seems to me that many of the superstar or once superstar online players, Polk, Dwan, etc made most of their money playing heads up with the exception of hitting it big in a mtt. It just seems like that is there is a greater probability of making an extraordinary amount of money playing heads up as opposed to anything else if you can master this type of game. Thoughts?

I agree with you 100%.

The big problem in a ring game (9 or 10 seater ) is that is that if you lose to an inferior player, there is no guarantee that your ex-money comes back to YOU at some stage. The guy that flukes a beat against you, could ATM it to everyone else except you. Or he donkee donks you with a beaut, gets up and says it's time to play punta banko. Wave your money goodbye ... Adios Muchachos

If you are plying heads up, your superior maths skills, patience, level of game understanding, card reading and situation reading helps you win. You are essentially locking yourself in the basement, with a bad player, until their money is gone. Just pass the food under the door You need to have the right mentality for it though, because it is a fast intense game with no time to day dream...

If you look at a guy like Cy Jassinowsky (played for years under 'piejay') online. Look, he is far away from the money levels of Dwan etc, but he played 25/50 or 50/100 holdem heads up for years on ultimate bet. The guy was making bombs starting at a table with 10k , and up to 17k easily in a day (multiply by 3 tables). All heads up !

He did get caught in UB superuser BS, but I think most players (at that level) got caught as well. You don't expect that a poker site has someone using a superuser account to view hole cards.

 

[stil370]

with all things being equal, if you were better than your opponent 60/100 times it makes it unbelievably profitable. I guess a key is finding the right guys to play and having a bankroll that is correct.

 

[Emi]

Try playing spin and go it will improve your game

 

[FIERROS]

Maybe but what happens if you don't get good card

 

[titiduru]

it seems to me that many of the superstar or once superstar online players, Polk, Dwan, etc made most of their money playing heads up with the exception of hitting it big in a mtt. It just seems like that is there is a greater probability of making an extraordinary amount of money playing heads up as opposed to anything else if you can master this type of game. Thoughts?

You may win a lot of money, but also you may lose. If you are the weaker player, in heads up you are toast.

 

[Zorba]

Maybe but what happens if you don't get good card

Simple, you fold.

You may win a lot of money, but also you may lose. If you are the weaker player, in heads up you are toast.

Weak players get lucky also, and good reg players can be exploited, they play like robots.

:top:

 

[rollothecown]

spin and go

Try playing spin and go it will improve your game

yeah to each their own but the stacks are short 25bb apiece which in my opinion adds a lot of luck to the game

 

[123cards321]

head up

Do you know if they only played heads up and what buyins more less?

I think heads up is something you need to practice because there is usually a big amount of cash difference between 1st and 2nd place and it is a completely different game than when playing even with 3 or more opponents. You need to broaden your card range and play more based on bluffs and be confident of pairs that can take the hand since there is only 1 opponent that can have really bad cards. You have to read a lot more and be really focused.

 

[neafana]

it seems to me that many of the superstar or once superstar online players, Polk, Dwan, etc made most of their money playing heads up with the exception of hitting it big in a mtt. It just seems like that is there is a greater probability of making an extraordinary amount of money playing heads up as opposed to anything else if you can master this type of game. Thoughts?

A lot of people were making big money in heads up play. I consider you have to be very good in a loose aggressive game and have good math skill. You can see good heads up players calling the flop and turn with A high, based on their opponent range. I knew somebody that was playing around 13 hours per day, especially in the night, heads up (finding bad players and drunk players willing to gamble. He was making around 4000dollars/ month.
He was very happy when spin go appeared))

If you are not good mentally, I think heads up it's not for you.


I was playing heads up, 128 players MTT winner takes all and I won 3 of them.
I thought that I'm good and started to play 6hyper SNG and 6 Hyper satellites SNG and I was tilting a lot and losing money.

 

[Acechador]

it seems to me that many of the superstar or once superstar online players, Polk, Dwan, etc made most of their money playing heads up with the exception of hitting it big in a mtt. It just seems like that is there is a greater probability of making an extraordinary amount of money playing heads up as opposed to anything else if you can master this type of game. Thoughts?

I think heads up is a effective way to improve your game; when you directly face top players, you begin to realize the mistakes you make more quickly and that will help you to play better in other kinds of tournaments like MTT

:shakehand

 

[pancho_1954]

like any other sng requires a lot of knowledge and concentration, it's not about thinking "easy to play" less game time, and many things that people sometimes think, those who play those HU are people who play in a strong way , aggressive

 

[bakreni]

Heads up is boring for me so i dont play it...

 

[Zzzms]

It really is the purest expression of NLHE, there's no hiding in the weeds waiting to pounce, you have to get in the shit immediately.
I love it, its a pure psychological exhibition, who's gonna flinch first who's gonna sack up, its a beautiful thing.

 

[maxi_j]

Good game if you want to start understand poker mechanics. I don`t think there are a lot money or action (exept spin n goes).

 

[fundiver199]

pokerstars dont even offer heads up cash game tables any more except in the Zoom format. They do still have heads up SnGs, but I have to wonder, how many people are dumb enough to sit down with the shark waiting for pray at the higher limits. I think, most of the action has moved to the Spin n Go format, where you can not choose, who you play against.

Heads up is largely a solved game format, so edged between regulars are surely almost non existing today, and I personally dont think, the game form has much future online. As a tournament player, you need to know how to play the final heads up, but as something to specialize in I would not recommend it.