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| Heads-Up Limit Hold’em – Part 2 |
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1. You will need to know what kind of opponent you are up against. Obviously this is also true in full-ring games, but in full-ring games you can usually generalise about certain types of player and narrow ranges a lot more. Heads-up players tend to fight for far more pots, which widens ranges a lot and leaves a lot of scope for subtle nuances of your opponent's game to play a major factor in your decisions. 2. How a hand plays out will depend a lot on how previous hands have played out. In a heads-up game, nothing happens in isolation. Your opponent is trying to figure you out just as you are trying to figure him out. The correct play in any situation will depend a lot on what happened in previous hands, especially similar ones. We will be discussing this in detail next month. 3. In heads-up play there is far more scope for individual styles and creative play. Generally I am a big advocate of the Sklansky axiom that in any situation there is only one correct play. But heads-up, what this correct play is can depend a lot on what your overall strategy is for the contest and what image you are trying to portray. This is very difficult to express in the context of only one hand. Although so much depends in heads-up limit play, there are a few universal concepts that will form the cornerstones of your game. In fact, sometimes some pretty clueless opponents can actually do fairly well when playing heads-up because (probably by chance) they get these few important things right. Let's look at these key concepts. You must play loose pre-flop In full ring or 6-max games there is a strong logic for tight play. In each pot there is only one winner. There is no prize for having a pretty good, but beaten hand. You either want to finish with the best hand or fold as soon as possible, you don't want to be the contributor that builds the pot and then wins nothing. Heads-up this goes out the window as the whole equation is simplified. Each hand there is one winner and one loser. You want to be the winner and don't want to be the loser. Obviously there is plenty of scope for losing the minimum when behind and winning the most when you're ahead, but you have to be at least competing for the majority of pots. If you sit there and wait for good hands you will get run over by any halfway competent opponent. They can just repeatedly pick off blinds and then back off when you finally wake up with a hand. Besides, what is a bad hand heads-up exactly? If you have junk like J7o, you are only a big underdog to a better Jack, a better 7 or 77+. If your opponent has a hand like AT, KQ or 66 you are only a slight underdog even though your opponent's hand looks far better. If you hit the flop at all then you are probably ahead, and even if you don't you may have the opportunity to steal the pot, especially if you have position. As a general guide, you probably want to be playing at least 70% of hands from the button. This will include such platinum hits as 84s and J5o. Many good players will play even more, some even 100%, depending on their opponent's pre-flop and post-flop tendencies. The tighter they play pre-flop and the worse they play post-flop, the more hands you want to play. But against nearly all opponents, if you play less than 70%, you are giving away too much when you have position. Out of position it is a bit more difficult, because it depends on your opponents raising standards. On the minus side, you are out of position, but on the plus side if you call you are closing the action and so won't be exposed to a possible re-raise (if we assume the standard blind structure where the small blind is the button). You will probably want to call or re-raise with at least 60% of hands except against very tight players and potentially a lot more against more liberal raisers. Remember, if your opponent plays too tightly pre-flop, then they are likely to fold too often post-flop too so you will be able to steal more often. You must play aggressively No matter who your opponent, you have to play at least somewhat aggressively heads up. If you have a good hand you need to build the pot and if you have a bad hand you need to be evaluating whether the pot is ripe for stealing. Heads-up play is all about maximising your winning hands (however mediocre) and winning unwanted pots. You can't afford to sit around and wait for top pair or better before you put money in. In fact, it is amazing how often good things happen to players prepared to bet and raise, even with extremely marginal holdings. Against loose players you will maximise your equity edge and against tight players you will win many pots to which you are not entitled. It should go without saying that semi-bluffing is a huge part of your heads-up strategy. However, this doesn't mean that you should be playing with mindless aggression. Sometimes you encounter players who do this, and they might be successful in the short term, but these same players can come seriously unstuck when they aren't getting the cards or when they came up against a thinking opponent. Aggression is a precision weapon, which you need to understand your opponent's tendencies in order to use optimally. There is no point continually bluffing an opponent who rarely folds or value betting light against a player who almost certainly has you beat if they call. Against certain opponents you will need to temper your aggression somewhat. For example, you will often meet heads-up opponents who will usually bet or raise the flop and will keep betting until they meet resistance at which point they will make a decision according to the strength of their hand. Against these opponents you need to take a back seat a lot. Often just call the flop and turn with a view to either calling or raising the river. Another example are opponents who are so loose and aggressive that you can never really be certain that any hand is beaten. At this point you often need to simply call all streets with hands like ace high when the pot is too big to fold. You usually need to mix up your play This is something that full-ring players often don't appreciate. When playing 10 or even 6 handed, you can get away with playing ABC poker a lot of the time. Many of your opponents won't be observant enough to notice that you always play certain holdings in a certain way or may not have enough data to know for sure. If you play heads-up, most opponents will notice if your play is predictable, because you are the only player they have to concentrate on and they will play a lot of hands against you very quickly. Therefore you need to make sure your play is not predictable. Break the habits that will allow your opponent to narrow your range too much. If you always raise when you flop a flush draw, sometimes wait and raise the turn instead, or don't raise at all. If you always fast play a flopped set, then sometimes wait for the turn or even the river to raise. If you only bet the river with a legitimate hand then occasionally throw in a bluff bet or raise. Even plays that you would never consider making at a full table sometimes warrant consideration in order to balance your play heads-up. For example, you might want to just call with top or even middle pair on the flop and raise the turn. Or just call your opponents pre-flop raise with AA or KK rather than re-raise in order to spring your trap later. Sometimes these plays will cost you a small amount of expectation on that hand, but will reap rewards in the longer term, as your opponent will find it harder to put you on a hand in future. Note the word ‘usually' in the sub-heading. Sometimes you will be playing an opponent who is so bad that they are not observing your tendencies and adapting to your play at all. Obviously in this case there is no real point in mixing up your game. Just work out the lines that are most effective against this opponent and keep using them to maximise your expectation. These three concepts are the cornerstone of heads-up play. As I said earlier, you can afford to get a lot of things wrong, things that might get you in a lot of trouble in full ring games, if you get these three things right. Indeed there are some opponents I encounter regularly who I consider donkeys when playing four handed or more, but I have trouble beating them consistently heads-up. They have no idea about large areas of poker strategy and are terrible at putting me on a hand, but they play a loose, aggressive and unpredictable style that is difficult to counter. Obviously this only really scratches the surface of heads-up strategy. To properly explore every aspect of it would take a book rather than an article. Most of the skills you will need to be successful playing heads-up are the same as those you will need for full ring games, just applied differently. There is no reason why a successful full ring player can't be a successful heads-up player providing they can adapt to the increased urgency and aggression required. _________________ "I think that athiests or agnostics that enter into the public spirit of a religious holiday are being very polite." - Darvon |
Heads-Up Limit Hold'em – Part 2 
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