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Server Time: 11/20/2009 8:05:47 PM PACIFIC |
 Heads Up Play, Nick Prigo, 27. May 2003 08:41 | ||
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| I was hoping some of the infinite wisdom of this board could help me on a trouble area of my game. Lately I've become quite addicted to the single table tournaments on paradise poker. At these games I consistently make it to the final two but find that I am a pretty bad player when it comes down to the heads-up play, and I consistently lose even though I enter the heads-up play with more chips. | ||
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| Re: Heads Up Play, Paul Stine, 27. May 2003 09:36 | ||
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| on 27. May 2003 08:41 Nick Prigo wrote: > I was hoping some of the infinite wisdom of this board could help me on a > trouble area of my game. Lately I've become quite addicted to the single table > tournaments on paradise poker. At these games I consistently make it to the > final two but find that I am a pretty bad player when it comes down to the > heads-up play, and I consistently lose even though I enter the heads-up play > with more chips. In this type of tournament, when it is heads up, I have two main strategies that I alternate between. These are much more effective in No Limit than in Limit. I rarely play limit tournament, they make me cranky. Strategy A: Open raise (I am opening so I am the button and SB here) with any two cards 8 or higher or any pair. Strategy B: If my opponent limps giving me a free look (that makes me the BB, right?) I will often check and take the free look hoping to flop good and put my opponent to a big decision. All in all, I want to be the leader, (bettor, raiser, or actor) not the caller. As always, your mileage may vary. Heads-up play has a huge variance and when you are at that point in a tournament (with high blinds) you don't get many chances to be unlucky. Heads up it always comes down to a showdown. Paul Stine College Station, TX | ||
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| Re: Heads Up Play, stdioh, 27. May 2003 09:41 | ||
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| You could write a number of books on heads up play, but here are some typical downfalls: 1) agression - you need to be betting and raising a lot. Flopping one pair is grounds for a bet. Semibluffing becomes important. Knowing when to bet a turn on a stone cold bluff. 2) position - when you are in position you need to be betting even more agressively than when you are out of position. 3) pressure - when your opponent has 10% of the money or less start putting raises to him with anything but total garbage. 4) tenacity - when you have less than 20% of the money or less start hyperagressing anything decent. Push money around with any ace and any pair. Getting a coin-flip to work here all in preflop (your 22 against his AK) is just fine as you are desperate to chip up. 5) inconsistency - whatever you do, don't do the same thing all the time. Don't always raise the best hands. Try slowplaying AA whenever you get it. I generally go slow on the most premium hands preflop. 6) preflop agression - your raises preflop should be about 3 times the big blind. You should limp very seldom. I'd say that over 80% of the hands you play preflop in the SB should be raised. 7) punishment for limping - if your opponent limps preflop and your cards are at all decent (9Q for example) throw in a raise for deception and for punishment. 8) reads - see how your opponent behaves and exploit him. Does he like to limp with bad cards then fold to your raise? Do that more. Does he play backwards? Call him down more and anticipate checkraises. 9) Most important - practice practice practice. You can't learn how to play heads up well without playing heads up a lot. If you really want the endgame of your tournament to get good, start playing heads up NL freeze outs. There is a lot to learn there. | ||
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| Re: Heads Up Play, Wren, 27. May 2003 10:49 | ||
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| Good points from stdio here. I just wanted to emphasize the importance of carefully observing your opponent's play. Yes, in general, you want to be much looser and more aggressive heads up than in a multi-handed situation, but you will need to adjust your play significantly depending on your opponent. Here are my thoughts on playing particular types of opponents: Tight/weak players - These players do not adjust down from a multihanded game. They fold too much preflop, always fold to a bet on the flop if they don't hit a pair or really good draw, give too much credit for monster hands, etc. You should be aggressing the crap out of these players. On the button, almost always come in for a raise, and play everything except the 10% or so of crappiest cards. (You might want to occasionally limp with both pretty bad and really good hands.) If he's willing to limp/fold in the SB, raise some of your better BB hands as well. Fire out at all pretty much all uncoordinated flops, but BACK RIGHT DOWN if he's calling, and make sure you have something very good if he's raising. Don't bluff every hand though - check a few down because if he's a decent ring game player, he will grow wise to you trying to pick up EVERY pot. But in general: push him hard. Loose/passive players - Play more straightforward, but still aggressive. Limp more on the button preflop. Only raise the top 50% (or so) of starting hands you're intending to play anyway. If he's VERY loose (ie almost never folds preflop), go ahead and raise your AAs and KKs - why not get more value out of them?? As a general rule, bet for value and rarely try to bluff (though you might still want to bet something like KJ on a board of A83 because you might very well be good). Again, if this type of player is in there betting/raising, back right off. Loose/Aggressive players - These players are all over the place, pushing all-in too much, bluffing, playing any two cards like they're AA. What you need to do here is be patient and wait for trapping opportunities. Fold more often preflop. Play only about 40-50% of your cards. Let him do the betting for you. Check a lot of good hands to him. If it's a no limit game, all it should take is one or two good traps to have all his chips. Solid heads up players - These players will be aggressive and tricky, but pick their spots well; rarely will they induce calls when they don't have the winning hand, and if they do, they will use their bluff to bolster their image for future hands. With these players, you will need to be constantly making important decisions. There's no real "formula" to playing a great heads up player other than watching for subtleties (and attempting to exploit them), and generally maintaining an aggressive, fairly loose, and fairly tricky style yourself. As stdio pointed out, the worst thing you can do is be predictable against these players. However, don't fall into fancy play syndrome, or play backwards - your main goal is still to get value out of your good hands. The key here is experience, and lots of it. Good luck! | ||
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| Re: Heads Up Play, Wren, 27. May 2003 10:53 | ||
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| Hmm....I just should clarify that by "loose-aggressive" I actually mean maniacal - WAY TOO loose and WAY TOO aggressive. Solid heads up players are also loose-aggressive, but in a disciplined, sensible way. | ||
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| Re: Heads Up Play, stdioh, 27. May 2003 13:48 | ||
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| Wonderful post. I couldn't have said it better. | ||
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| Re: Heads Up Play, Andrew Wells, 27. May 2003 14:59 | ||
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| It's almost never correct to fold preflop with the small blind / button. If you're doing that, it's probably the main leak. | ||
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| Re: Heads Up Play, chasepoker, 28. May 2003 06:51 | ||
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| I would say though that if you are steam rollering your opponent then after for example stealing 3 timeson the trot and you are on the small blind it can be worth folding just to show that you can. This is especialy important if the blinds are about to be increased. 7 High's Chasepoker | ||
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| Re: Heads Up Play, Andrew Wells, 28. May 2003 18:10 | ||
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| After three steals with the blinds representing 10-20% of all the chips in play, I probably have a 3:1 or 4:1 chip lead on this player. My opponent has to play back at me before I will just give up the small and the button. One time when I will let go of things like 83o on the button is right after someone surrenders their small blind to me. I haven't seen anyone tight enough to fold three consecutive times when I raise on the button heads-up anyway. Usually I have to steal on the flop, or make a delay resteal on the turn. In order to win the tourney, my opponent has to be all-in. The more times that happens, the more likely it is I don't take second place. With 8K in total chips and the blinds at 500 and 1K, I am simply not giving away that 500 and my position to a random hand. I'm betting I am more comfortable playing trash than my opponent. | ||
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| Re: Heads Up Play, BigDMcGee, 28. May 2003 00:08 | ||
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| Anotehr important factor here to remember is how big the blinds are... I play on paradise, and when I'm heads up, the blinds can be 500/1000 or 1000/2000, with only a total of 10000 chips left at the table. when the blinds get this high, things really do become a crap shoot.. I t becomes a crap shoot at that point.. a contest of going all in with almost anything when you'er the SBB, and finding something to call with when you're the big blind, I e ace semi big, two big cards lik kq, or any pocket pair. you must remain aggressive at that point.. when the blinds are lower, you can be tricky.. agressive.. but tricky.. but you have t obe prepared to bluff at alot of flops, and generally play what you would consider manical under any other circumstance. Heads up does have an extreme amount of varience, but if you err, err in the side of aggression... and shrug off the beats that will happen.. | ||
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