Small Stakes Heads Up

Now I know this may be obvious to many of you but it’s something that I have learned about small stakes HU cash games. I had to stubbornly beat my head against the wall over and over before I finally realized this so hopefully I can save some of the trouble for you newer HU cash game players.

Playing against fish is one thing. You just sit there and wait until you have a hand and then take them down to value town.

Now days though there are a ton of decent tags who have read a little HU strategy. They usually just play a raise/fold preflop game. If they play a hand it’s for a raise or a 3bet.

I usually start out the match doing about the same. Eventually the aggression between you two heats up and there will be a lot of raising and 3beting preflop.

You can either start floating in 3bet pots or start 4betting. Both strategies are very good against certain players. If you can successfully apply one of these strategies to your opponent then you’re good to go.

If not, then the next thing to do is tighten up and play straightforward poker. It’s hard to make yourself do this heads up when someone is always in your face but the blinds you lose in a small stakes HU NL table are insignificant compared to the payoffs you can get.

If you sit and wait for strong hands and bet them aggressively your opponent will not think you have been waiting to finally hit something. He will usually talk himself into a call or a raise because he has been so aggressive and you’re probably just frustrated.

I have even talked myself into plenty of stupid plays because I figured my passive opponent was just frustrated.

The games have changed and you can’t just win at HUNL by preflop and flop aggression. As you get better and learn how to properly apply turn and river aggression then your edge will be significant against these opponents. But for now you can still just wait for big hands and you’ll do alright.

Ok that’s it. Told you it was obvious…

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