Heads up -- limp with premium hands?
I was wondering what your thought is on this. If you're down to the final two, should you limp with huge hands like AA, KK, etc.
In this situation, I'll raise with almost any ace and may make huge raises with smaller pocket pairs. But with a big hand like that I'd rather take the opponent down right there by trapping them. It works well when they catch top pair on the flop with J10 or something but it can really backfire sometimes. Obviously AA and KK are better than 50-50 vs. one person but if you don't raise you have no idea what the other person has. It also becomes difficult to lay down AA or KK on a raggy flop when the opponent may have hit two pair with 73o.
How do you play this?
Re: Heads up -- limp with premium hands?
Heads-up isn't as much about the cards...
Quote:
Originally Posted by baudib
In this situation, I'll raise with almost any ace and may make huge raises with smaller pocket pairs. But with a big hand like that I'd rather take the opponent down right there by trapping them.
Predictably tricky.
Re: Heads up -- limp with premium hands?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fnord
Predictably tricky.
Truer words were never spoken. This kind of trickery will really blindside a poor or average player, but a good player will eat you alive as soon as they figure out what you're doing. Which may be sooner than you think. For reference, I saw Phil Hellmuth on the heads up championship employing basically this exact strategy, and the commentators pointed it out - and a hand later, his opponent said it out loud, too. (Why, I don't know... he was only inviting Phil to change gears by pointing it out.)
The optimum heads up strategy against a good, observant opponent - at least when the stacks are large relative to the blinds - is to employ a basic approach with regular change-ups. Limp your very best hands 3/4 of the time, but 1/4 of the time fire in your normal raise or even an overbet. Raise most of the time with ace hands and small pairs, but limp those sometimes as well - when you limp an ace and pair it, or limp a small pair and flop a set, you will destroy the opponent that thinks you always raise with those hands. You have to keep 'em guessing a bit. Now, if the blinds are high or your opponent isn't that good, don't bother with all that trickery - it's unnecessary.
One thing: don't telegraph all your hands. You mention making huge raises with small pocket pairs. I have a friend who plays heads up like this. He has a standard raise for any ace or two high cards like KQ, KJ. He has a mega-raise for small pocket pairs (because, quote, he hates playing them after the flop). And he limps in (intending to check-raise) with big pairs. The first time I played against him this was very effective and the match ended quickly (he had me outchipped and hit the right hands at the right times, let's put it that way). Since then I've had his ownership papers. I'm not afraid to play him heads up any more because his raises - or lack of raises - basically tell me when he has a hand I should worry about.
Re: Heads up -- limp with premium hands?
Quote:
Originally Posted by dalecooper
For reference, I saw Phil Hellmuth on the heads up championship employing basically this exact strategy, and the commentators pointed it out - and a hand later, his opponent said it out loud, too. (Why, I don't know... he was only inviting Phil to change gears by pointing it out.)
I think I saw this episode (only one of the heads-up chamionchip I saw.) Was it against Lyle Berman? Phil was doing a lot of limping pretty good hands, keeping pots small, drawing bluffs and playing well post-flop.
