Heads up on heads up

[marmot]

Let me know if i've missed a good thread on this already but thought it would be useful to collate some good heads up tips as this aspect of the game doesn't get much coverage here.

Generally i was thinking about strategy as short stack / big stack / pretty even, push / fold versus just entering pots or anything else that people might want to share.

[taipan168]

Do a search on this forum, I think there have been quite a few threads on it. But basically my strategy is as follows:

- Play depends dramatically on the blinds relative to stacks. If at any point either my stack or my opp's stack is <10x BB any hand I'm playing I am shoving preflop
- I am raising a very large range of hands from the button. At least 50-60%. Aggression really pays HU
- If opp will let me see a free flop I don't mind completing the SB with weaker hands (bottom 40%). I mostly fold bottom 20% of hands (crap like 53o, 42s, 32o) unless blinds are huge and I'm very shortstacked in which case I shove.
- I am being more selective as to what I raise from the BB if the SB completes since I'm playing OOP for the rest of the hand.
- Any pair, any ace are strong hands HU, as are hands like K7s and Q9s.
- Flopping top pair any kicker is like flopping a set on a full table, bet it hard.
- On the flop I will bet if opp is showing weakness with middle pair, bottom pair or even just nothing.
- HU is perhaps the only time I'll consider slowplaying big pairs (QQ+) preflop.
- By the time you get to HU you should have a good read as to how opp plays. Are they loose/tight, passive/aggressive, will they c-bet flops when they miss, will they push over your raises, etc. This is very valuable information.

Best way to get advice is to post some HU hands and we'll take a look.

[Da GOAT]

Do a search on this forum, I think there have been quite a few threads on it. But basically my strategy is as follows:

- Play depends dramatically on the blinds relative to stacks. If at any point either my stack or my opp's stack is <10x BB any hand I'm playing I am shoving preflop
- I am raising a very large range of hands from the button. At least 50-60%. Aggression really pays HU
- If opp will let me see a free flop I don't mind completing the SB with weaker hands (bottom 40%). I mostly fold bottom 20% of hands (crap like 53o, 42s, 32o) unless blinds are huge and I'm very shortstacked in which case I shove.
- I am being more selective as to what I raise from the BB if the SB completes since I'm playing OOP for the rest of the hand.
- Any pair, any ace are strong hands HU, as are hands like K7s and Q9s.
- Flopping top pair any kicker is like flopping a set on a full table, bet it hard.
- On the flop I will bet if opp is showing weakness with middle pair, bottom pair or even just nothing.
- HU is perhaps the only time I'll consider slowplaying big pairs (QQ+) preflop.
- By the time you get to HU you should have a good read as to how opp plays. Are they loose/tight, passive/aggressive, will they c-bet flops when they miss, will they push over your raises, etc. This is very valuable information.

Best way to get advice is to post some HU hands and we'll take a look.

good advise from tai here but its quite hard to explain HU strategy in a nutshell. when blinds are high or highish, stack equal/unequal etc i tend to lean toward the NE strategy.

[taipan168]

good advise from tai here but its quite hard to explain HU strategy in a nutshell. when blinds are high or highish, stack equal/unequal etc i tend to lean toward the NE strategy.

Yeah, as I was typing this I realised that too, it's very hard to explain in the absence of reads on opp, blind sizes, stack sizes, etc. and that I was just blathering...

[jimmy44]

Something that I've noticing also is that often a player changes from loose-aggressive/tight or vice versa ... so sometimes you'll need a couple of hands to adapt ...

I think this is something you should look out for.

[fjuanl]

just to add some counterarguments...

ive heard from lots of different places that you should be completing the sb with all of your hands. Its mathematically incorrect to fold any hand because no hand in holdem is worse than 3.5/1 underdog against a random range [you generally get 3.5/1 odds to complete the sb] . I generally am not folding preflop unless I have 72o or to establish a tight image i can exploit later. if someone notice im not folding any hands and starts to get frisky from the bb...this is when I start limping big hands to setup a limp/reraise

as far as pushing or folding with 10bb or less...i dont really like it. i feel comfortable seeing flops having way below 10xbb. i especially want to see flops if i know my opp is a bad player or if i feel i have a good strategy to play against their style

playing well heads up is a lot about seeing how your opponent reacts:

are your preflop raises getting respect? if yes, raise more hands. if not, play a lot of small pots (or keep raising if flop bets are being respected)

is he letting you see flops? if not, trap him by limping big hands

are your flop bets taking down the pot most of the time? if yes, keep up the aggression until he doesnt believe you anymore. eventually he will decide to play back at you when you actually have a made hand. do not slowplay

if your getting called a lot postflop, bet strong on every street with made hands. try to see cheap showdowns and take down small pots until you can build a big one with a monster

if your against an aggressive player who loves to bluff, trap them by representing a weak hand

[marmot]

Thanks all.

ive heard from lots of different places that you should be completing the sb with all of your hands. Its mathematically incorrect to fold any hand because no hand in holdem is worse than 3.5/1 underdog against a random range [you generally get 3.5/1 odds to complete the sb]

This is the sort of stuff I was hoping for as i'm often unsure whether to try and complete in the SB or lay down middling hands, which hurts when its 300/600 or more

[Da GOAT]

Thanks all.

ive heard from lots of different places that you should be completing the sb with all of your hands. Its mathematically incorrect to fold any hand because no hand in holdem is worse than 3.5/1 underdog against a random range [you generally get 3.5/1 odds to complete the sb]

This is the sort of stuff I was hoping for as i'm often unsure whether to try and complete in the SB or lay down middling hands, which hurts when its 300/600 or more

limping is always correct but most opp's dont like you doing it lol. opp depedndant but good point to add.