HU vs. Known opponent....need some pointers

[BobbySalami]

My HU play is severly lacking when I play my buddy which happens a lot due to our at home SNG's...its seems to come down to me and him more often than it doesn't, but he has my number consistently.

I think most of this involves that I dont have much HU experience and am not very good at it....second is he is very tricky and I always seem to do the wrong thing.

A few known reads....

1) HU he is looking to call down with any piece of the flop...will even call for all his chips with bottom pair, but seems to know when I have him beat...(maybe my betting patterns?)...so I dont like to bluff at him when I miss cuz I know he is willing to showdown with bottom pair.

2)He also plays his draws aggressively...looking either to make me fold or to catch and take much of my chips....so its hard for me to know when he has a draw or a made hand.

3)I would say he is quite LAGgy and steps it up even more when it comes to HU......

How I play heads up now is usually raising from the button with any 2 most of the time and seeing how the flop treats me and how he reacts to a bet on the flop......

Top pair I am getting my chips in regardless because I cant seem to tell if hes on a draw or has mid/bottom pair.....

When I dont have the button I will raise often when he completes, and will call raises as long as I dont have complete garbage.....

So I geuss since I am generally bad at HU, I am looking for good general tips, as well as specific ones that would help in this matchup...any help would be appreciated, ty.

[EricE]

He may have a tell on you that helps him decide if you are bluffing.
Other than that my only suggestion (since I too suck at HU) is that PokerStars has HU games you can enter as low as $.01/$.02. It would be a good place to practice.

[Miffed22001]

Yeah get the practice in where you can.
This is oddly the best part of my game. Its The rest of it that sucks.
Heads up live.
Always watch your opponents reaction, eg when dealt pockets, when flop comes. Dont look at your cards until you have seen his reaction.
You should read up onstandard hu play. eg raise any cards both over 9, suited conenctors etc.
Probably, its about trapping this guy. Bet out where you wouldnt. Not every time just 35-40% take a risk, lose a few chips but wait for him to miss read you. Reraise him in situations that you have nothing. I find live that if the guy knows how im playing i throw in some real random crap. It puts them off as when you come storming in under something and they think you bulls*ing again you've got him. Personally, i would check all flops and let him make the play then you can reraise etc when appropriate even with bottom pair.
Be prepared to let a few chips go to waste in order to catch him off guard. You only have to have the hand once for him to make a mistake.

[aislephive]

Heads up is very uncomfortable for most players, I do have as much experience as anybody playing heads up. I'll try and help you out with a few tips.

First things first, you need to know a little bit about your opponent. The two biggest things are this:

1. How do they respond to a reraise?
2. Are they conservative or aggressive?

To prosper heads up, you must be aggressive. More importantly, you need to make good decisions. If you constantly get raised, don't be afraid to come over the top with a reasonable hand if you think he's just trying to put pressure on you. If they have a two to one chip lead or greater, the last thing they want is to their enourmous chip lead on the line on a coin flip situation. When the blinds are high, the more aggressive you need to be. They will help you even out the chips. The trenches are really what decide heads up battles.

A good strategy when faced with somebody who is very aggressive is to slow pay your big hands. They will be too preoccupied with trying to buy the pot to think that you're setting up an elaborate trap on them. Let them bet into you. And think a while before you call to make it seem like it's a coinflip between folding and calling, show weakness. One big pot can change the tide in NL.

There are a million strategies in NL to employ. If somebody has your number, then slowplay a lot of your big hands. I keep emphasizing this because it's the truth. The more you indicate weakness, the more an aggressive player will come after you.

One last thing, when you're the small blind you are going to be out of position after the flop. Try to end the hand quickly, your bad position gives you a great disadvantage.

Hope I helped. There are a lot of articles online that will help you, good luck.

[a500lbgorilla]

A HU match is an excersise in story telling.

I'll demonstrate if someone posts one.

-'rilla

[zenbitz]

It sounds like you are not varying your play enough.

The only real mistake HU is to fold your SB. And even that is OK if you do it 5% of the time just to be random.

If the blinds are small, and your are not going to fold (i.e., you are SB or have anything at all in the BB), then you can just raise/call in a random fashion.

If you miss the flop - bet sometimes, check other times. If you are raised big fold, unless he starts doing this repeatedly. If you are raised small, call and try to check it down.

If you hit the flop... bet sometimes, check-call sometimes, check-raise sometimes. Whatever you do, don't get into a pattern, UNLESS you are concioiusly setting a pattern only to break it when the blinds go up.

If the blinds are big, you can just push any 2 from the SB. It's +EV, especially if you (still) think he has your number and can out play you preflop. If you do this twice in a row.

HU is so different because with only 2 hands it's extremely unlikley that you are dominated (or are dominating). Even with 22 - you are only dominated like 1 in 17 times.

With a random X2 (most likely to be dominated) - the odds he has an XY with Y>2 are 3/50*46/49 * 2 = about 1 in 9.

[BobbySalami]

Wow, those are all great responses.......

I will take all these into consideration, but mainly I get a resounding stop being predictable....Ill have to pay more attention to my play and see if I am being so predictable.

[outphase]

When I play with family/friends, I turn absolutely insane HU. Normally, I am a standard tight player, but once it goes to heads up, I start playing any 2 really strong and become insta-LAgg. The key is that I rarely go all in without the goods. My friend who recently played HU matches with me overused all in bets. He forgot to realize that the only hands that would call his all in would be those that beat him (in most cases)