HEADS UP HELP~~~~~~~

[BILLABONG]

I generally play 9-3 long-short handed $1-2 no limit ring, and I make good money at it consistently. However sometimes late at night the tables when die down on one of the sites im on, and eventually will be dueling it out heads up. It doesnt make sense how I can play long and even shorthanded as short as 3 players, but yet if I play heads up I lose @$$, and I lose it fast. I lost 1k this week alone in heads up and $200 of it I lsot in about 30 minutes last nigh and decided for now on im no longer playing heads up. Its just aggravating to know that if a table dies down to heads up I have to leave cuz I cant play it successfully. I dont know makybe its something egotisitcal but you cant be a great no limit texas hold em player without being a great overall player in my book, which means being able to play full ring, short ring, tournaments, and even heads up. So maybe someone can explain what I did wrong to lose $200 last night.

First let me say this, im a very mathematically inclined player when it comes to no limit texas hold em. Not sayin im the best at it but just that I count on whats more mathematicaaly correct to do as opposed to some players who count on there reads more to decide what to do. So in the small blind heads up ill call TQ and up, such as TQ,TK,TA,JQ,JK,JA,Qk,QA,AK, and any pocket pair 22,33,44,55,66,77,88,99,TT,JJ,QQ,KK,AA...of course ill b raising small blind with AA,KK,QQ,and AK.

PROBLEM 1: Now with that being said ill only be calling with these hands as long as im goin to be allowed to see a flop. If the player like the one I played agaisnt last night raises about five times in a row when I call from the small blind. Im goin to start folding them because theres no way im goin to call a raise from outa position with something like TQ, now with a low to mid pocket pair Ill call in hopes to hit a set or with higher one like QQ,KK,AA,AK ill re-raise post flop. So last night I had to shut down from the small blind due to his loose aggressiveness and unfortunately I never received one of those hands to call or fight back with.

Problem 2: Now im on the big blind and he starts raising my big blind, so I start calling with TQ and up, about 3/4th's the time im missing the flop completely and here comes super agress betting out unto me. So i would fold.

Problem 3: Now I figure if he wants to do like that ill jsut start re-raising TQ and up on the bb giving me postion again after he re-raises. So he re-raises,I have something like JQ and RE-raises back, and the player still calls, and then STILL bes out unto me when I miss flop, and when I say I have missed flop I mean I happen to miss it this time,no pair, no draw, no nothing.

Anyway this storys getting long, like I said I lost $200 in like 30 minutes last night playin agaisnt this type of opponent. Can someone please give me some advice on what to do next time...Thank You

[SinkRox]

HU is a completely diff ball game, simply dont play it if your losing so much, untill ur more experienced at it. (u can practice with $5 HU tournys or maybe even cheaper ones elsehwre) also find a poker room that doesnt die down so much eg party

[Theeggman]

When HU, calling from the SB is not an option. It conveys weakness. The aware player in the BB will always raise you if you merely call from the SB. It's like letting you see a flop for free. Unless it's just a "friendly" game, you MUST raise from the SB or fold. It's that simple. I'm still working on that myself, but I'd rather fold my SB than just call because calling gives the player in the BB too much information about my hand (ie I want to catch a good flop). He doesn't want you to catch a flop so if he raises you out of the hand PF he gets your chips anyway and doesn't risk you hitting a monster. Plus post-flop play is very important HU. You must always put your opponent on his heels with each bet. Then when he comes over the top of you, you can lay your hand down knowing you're beat. Up the aggression, play with confidence and you'll turn your HU game around.

[The_Cheat]

ok. i am going to make this short so you are sure to read it.

HU, you have only two buttons on your screen:

Fold
Raise

there is no check, there is no call.

why? because you dont make hard descisions, you want to make your opponent do that. Bet it the hell out man. Calling on 10Q and up? WTF? No. RAISE everything, if you get reraised and you believe it, fold. If you dont believe it, push. His middle pair with no kicker doesnt feel as strong when it will cost him all his chips.



Just bet it out HU. You'll either learn, or go broke

[Bezique]

The fundamental difference between haeds up and normal ring game is that the likely hood of their being a hand on the table is fliped on it's head.

Once the flop has come you've got about a 50 - 50 chance of having a pair each hand. Let alone top pair, two pair a good kicker etc.....

In a ring game you have to play because you believe you have the best hand, or at least because you can make your opponent believe that. In HU you have to play because your oponent has even worse rags than you do and you have to remind him of that.

KXo is an excellent hand. you can beat his high card almost every time.

It's not about what you've got, it's about what they don't have. In HU the mathmatically good hands go out the window. They're too rare

If you want to win you have to be prepared to bluff 1/3 - 2/3 of your hands as a (very) rough figure.

As suggested above, if you are regularly being left HU, you need to go practice, there are cheap table sto do it at. You can buy in some HU tourneys for just 20c.

[SmackinYaUp]

Heads up is a tough game for me as well. I tend to bet too much and end up getting called down for a quarter of my stack at a time. Saying that youre more mathematically inclined, i would think that limit would be a better game. And heads up NL is about as far away from a math game as possible. I wish I could get better at it - it looks like a potential very fat cash cow. If you really wanna learn it, buy in to some cheaper NL games. See what you can do at a heads up $50NL game.

[fkn2pt]

heads up nl seems to be my strongest game, far stronger for me than rings or shorthand, since i find it much easier to pick up patterns in peoples play when i only have to concentrate on one player. some thoughts:

i wouldn't agree that you should never check or call from the small blind. sometimes you can win big hands by checking a monster like AA or KK from the small blind. especially on the internet, people wont' put you on these hands, and if you let them drive the betting, sometimes they can pay you off..

mixing up your play is very important. so you should sometimes raise with junk hands like 36off, and sometimes raise with AK. basically, when you're heads up, throw the mathematical rule book out the window. since you can win your opponent's whole stack on one hand, its more important to deceive him with your play, rather than play mathematicallly correctly. you want him to misread you and push all in when you hit a monster flop or have preflop nuts.. ie AA KK.

playing AA, KK, QQ, AK heads up:
in ring and shorthand, raising with these hands is usually a must, however heads up, i usually play these hands differently. in a 3 or 4 way pot, one usually overbets the pot on the flop to shut out draws (provided you hit with AK). however heads up, there is less of a danger of getting outdrawn since you're only against one opponent. if the flop isn't dangerous, your strategy should be to TRAP with AA or KK, QQ less so. this all comes down to your judgement however since your opponent may actually have something.. again this depends on your reads. but i've done many de-stacking plays by calling AA from the small blind, calling all the way to the river and putting them all in. it helps if you've pulled a couple of big bets they've folded to in previous hands.. (increases the chances they will think you're bluffing!)

hand values:
hand values have to be modified for heads up play. suited connectors are mostly junk unless they're quite high like j10, 109 even. i do think stuff like Q10 offsuit is actually playable most of the time heads up. this is because heads up, people raise with all kinds of junk like 34off. hands with any ace or king are quite strong too, because if your opponents cards are unpaired, there is a 2/3 chance you are winning at the flop with ace high, even if you don't pair your hole cards. however i don't trap or slowplay with ace high hands like i do with AA or KK because these hands DO get outdrawn heads up. so raise the hands and bet them strong on the flop, and be prepared to lay them down for any show of resistance.

blind defense:
you should usually defend your blinds against a raise heads up. sometimes it pays to just fold, not just because you have a shit hand, but because sometimes you should just fold to mix up your play. however most of the time, if the raise is small, you should see a cheap flop. why? there is a roughly 1/3 chance that you will pair either of your hole cards on the flop, and if you do, there is a very high likelihood that you are winning at the flop. however against a tight player who doesn't raise very much, you should fold, because he probably has a sick hand. also (as applies to everything heads up) don't bet predictably, ie always betting the flop when you hit any pair, since this will allow your opponent to pick up your betting pattern and trap you when he flops his top pair or set.