heads up play

[Mony B]

does anyone know where to get some good information on heads up play, or even the names of some good books? I was looking through my collection today and realized i have no essays or guides on heads up.

[a500lbgorilla]

Come on to IRC and get some HU experience for as little as a dollar.

-'rilla

[elanto]

yeah just ask rilla how bad i pwned him couple of days ago


-anto

[a500lbgorilla]

yeah just ask rilla how bad i pwned him couple of days ago


-anto

Haha. Sure, buddy. Suuuure.

-'rilla

[Mony B]

so i hear every now and then you FTR guys/gals get together and have tournys against eachother. I would for sure like to get involved some how!

[tdmlb24]

Whats IRC?

[Sed]

check out the sticky in the FTR community forum

-sed

[scottyses]

Ultimate Bet actually has a decent and fairly extensive guide on heads-up play. Here is a couple of tips I have discovered from various web sites/books and my own experience in heads-up tournaments.

1. Don't start a HU tournament with a particular mind set. Some players think you have to be extremely aggressive to win heads up but this simply isnt true. Being able to adjust to your opponent is crucial and whoever is able to do it quicker/more effectively will usually win.

2. Play opposite your opponents style if he is playing to an extreme. If he is being very aggressive and overbetting the pot/raising huge often, you should actually tighten up and wait for a chance to trap him. Let him steal those little pots 5 hands in a row, you will make it all back plus more in one big hand. NEVER go all in preflop against this opponent with coin flip situations! He will eventually bluff at the wrong flop and you can take his stack with much less risk. If on the other hand your opponent is playing weak/tight, by all means steal as many pots as you think he will tolerate. If he raises over top of you or calls you need to be very cautious.

3. Be the bettor. HU rewards the bettor more than full ring games or even short tables. In order to call you must have the best hand, in order to bet you only need to think there is a reasonable chance your opponent will fold. Most of the hands you play heads up will never see a showdown and therefore you want to be the one with 2 chances of winning: hitting your hand or folding your opponent out.

4. Draws will be your demise. Unless you are the one betting your draw as a semi-bluff, dont call on flush or str8 draws alone. In order to call a draw you need pot odds but with only 2 players you are almost always getting horrible odds on your draw.

5. Sometimes making a call on the river is correct if the amount you stand to loose doesnt hurt you nearly as much as the amount your opponent stands to lose. For example, if you have 1700 chips, your opponent has 700 chips, and he makes a 300 chip bet on the river. If you lose this pot you will still be very much in the game but if your opponent loses he will be in serious trouble. And regardless of the outcome you can probably get a better read on him so I say go for it.

6. Finally, never risk all your chips calling your opponent's BIG all-in unless you are fairly certain you have him beat or you are already pot committed. If you are paying careful attention to his style then you are usually the favorite to win, dont throw the entire game away just because you "think" hes bluffing. You have to KNOW hes bluffing or its just not worth the risk of calling. If youre going to put a lot of chips in the middle, you are much better off being the one who does it first.

Ok hope this helps, if anyone has something to add or correct please feel free.

~scotty

[allLiving]

so i hear every now and then you FTR guys/gals get together and have tournys against eachother. I would for sure like to get involved some how!

Hop on in. Put some money on pokerstars and just save it for FTR tournies, and I'll join with ya... Haven't made a good enough effort to play with the ftr folk but I know I will give em a run for their money. (ripp)

[Yeldud]

This is the link that Scotty references - check out the articles on match play for fun and profit.

http://www.ultimatebet.com/learn-pok...ournament.html

[elanto]

I read the hellmuth article on that link, I just hate the guy he is not very humble, If he would just humble down a bit I could start to appreciate his play but right now its just impossible


-anto

[Yeldud]

I agree with your assesment on Hellmuth. I had a chance to meet him at Foxwoods and outside of the table, he is nothing like what you would expect. Humble or not, he is obviously doing something right.

Just to clarify to any reader that did not click on the link, Hellmuth did not write the heads up series, he wrote an article on playing AK.