head-up tutoring.

sunzz

Anyway I was cracking up with poker took a while off and decided to just play live for a while, time off seems to have done me the world of good and im back playing better than ever. Last three tournaments I've pld I I've finished 2nd and have taken home a nice little earner this week.

Now this is for all you people who are used to playing shorthanded and heads up, I consider myself a decent cash player but I feel my strength lies within MTT'S. One thing I can't seem to do is crack heads-up whatsoever, Im looking for any sound advice.

ditpoker

if you aren't confident in your heads up play a good rule is 'all-in or fold'. Your opponent cant outplay you if all your chips are in the middle... any ace (and maybe king) or any pair and push.

i like to lead the action heads up, and will raise most hands. flopping a pair heads up is very strong in my opinion and am happy to lead with draws too. i used to struggle alot heads up but i was always thinking "what can i beat" but now i kinda of think what do i have to bet to make my opponent fold or when i do hit how do i get max value...

if your opponent is very tight, raise raise raise, if he gets involved FOLD.
if your opponent is very loose, then pick your spots, wait for a premium hand,

breadmonkey

if you aren't confident in your heads up play a good rule is 'all-in or fold'. Your opponent cant outplay you if all your chips are in the middle... any ace (and maybe king) or any pair and push

I've always found this the easiest style to beat. All you have to do is bide your time and nail them!

mewso

I think headsup play is all about the stack sizes. I don't like general advice like raising with any Ace etc. I change my play depending on my stack size in relation to my opponents. If low then I play ultra agressive which is obvious enough. If I have a good lead then I tighten up and wait for a hand to bust him with. In general my attitude is you can have the small pots but when I win a hand it will more than likely be a big pot.

ocallagh

heads up play takes a lot of practice. its a totally different game. You should spend a few days online playing some heads up STTs. This can really help.

If they're tight just raise everything.. literally everything. 92o on an AKJ board should be raised!! Keep hammering away at them with small bets... They'll eventually cave in and start playing back making big overbets. When this happens you can change gears and wait for a good hand.. I find as soon as I've changed gears and tightened up.. if I can just find one more bluff I'll show it to keep them guessing. This type of player is quite common and it is quite easy to beat them.

If they're loose or seem to know what they are up to, you'll have to play position aggresively. Pay attention to how often they bet out on the flop. This is very important. If they bet 1 in 5 flops then they're betting second pair and up (this would be quite tight). If they bet 1 in 3 flops they're betting any pair/draw and you can play back at them with top pair, second pair etc... If they're betting most flops then you can play back at them with anything.

MrPillowTalk

ocallagh wrote:

heads up play takes a lot of practice. its a totally different game. You should spend a few days online playing some heads up STTs. This can really help.

If they're tight just raise everything.. literally everything. 92o on an AKJ board should be raised!! Keep hammering away at them with small bets... They'll eventually cave in and start playing back making big overbets. When this happens you can change gears and wait for a good hand.. I find as soon as I've changed gears and tightened up.. if I can just find one more bluff I'll show it to keep them guessing. This type of player is quite common and it is quite easy to beat them.

If they're loose or seem to know what they are up to, you'll have to play position aggresively. Pay attention to how often they bet out on the flop. This is very important. If they bet 1 in 5 flops then they're betting second pair and up (this would be quite tight). If they bet 1 in 3 flops they're betting any pair/draw and you can play back at them with top pair, second pair etc... If they're betting most flops then you can play back at them with anything.

This is sound advice from ocallagh

HU is all about feel, go with your reads.

Gholimoli

you cant have one set style for HU play to be honest.also when you get to a HU stage in an MTT much is dependent on the stack sizes.
also you need to understand how hand strenght changes when HU.apart from all of this alot of HU comes down to luck simply because when u get to HU stacks are not deep enough to allow much play and the game will be over on one or 2 big confrontations.
HU STT on the other hand is different and it does allow you to play poker.
the fact that stacks are the same size nd both deep means you will have time to learn and adjust to the other person.
ocalagh's post is very good so there alot to get from that.

Norwich Fan Rob

its a completely and totally different skill.
it also depends a lot of blinds sizes, often heads up in an mtt blinds are big as its limited what u can do, but any hand is playable, and like was said above, a lot of it is to do with feel.

Play some heads up tourneys, stars is best, whatever stakes u like and great practice, lovely long structures and plenty of time to out play someone.

I started these a few days ago on stars to practice for the boards things, and have made about $4k , there great fun and quick also.

FastMachine

Good post ocallagh. I'm the guy you're talking about in the second paragraph - I've done the playing back with big overbets and running into a big hand on a few occasions. Don't play hu anymore, never liked it and never will. Great advice there though.

sunzz

thanks for all the sound advice guys, been playing head up alot on stars and liking it, feel its helped my live game also.