Heads Up - how to play against an aggressive player?

Ardent

Hi all

I'm a novice poker player looking for advice. Sorry for the long-ish post:

Was at a game of poker last night in my mate's house. I did quite well despite getting crappy cards all night - tried to play tight, disciplined and clever poker, only taking acceptable risks and folding when the odds were not in my favour, raising the blinds whenever I got a decent deal, suckering the guys into big pots when I was confident I had a winner, bluffing when I knew the other guys didn't have much etc - and was in the comfortable position of chip leader with three of us left.

The blinds kept going up every ten minutes to the point where they were now getting fairly expensive. One of the guys foolishly went all-in (with nothing) against another and suddenly I found myself in a heads up situation with the last guy in the world I wanted to be left to face. He had maybe 3/5 of the chips.

He's a very aggressive player and made the flops expensive to see every time. I didn't pay too often to see them because at this stage I was getting some of the worst cards imaginable - 72o, 36o etc - and I couldn't even bring myself to try and bluff with the muck I was getting. The only decent hand I got was Qs9s and he beat me on that when I moved with it. To cut a long story short, my clips slowly but eventually disappeared.

I realise today that tight, disciplined poker doesn't work well in a heads-up situation against an aggressive player, your chips will go if you don't get decent cards. Does anyone have any advice on how I should have played this guy so I know for future? I have another game Friday night and he'll be there, the bastid.

Thanks,
Ardent

Fatboydim

When your heads up you have to play like a nutter - simple as
A raise will usually mean weak cards and a limp strong cards - But a good heads up player will mix it up and everything goes out the window. When you are heads up anything is possible. On a live S&G my opposite player had a 9/1 chip advantage over me. Even took photographs shaking hands over the money - and turned down my offer to split the pot :eek: Ofcourse I won.
It's all about getting at least a three to one chip advantage over the opposite player once you have this advantage you try to hold on to it until you get a decent hand and then hope to get an all in. In other words you're getting a free go at trying to knock the player out, so that if they double up you're only ever back to even chips again. - But if you are starting out with less chips than your opponent from the off you will have to be aggresive and put the decision making back on to him. Don't be afraid to raise first. He may have been getting good cards all night but you've only got to double up a few times to be in front. Hope some of that helps.

ionapaul

The fact that you were getting the worst cards imaginable really sealed the deal for you - you simply could not afford to bluff or semi-bluff in case you were called or were pot committed with those cards. Harrington suggests you come OTT of super aggressive players once you have any sort of cards at all, if he is making every flop expensive to see, on any given hand his hole cards cannot be much better than average, correct? I am not sure what advice others will give, but obviously with such an aggressive player you need to wait until you have a decent hand (doesn't have to be premium, maybe KQos for example) and make him pay. Call his raises till the river and go OTT if you have any of the board?

bohsman

With the blinds going up quickly try to get a flop with any half decent cards suited connectors etc and if you hit any of it go all inon the flop/ check raise all in on the flop depending on the strength of the hand

Culchie

Agree with all af the above.

There's also the 'Rock, Scissors, Paper' approach.

Sometimes fighting fire doesn't work, and you let them dig their own grave ... depends on the cards you are getting.

Imposter

ionapaul wrote:

The fact that you were getting the worst cards imaginable really sealed the deal for you - you simply could not afford to bluff or semi-bluff in case you were called or were pot committed with those cards. Harrington suggests you come OTT of super aggressive players once you have any sort of cards at all, if he is making every flop expensive to see, on any given hand his hole cards cannot be much better than average, correct? I am not sure what advice others will give, but obviously with such an aggressive player you need to wait until you have a decent hand (doesn't have to be premium, maybe KQos for example) and make him pay. Call his raises till the river and go OTT if you have any of the board?

That hand will only get you knocked out. Especially when he's holding Ax, right Lenny?

A shortstack is not easy to play and against a reasonably good player and it requires a bit of luck. A couple of hands need to go well together for you to have a chance. That or an all-in that is successful to bring you back near even.

Lafortezza

Try to identify betting patterns in your opponent, does he overbet with his good hands, does he have a standard preflop bet that always folds when you reraise (indicating a preflop bluff).
If you're playing live then have a good look at him and see if you think he's confident or whatever.

corblimey

Surely if you've been playing tight all night, going OTT on heads-up should scare your opponent off most pots. If he's been paying attention, he'll know that you're mostly playing the odds, instead of taking mad risks like he is. I have no advice, just that observation.

I'll get me coat.

Ardent

I don't feel so bad after reading a few of your replies. I'll just chalk it down it down to a night where I didn't get any decent cards, particularly when it mattered most.

If I could have done something different, it would have been to bluff at some point, cards or no cards, soon after it became a 1 v 1 situation. Just make a move anyway, try to scare him off a pot. I was waiting for a semi-decent hand in order to make a move and before I knew it, my chips were were dwindling fast and I was pretty much a gonner.

I agree with the first reply that you need to change your tactics and go a little crazy but it helps if you have at least a couple of cards suited or a pair or ideally a high card so have a chance if you're called. I didn't get any of those save for the queen one time.

NickyOD

Without giving too much away. Here are some points

-Change gears every 6-10 hands.
-Recognise betting and timing patterns in your oponent and try to hide your own.
-Take advantage of the button and recognise the disadvantage of being out of position.
-Recognise the stength of a hand in relation to the blinds. When the blinds are high HU any Ace is a pretty good hand.
-Keep an eye on when the blinds are going up. It can be important in deciding whether or not you need to start playing more or less aggressiive.
-Raising is always better than calling. You want to be the one in control of the pot.
-Be Aggressive!!!

Ardent

corblimey wrote:

Surely if you've been playing tight all night, going OTT on heads-up should scare your opponent off most pots. If he's been paying attention, he'll know that you're mostly playing the odds, instead of taking mad risks like he is. I have no advice, just that observation.

I'll get me coat.

You're right. Normal thinking is if I had started making moves he might have backed down based on my previous plays. Thing is, not only is he an aggressive player but also reckless. He was caught a few times going in to the bitter end with absolutely nothing trying to scare everyone else off the pot.