Heads Up

[murphyz]

Any tips for when you get down to the final two people in a tournament or Sit & go?

My play at this stage isn't the best, and I often see myself with twice the amount of chips but then it gets whittled down at the heads up stage, usually by the person with lower chips raising pre-flop and then going all-in. If I have a hand that's a good thing, but if I don't - I end up losing the blinds and initial raise and this adds up very quickly.

cheers

murphyz

[7-2offsuit]

I will qualify what I'm about to say by pointing out that I'm certainly not 'all that' when it comes to HU play - having examined my figures my strike rate's only a shade over 60% overall - but I will put in my two penn'orth.

I guess your HU strategy would really depend on how the other opponent plays (i.e. whether he is is a LAG, tight passive player or whatever) and be adapted to counter whatever strategy HE might be adopting at the time. HU you're playing the opponent more than you're playing the cards. The main thing in HU play is to establish dominance so that you can take the play away from your opponent and maintain the more aggressive position at the table. Look for any changes in your opponent's strategy and adjust YOUR strategy accordingly. For this reason I will always try and play several hands early on to get a feel for how my opponent likes to play and then try and make it hard for him to play that way.

Aggression is, of course, always good, and it's generally the more aggressive player who will walk away with it in HU play, but if you don't mix up your plays your opponent will probably just tighten up and wait for a big hand to counter you and you may also not get value from your big hands. If you feel your opponent is getting a feel for the way you play, change gears to throw him off. Keep him on his toes.

Some basic (fairly obvious) strategies:

- Play a LOT more hands than you would normally play.
- Raise (and re-raise) pre-flop, especially if your opponent tries to limp
- If your opponent checks the flop, bet into him.
- If he raises and you think he's actually capable of a check-raise bluff, re-raise bluff!
- If you are first to act, lead out on a lot of flops regardless or not whether they have hit you or not, especially if you were the PF aggressor. Either that or check-raise the flop. Be wary of calls from someone playing a tight passive game, and if they raise, run for cover.
- Defend your BB aggressively if your hand has value.
- Don't play the Beer Hand.

The underlying theme is of course...aggression

Erm. That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure that's contributed nothing, but at least it wasted a few minutes of tedium at the office.

If you and I ever get Heads-up (I realise this is unlikely) I will of course be just limping in at every opportunity and check-calling my nuts all the way to the River.

[SlaineMcRoth]

Uhmmm, what he said :P

[murphyz]

Thank ye.

It looks like I'll just have to get into more HU situations and get some practice in. I notice the game seems to speed up tremendously when at this stage too, so I think I will need to try and take my time more in calling/folding/raising and such to keep the game at my speed and not theirs.

I'll make a note to raise your BB at every opportunity.

murphyz

[Oinkment]

It depends what position you are in.

If your short-stack then Play agressive and try and win as many pots till you are chip leader or bust - Tight play will not win the day here try not to get to less than 10X the big blind if possible if you do then its all in pre flop with any Pair, king or ace no matter what the other card is.

If/Once Big Stack then play a little more conservativly - Call any pair, A5 and above and K7 and above - fold everything else to give the shorter stack a feeling of confidence which you can quicky whip away with a real hand when he eventaully makes his big mistake.

Doesnt always work buts a reasonably good strategy I think

[gg003a9534]

A good idea is to play some shorthanded SnG's. Gives good practise for getting to and then beating people heads-up. Live play is alot different from online play. Aggression and good reading of opponents are necessary where online one needs to play slightly tighter. But aggression is good as per usual.

[r1mme]

i think bluffing is a big part of the heads up