Heads-Up

[mav_boy9001]

Only been playing poker for a few months and have gradually gotten into playing on poker.co.uk and a couple of others.

I seem to be great at getting through to the final 2 players in a tourney, but it always seems to go to pot there! I'd say I have been in the top 3 about 80% of the 10 player tourneys I have played (no limit holdem) but only about 10% of them have I won.

What is the best strategy when the blinds are astronomical and it's head-up?

Would appreciate some help!

Mike

[Terminator]

This is such a tough question to answer. There are so many things to take into consideration when playing heads-up. How you opponent is playing, how many chips you have in relation to them, what the blinds are in relation to the chip stacks etc.

The only advice I could offer would be that when you get to heads-up the number of hands you should consider "playable" increases dramaticaly. Virtualy any hand becomes playable. You can rasie with just about anything, you can bet a flop, turn, or river with anything too, if you think your opponent doesn't have much of a hand then bet.

I try to play the player rather than the cards, (this is easier live than online I think). And I always think of it like this, "I don't have a hand, but I think my nothing is better than your nothing, so I'm betting". I find it helps to keep this in my head because a lot of the time I bet with nothing, you can't rely on the cards when you are paying for every single hand.

You can't afford to be too tight unless you have a good chip lead. If you pick up a good hand raise big, you don't want a loose call to hit the flop and take your chips, always try to put them in a position that forces them to think "do I really want to play this hand".

Heads up you need to be a lot more aggressive. I hope some of this is helpfull to you, it's just my opinions though, and it might not suit your style of play. I always think it's good to get advice and tips, but always play the game the way your comfortable, don't play differently if your not comfortable with it.

[mav_boy9001]

Thanks, I reckon part of the problem is that generally in heads up if I have a relatively weak hand and I'm on the small blind then I will fold, which is probably stupid because when the blinds are high you can't rely on getting decent hands every time.

Generally if I am short stacked, I will wait for decent hole cards and go all in, which usually works a couple of times but then i get called and my opponent has pockets

If I am ahead, then I will play very aggressively, although this tends to backfire too (maybe I'm just unlucky with my hands in heads up). Once I had over 10,000 chips and my opponent had only 200 and I lost somehow by calling a bunch of all ins and being stung. I guess experience will make me a better player so I'll stick to relatively small stakes for the time being until i get a reliable method of play going.

Anyone else with any advice?

[Terminator]

It's never stupid to fold a weak hand, you obviously have to be a little more carefull when short stacked. It is good to be able to take pots down when you are the SB though. I've played against the "all-in" tactic heads up a few times, and it a case of the larger stack just waiting until they get a hand they can call with, and then it's curtains. It's trying to play the game somewhere between the "folding" and the "all-in". If you can do it, then you will win more often than not.