Heads Up Thoughts

I've been playing a lot of heads up on Full Tilt lately -- just the $5 version, no-limit hold 'em -- but a few things that have been working for me might work at bigger limits.

1. Raise a lot. This is pretty obvious, but any pair, two high cards, ace, or suited connector is usually worth a raise preflop, or a call of an opponent's standard preflop raise. I played a recent match against a very passive player in which in 50 hands, he raised preflop maybe twice. It's possible his cards were horrible, but it's more likely he was playing way too tight.

2. Play it like pot-limit. Even though it's no-limit, my preflop raises are pot-sized (3X) and my post-flop bets are pot-sized. I'll rarely go higher. This bet size seems to be big enough to run over the passive-tight players, yet small enough to protect your stack in case someone plays back at you and you only have, for example, overcards. Which leads to...

3. Be willing to get away from hands. Aggression is essential in heads up, but you still need to fold your button now and then (like when you've run over someone six hands in a row and you have absolute rags) to maintain the image that, when you do play, you have a real hand. And sometimes it's not a good idea to fire that second ot third "shell." An example: I have KQ suited on the button, raise pot, and get called. Flop is 77J rainbow. Opponent checks, I bet pot, he calls. Turn is a 2. He checks again. It depends on the player, but I might just check behind here and be done with the hand. He's called a preflop raise, which means he could have a bare ace, which beats me (even tight players know the value of an ace heads up), a jack, or a small pair (if so he's super-tight; he should have re-raised). His play smells sneaky-tight: check-calling when there is no flush or staight draw working. Let's say I check behind, the river is an ace, and he bets. I can easily fold. If he checks the river I've probably won the hand. The point is: There's another hand coming up in 2 seconds. You don't have to keep pushing one that is only overcards. Now, if you put the ace in my hand in this situation, I'll probably fire out again if he checks the turn, but I'll fold to a raise. Even the aggressor needs to slow down now and then.

4. Don't slowplay big hands preflop. I used to do this a lot, but if you're raising and betting pot all the time and you put in a minimum bet or raise, it looks fishy. (Assuming the opponent is paying attention -- not always the case.) Why let someone get a cheap look at a flop, turn and river when you're holding KK? I like to get value for my big hands. I see a lot of "sneaky" slow-playing with AA, KK and QQ in heads up, but I think a straightforward 3X followed by pot-sized bets works better.

5. Fold, call, raise ratio. Against passive players, and they seem to proliferate on Full Tilt in heads up, I'm guessing a good ratio is to raise 50 percent, call 35 percent, and fold 15 percent, but I'm open to having my mind changed. Certainly if you're folding anywhere near half your hands you're playing too tight.

Comments

[Chris]

Great stuff, I would just like to add one thing. I don't like playing a big pot out of position. I will raise with any two cards on the button, but if I am in the big blind I am happy to take down the pot with a preflop raise with something like King-Jack or Ace-Eight.

[Gabriel]

Great info Mike but I'm not sure I agree with folding on the button heads-up. Just to call you're getting 3-1 on your money and there's no two unpaired cards you'll be a 3-1 dog against. Anyone who knows the math of poker will realize you can't fold on the button and if you do you're either a)playing scared because you don't want to call/raise with a weak hand or b)trying to keep a solid aggressive image but since they know that's what you're doing it doesn't really work.I personally like to raise about 90% of the time when I'm in the small blind just because over a long enough period of time the cards will break even and I figure if the pots we're playing when I'm in position are bigger than the one's I'm playing out of position then I'll have an advantage.You are right about people playing really weak heads-up. I never really understood it because a lot of times they're the same guy that called and pushed with crap the whole sit-n-go and when he gets heads up he shuts down. Unless I'm around a 4-1 chip deficit or worse I never feel too far behind heads up against the typical players at the lower limits that I play.