Heads UP

I spend a lot of my time at the table in Heads Up matches. I don't like the risk/reward found in single matches where you can win half of them and still lose money due to the Poker room's take. So I play in 4-man shootouts. If you win just over one in four you'll make money, and I fell I should be able to win about half of the $5+.25 games I play. Maybe I'm overestimating myself. Regardless, for me, this is a sure money-maker in the long run.

There are a few things I like about playing HU. I like playing flops. When the blinds are low I'll complete the SB with any two cards and call min raises with any two cards. I hate min raises. My thinking is that I can outplay you on the flop. Usually, as the game proceeds, this feeling grows. That is the other thing I like about HU.

The psychological battle going on is fascinating, and it's usually easy to get a read HU. If I find out I'm up against a guy who's betting on almost every flop, I'll let him do it when I miss. He bets I fold. This goes on, and I lose a blind each time, but I'm learning. I save my bluffs for the bigger pots. Watch, learn, then pop them with a raise, or better yet, call the flop, let them fire again on the turn and then raise.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, I remain constantly aware of what their 'read' on me should be. My last match was beautiful. My opponent won several small pots. I won every big pot. I gave myself a passive image because he was so aggressive. Pre-flop, he would fold to almost all of my raises which was nice, because I didn't have to face his aggression in many big pots. But I did bluff at probably 3/4s of the raised pots I missed and he folded to each one. During one stretch I had raised 3 hands in a row, and he called the third when I was holding AKs. The flop had a Q and a T and he checked to me. I probably could have taken it down then, but I decided to see the next card. K on the turn. He bets, I call. Let him fire again on the river. He does and I min. raise for value. He calls and I take down a nice bet. This hand accomplished several things. It was the first showdown for a while in a raised pot and he saw that I had the goods. So, he wasn't going to get jiggy against my pre-flop raises. Plus it made me look passive with a made hand and a likely winner. Especially the small river raise. If he wanted to know how I played TPTK there it was, he thought.

I whittled him down to 15xBB when he raised the min. to 200. I was in the BB and considered re-raising but he hadn't raised much so I decided to see a flop. I call and the flop is Q-high. Perfect. I check it to him and het bets 200 into the 400 pot. Based on my read he was weak, but how was I going to get more out of this hand? I had to use the 'read' I gave him against him. I put him all-in, for around 1200. This was unlike any hand I'd played and the intent was to make him make a mistake, because he thought he knew something he didn't know. He called and showed 55, bingo. Two blanks later I take it down.

That's HU in a nutshell. Make the other player make the big mistake before you do. To do well you need to be constantly thinking. You can't play the cards half as much as you play the player. Against uber-aggressive types this is easy, but annoying. If they keep pushing from the SB and you call holding KQ when they have A2, you just made the mistake. Patience is key. In a match like this I think ytou sometimes have to bluff the bluffer when you aren't picking up hands. It's true that if you push with JTo from the blinds and he calls with QQ, you screwed up but that's better than letting yourself be whittled down. Another annoying thing about the uber-aggressives is that you can play them perfect, spring the trap perfect and they still suck out.

For example, this guy had pushed over 10 times when this occurred.

Seat 1: cardel (1550 in chips)
Seat 2: BurntOrnge (1450 in chips)
BurntOrnge: posts small blind 75
cardel: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BurntOrnge [Ac Kc]
BurntOrnge: calls 75
cardel: checks
*** FLOP ***
[2h 2s Ad]
cardel: bets 1400 and is all-in
BurntOrnge: calls 1300 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [2h 2s Ad] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [2h 2s Ad 9h] [5s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***cardel: shows [3h 4d] (a straight, Ace to Five)
BurntOrnge: shows [Ac Kc] (two pair, Aces and Deuces)
cardel collected 2900 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2900 Rake 0Board [2h 2s Ad 9h 5s]
Seat 1: cardel (big blind) showed [3h 4d] and won (2900) with a straight, Ace to Five
Seat 2: BurntOrnge (button) (small blind) showed [Ac Kc] and lost with two pair, Aces and Deuces


Doh, nothing you can do.

Last thing about HU. Against typical, passive types, be aggressive. Raise with any two cards that appeal to you. J9s on the button? That's a raising hand. Ax in any position is a raising hand. QJo is a raising hand.
It's all about keeping the pressure on, whittling away. You build the pot with pretty cards, then outplay your opponent on the flop. Simple.
Keep your bets and raises consistent for the most part. If you change the size of your bet, have a reason and know what effect it will have on your adversary. If you flop a pair, bet. Chances are, that they didn't.
Every showdown is going to affect your opposition's perception of you and ho you play. You need to know how, and adjust. Adjust constantly. If he picks up that you're betting with all of your pairs, try check-raising or even check-calling with top pair and then throwing in a bet or raise on the turn.

HU is as simple as figuring out your opponent and catching a few cards. Sometimes it's a cake-walk and sometimes it feels close to impossible. But if you can beat it regularly, it's a great way to make money.