Heads Up No Limit Cash Strategy Part 2.

Strategy Introduction to Heads Up Cash





Heads up cash no limit hold’em is a very popular form of poker. The blind structures vary from a 25 cent small blind and 50 cent big blind minimum up to a $200 small blind and $400 big blind and everything in between.

Buying In: Most strategy about heads up no limit hold ‘em in a heads up format revolves around buying in for 100BBs (50 dollars at a .25/.50c table).

Buying in for the maximum amount will give you the ability to win the maximum amount at all times assuming you will always have more money than your opponent.

If you have less money than your opponent, you are limiting the money you can win off of your opponent when you hit a big hand.



Playing the button: Half of your hands that you play heads up will be on the button, so knowing when to raise the button and when not to at heads up cash will determine if you are a winning or losing player.


If you are playing a weaker player (who is possibly LP) raising the button will make you more money than if they call a tighter range pre-flop.


If you are playing a weaker player who is very tight out of position from the big blind you will steal his blind often and open very frequently. If you are raising most of your buttons and winning either preflop or on the flop, keep raising the button with a very wide range until you notice your opponent adjusting by either re-raising you preflop or check raising more flops.

If and when that happens you can readjust by either tightening your button raising, calling a wider variety of hands to his re-raises, and by 4betting a wider range than just your value hands (re-raising your opponents re-raise on the button).


Playing the Big Blind: Most opponents in a heads up cash match will either minraise or 3x raise the button. Playing out of position against an aggressive player can be very difficult so it’s important not to call hands that are very marginal like T7 off suit, 85 off suit against a 3x raise.

Playing a tighter flat calling range from the big blind against a 3x is necessary where you should be calling a much wider range when they only min raise the button.


Sometimes versus an opponent who opens the button infrequently we should even be folding J8 offsuit and K9 off suit type hands to a 3x raise as well depending on how often they are opening and what we think their range consists of.


Most of your opponents will raise most of their buttons and there are many plays you will want to have available against them in order to combat this style profitably.

The first one will be to re-raise them preflop in order to get them to fold their wide range of hands on the button that is typically just stealing.

If and when you are called you will typically bet the flop because your hand strength (based on the preflop action) has a greater variety of stronger hands than they can have mostly due to the fact that you weren’t re-raised by them before the flop. Simply put, we have more very strong hands, therefore we should apply a lot of pressure postflop.

Comments

  • four bet bluffing as a reaction to an increased three bet ratio from your opponent seems like a particularly foolish plan to me, but I did enjoy your article.
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