Heads up play - I neet to get better
What are some good methods for getting to be a better Heads up player?
As I play mostly tourneys - I have been making it down to Heads up (HU) more and more than ever before in my life.
I am starting to realize that I am a horrible HU player - I get nervous, I make some bad moves etc...
the thing is, when you are down to HU you are dealing with the real $$$ and many times the payouts are way better for 1st than 2nd
and I think my HU needs a lot of work, thing is, I don't know how to get better at it - are there any books/ web sites/ ??? that can help
me to get better - I almost feel like HU is not even the same game, and I feel uncomfortable with it.
Ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
As I play mostly tourneys - I have been making it down to Heads up (HU) more and more than ever before in my life.
I am starting to realize that I am a horrible HU player - I get nervous, I make some bad moves etc...
the thing is, when you are down to HU you are dealing with the real $$$ and many times the payouts are way better for 1st than 2nd
and I think my HU needs a lot of work, thing is, I don't know how to get better at it - are there any books/ web sites/ ??? that can help
me to get better - I almost feel like HU is not even the same game, and I feel uncomfortable with it.
Ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
Comments
Wader
Tough question. Not a lot written in any great length.
Nothing replaces experience. Play some heads up sngs.
Try to avoid being predictable but at the same time get a pattern on your opponent.
Don't lay down every time the guy raises. Fight back. Most will call an all-in only with a very good hand.
If he is a significantly better player than you, don't be afraid to take a coin toss - put all your money in pre-flop and see if he wants to dance. Most guys won't risk it without a very good hand. Unless you are all-in every hand.
Any ace is good. Any pocket pair is good. High cards are good. I will slowplay the odd monster hoping to get him to commit. Any pair on the flop is generally good.
Chasing draws can be expensive. Suited or connected hands are only worth playing ultra cheap.
Be the raiser not the caller. Unless you are slowplaying.
It all depends.
Above all else, be lucky.
In the last two weeks I am 10 - 3. I wait the first few hands to get a good read on the player and can figure out what makes them fold. I used to get bogged down and think that it was all about going all-in all the time. Don't fall into that trap.
Its just such a different beast - you know you play for hours on end, being patient, stabbing at a pot when needed, folding and folding. And then you get heads up
and it can go so right, or so wrong very very fast.
I have not tried playing HU games online, but I guess that is my next best step.
Do you guys know of any "awesome" HU players online that I can keep my eye on (name the site as well please) - I mean you can watch HU on WPT or some crap tv show but
that is selective hands, so Id like to watch online and see every hand. Ill try that.
So there are no websites or books focused on HU ? I have not seen any.
i think this is the wrong message to send, if you raise, get reraised, then reraise again and get pushed in on, you will probably want to lay down your 44 or A3.
since it's a off week for the leaderboard we could do this...
Gide
thats a cool idea. since i have never looked....do most online poker sites offer HU tourneys - I dont mean just 1 on 1 and you win and its game over, but like with 50 ppl
and you randomly play a single person HU etc etc....and if you won em all you'd be the champ? is that out there ? what site ?
say we are 8, it's four match to start, the 4 winner advance to the second round, then the 2 winners have a last match.
It work like a tennis tournement. So if we are between 9 and 15 some players will have a bye in the fisrt round. I still remember when we were 9 and I had the chance of losing the first match
Gide
Yes, I can set one up for Tuesday (June 28).
ScottyZ
I don't think there is a difference between the www.pokerstars.* sites. But if there is, we (currently) play our forum tourneys on www.pokerstars.com
I'm just guessing, but I think the .net domain was created primarily for US television advertising purposes. "This is not a gambling website" my arse.
ScottyZ
Really !
Oh crap - that is sweet news. Thanks for the tip.
My line of thinking is, heads up, the majority of hands fail to improve much. In other words, a lot of pots are won on high card or a pocket pair. (I'm saying 'a lot' but obviously not all. The ones where you do improve are the ones where you can really win big.)
I guess I'm looking at this more from an all-in pre-flop perspective for a guy without much experience. If the opponent is destroying you, try going all-in with this type of hand. Either he folds or you hold up. You will take down the pot more than 50% of the time. If you do it too often, he'll wait until he has a good hand and put you out so beware.
I find this play to be too risky. As they say, it can only fail once. I see my opponents do this a lot and I fold. As you said, I wait for the strong hand and I call and usually take them out. Sure they are stealing minor pots (usually just blinds) with weak hands, but it gives me the advantage of trapping them.
Case in point, a STT went Heads Up. I am at about 1700 chips (really tough loss a few hands earlier) to his 13300. He went all in on me ever hand pre-flop. I waited (the blinds were 150/300) and nailed him 3 hands later with KJ to his 83 or something. I double up and he continues (not every hand but most). Again, I get QQ and just call the blind (any raise and he would have been out). He goes all in and I double up again. This continued until I won.
It is very dangerous to go all in when the blinds are so low. It is not worth it. Trapping works best for me. If the trap fails it may hurt you but not cripple you or send you home.
Yes. And this is the case I was posting about, and the case I need to get better at. When blinds are just stupidly high.
I'm not advocating the all-in strategy on every hand. Your strategy against this worked well since you had enough chips to wait for a good hand. But really, you didn't have that many chips and you couldn't have gone too many more hands without pushing your chips in no matter what.
If the money is still deep, ask yourself "What is THIS opponent's weakness?" If he calls too much then acquire the best hand cheaply and get him to pay it off. If he is too aggressive then come over the top of him with a wide range of hands. If he is an all-in monkey then plug your nose and call.
They key question is "What is it that THIS player does wrong? And, what must I do to take advantage of that?"