Play Heads Up at Texas Hold’em Poker
Once you start playing heads-up, the game of Hold’em changes. In limit Hold’em, you can make some serious mistakes – sometimes it works in your favor if you look too loose – but you can’t afford to make too many small mistakes. Constant small errors in your opponent’s reading are much more likely to end the tournament than a wrong size bet.
When playing heads-up, the most important factor is to understand your opponent’s style. Since you played against them at least the time you spent together at the final table, you should have a good read on your skill, image and level of play. If they are more skilled than you, you can nullify their advantage by forcing big pots to close the game as soon as possible. If you are a superior player, take your time playing smaller pots. Your skill level must win in the end.
Heads-up basically comes down to a psychological war of aggression. You must raise aggressively with any hand you play and Judi Online, more often than not, go to the river if you have any part of the board, trying to make all possible extra bets when you believe you are ahead.
To win the tournament at once, you must know how to adjust your game. When there are only two players, there is no one left to hide, as you are calling blinds in all hands. If you wait for great starting hands, your stock will end up being lost. It often comes down to AC poker (any card, not Atlantic City). Chances are that you will see the flop with almost any hand. In the final stages of some tournaments, the blinds will be equal to the size of the chip stacks. The exceptions to seeing the flop are a considerable raise from your opponent or an extremely bad starting hand. Sometimes, it all comes down to going all-in on all hands and waiting for your cards to win. This style of play made Doyle Brunson a WSOP Main Event winner with 10-2 off suit.
The other element that defines heads-up play is position, which is just as important as the break in the pool. Heads-up limit is slightly different from heads-up no-limit, as position plays a minor, though still important, role in no-limit. The button traditionally places the small blind, therefore, acting first before the flop and second after the flop. This player has the opportunity to take the lead in a pre-flop pot and to put pressure on the post-flop big blind.
To control the heads-up of the game, you want to do most of your attack when you’re on the button and most of your defensive poker when you’re out of it. The comparative size of the blinds in relation to your chip stack plays an important role in your decisions. With huge blinds, you have a greater chance of risking your entire stack in any position. Remember, the main advantage of the button is that there are three rounds of betting after the flop, giving you the opportunity to throw chips at your opponent three times, essentially putting most of your stack in play, even in a game with limit.
Although this strategy is the first step towards heads-up success, a lot depends on your opponent. If you follow the formula of constantly attacking from the button and defending yourself from it, you should quickly discover how your opponent’s game contrasts with yours. If you find them using the same strategy, they are likely to end up in a long battle of attrition. In that case, without any of you folding, the blinds end up becoming so big that winning or losing the tournament comes down to a few big pots.