HOW TO READ YOUR OPPONENT

A useful place to start is by reading this article:

http://www.heads-up-poker.org/read-your-opponent.htm

I would advise reading the whole site tbh, but take it with a pinch of salt...

So to summarize, the only way to get a real read of your opponent is to analyise his betting patterns.

  • Figure out there Pre Flop Criterian - and vary your own
  • Try and narrow down there starting hands
  • Look at how the position bet
  • Analayse how the bet post flop - When they hit...and when they don't

It may cost some chips early on to call or re-raise to try and figure out how your Opponent plays, but it is usually well worth it.

Some sites such as the one above talk of value betting as trying to pump the pot when you know you are ahead, or in effect trying to draw some extra chips out of your oppo by putting out a tempting bet. I would say it is a little more subtle than this, as you need to figure out how good your opponent is before you know the best way to trap him or extract value.

TOP PAIR BLUES

TOP PAIR BLUES

This is pretty self explanitory yet you would be surprised how many heads up players i know are happy to put their life on the line with top pair.

If you have say Q 10 and the flop is 3 7 10, then of course raise, but if you then get reraised or your opponent goes all in, then depending on your relative stack sizes you should think long and hard before calling.

Yes HU top pair is strong, no doubt about it, but there are many stronger hands out there. He could have hit two pair, or could have pocket Jacks etc... just too many outs to put your tournament on the line.

Be patient, fold top pair if you are in any doubt... and you mostly should be in doubt!!

THE TRAP

THE TRAP

The good old bear trap. Traps are fundamental to NL HU Hold'em.

The best and most effective trap is not to keep showing how great you are at bluffing in the hope that they end up calling you when you have a monster. The real skill is getting an opponent to overcommit to a pot that you own and then have them bet into you to try and push you off it, or just have so much pot committment that they feel they have no option but to call.

Let me tell you this, if you are pretty sure you are behind and even if you would only have a couple hundered left if you fold, always fold!!!

You see you want them to think - hell i may as well call this now, i have already committed most of my chips... so F*** it i am all in

But NEVER EVER do this, even if you have a chip and a chair left you are still in with a shout. you only need to double your stack 2 or 3 times and you are back in it.
NEVER CALL AN ALL-IN



This is an old poker addage- You should be the one GOING all in rather than CALLING the All-IN



This holds true for HU, although it depends on stack size and the size of the blinds relative to your and your opponents stacks.



At the start of the match - if you are both similar stacks, never call an ALL-IN unless you are playing an absolute muppet, who is going all in consistantly (In which case wait for an A and call him



MID Match - if you have lets say twice the number of chips, then is it sometimes worth calling the all-in, but you want to be sure you have at least 50% chance of taking him out of the game. As in you are in a flush or straight draw, or have at least 12 outs.



When the blinds start getting 100-200 calling an all-in becomes a slighlty better move if your opponent has less than half your chips. He will be forced to make a play and you may decide to call if you think you have at least one overcard.

There are clearly some hands where you ALWAYS call an ALL-IN, such as AA and KK, however I would be very wary of calling with QQ unless you have at least twice as many chips. Pocket QQ or less are too open to two overcards.

The odds are as follows:

If your opponent has two overcards to your pocket pair then he wins about 45% of the time, which granted still gives you and edge, but it is marginal. You really want to risk all of your chips when you have at least 70% chance of coming out on top.

That is why by all means go all-in with pocket pair QQ, but call an all-in at your peril.







HOW TO WIN - HEADS UP POKER

So who makes the most money consistantly at POKER ONLINE?

Don't take my word- Go to one of the many sites that show profit for online players and you will see the same thing.

For example http://www.sharkscope.com/

Go to leaderboard- and look at who is winning- and by how much. You can usually sort by game.

You will see that if you search by Hold'em Heads Up- the result will look remarkably similar to that of the overall leaderboard. In other words the
GOOD HEADS UP PLAYERS ARE THE BIG WINNERS


The next question i hear you ask, is (or should be) so how do i become a good heads-up player?

And the answer to that is the reason for this blog:

AGGRESSION
The main point here is that you need to RAISE PRE-FLOP any good starting hands
The theory behind this is like any other poker strategy is based on statistics. If pre flop you pump money into the pot with hands that you are more likely to win with, then over time you win on more valuable pots.


You then need to CONTINUATION BET if you have position - In other words if your opponent checks you should raise, and represent having a strong hand.
You may get check raised occasionally, and then you put it down. But long term you win, and this is really the key.


You may well ask - what is a good hand? And this is really where HU varys significantly from normal ring games.


Any A or K with even a low kicker is a "good hand"


If you get reraised pre-flop - take a view or fold


Does you opponent reraise often, how strong is your kicker, is it suited...etc


You will play significantly more hands than regular ring games, and this is normal. If you fold, fold fold until you get AK then raise, your opponent will fold and you will not get paid. Or worse he has pocket pair and then you are behind anyhow.


So AGGRESSION is key. Your aim is to pyscologically grind down your opponent and get a chip lead.