Putting Down the Hammer

With all of the betting you’ve been doing, you’ll often have a slight chip lead at this point of the match. Other times, your stack will be slightly smaller than your opponents. Either way, you’re now in a position to start taking advantage of the leaks you’ve discovered in your opponents game.

Your constant betting will make you appear aggressive in the mind of your opponent. It’s likely he’s called you a donkey in the chat area once or twice at this point. Perfect – you’ve got him right where you want him! At this point you’ve figured out his game, and set him up at the same time. Since you haven’t been playing what appears to be a smart game, when you do start to make them it’ll catch your opponent off guard. He’ll give credit to your good luck instead of your skills. He won’t believe your raises anymore, which means you’ll get more action when you do make a hand. Your opponent is also likely to start getting fed up with all of your betting, making him susceptible to making a big mistake at the wrong time.

Playing Against a Weak/Passive Player

Now that you’ve been playing for a while, the blinds are worth stealing. A weak/passive player will let you steal blind after blind, so continue to do so at the rate he told you is enough to get him to fold. If he told you that he’ll call with weak hands for double the big blind, but fold for three times the big blind, make it 3 times the big blind over and over again. By doing this every hand, your opponent will never be able to put you on a hand, yet when he finally calls, you’ll know he holds a hand with some sort of strength. After folding that hand, go right back to what you were doing and keep the pressure on. Eventually you will grind out a significant lead, and passive opponents like him rarely have the courage to change up their game. When they finally come into a pot, thank them for making their hand strength so obvious. Folding to their very rare raises may actually cause you to laugh, noticing how easy it is to read this guy. Do not pay this guy off when he comes in for a big raise. Fold that hand and get back to grinding him down on the next one.

If you are in first position post-flop, always come in for a continuation bet about 2/3rds the size of the pot. Passive players that miss the flop will almost always fold in these spots. It’s your job to give him the chance to fold. If he flat calls, now you have to decide if he’s slow playing a monster, is holding some sort of made hand, or is on a draw. This is when you go back to the information you learned about him in the early stages of the game. Most passive players will flat call here with medium strength hands and draws, and possibly with their monsters (slow-playing). If your opponent hasn’t shown a propensity to slow play, you can continue to move through the hand with the assumption that he holds a medium strength hand or a draw. If the turn doesn’t seem to make a draw or improve their hand, throw out another bet. If he has shown that he likes to slow play his big hands, you should slow down if he calls your flop bet. Don’t give him another chip unless your hand has a solid chance of beating him. If he checks behind you, he’s more likely on a draw or a weak hand. With that said, knowing that you’re ultra-aggressive, it’s always possible that he could be giving you more rope to hang yourself with on the river. Either way, if the river card doesn’t make an obvious draw (like a flush or open-ended straight) you have to come out firing. Make your bet big enough to get him to fold his weak hand or missed draw, but not enough to hurt you if he holds a stronger hand and calls you. Regardless of what happens, get right back on track with your strategy of grinding him away on the very next hand.

When your opponent checks the flop in first position, bet at him and try to get him to fold. The strategy against passive players is to bet them into oblivion with smallish sized bets. Determine what amount it takes to get him to fold, then use that against him as often as you can. When he wakes up with a sign of strength, back off and let him have his little pots. When you hold a monster, do the same things you always do and mask your hand strength. Eventually he will get grinded to death, or he’ll make a big bet with the second best hand and you’ll crack him. The benefit of making all these small bets is that 1/ you’ll win tons of small pots, and 2/ he’ll never know when you hold a monster.

Look for situations where you know he won’t be able to get away from his hand when you know you have him beat. This is the only time that you should make a dramatic change to your style. If you hold a hand like 9, 3, and the flop comes down A, 3, 3, be sure to bet big. Since he finally called your pre-flop raise, it’s very possible that he holds a strong ace, and he’ll pay you off if he does. If your opponent is in first position and comes out firing, make a solid raise back. Don’t be afraid of pushing him off the hand. He likely holds an ace and will either call or move all-in at this point. If he does hold an ace, he’ll likely call for all of his chips, ending the match right here. Find a way to get all of his chips in the middle when this situation presents itself.

At the end of any match against a passive player, your hand history should look something like this: Win small pot, win small pot, win small pot, win small pot, lose small pot, win small pot, win small pot, win small pot, lose small pot…and so on.

Playing Against a Maniac

If your opponent is a maniac who constantly comes over the top of you, play more patiently and let him walk into your big hands. The biggest thing that distinguishes a maniac from a skilled player is that a maniac overbets everything. When the blinds are 15/30, he raises to 200 pre-flop. When there’s 100 in the pot, he bets 400 at it. Maniacs can be beaten the quickest, and with extreme ease. If you just give them the chance, they’ll hand their chips to you.

When you make a big hand against a maniac, make him pay for it by letting him bluff at it after the flop. Maniacs don’t tend to leave their chips out there unprotected, they’ll generally make a big bluff after the flop. At the same time, depending on how strong your hand is, you may or may not want to slow play this hand any further. If your hand is close to unbeatable, flat call his flop bet and let him bluff again after the turn. If you’re concerned that he could catch a card to beat you, then be sure to come back over the top after his flop bet and make him fold right then and there.

This strategy of setting traps will often find you being the one getting grinded down. Since he’s raising pre-flop a lot, you know he’s often putting out chips with weak starting hands. Start coming over the top of him pre-flop with your strong, but less than premium starting hands. A player like this generally doesn’t want to tangle in big pots, and he’ll often give you credit for a real hand if you’ve been folding to his pre-flop bets a lot. Find hands like K, 9, and come back over the top of him for sizeable, but not stack risking raises.

This is really all it takes to beat a maniac heads-up player. Once you learn how to beat them, it’s almost funny how easy it is. Trap, trap, trap, and let them commit suicide.

Against a maniac, be sure to maximize the amount of chips you win on your winning hands. Since you’re giving him a lot of small pots, you need to get as many as you can on your winning hands. Eventually, the maniacs will bluff off all of their chips, if you’re patient enough to give them the opportunity.

Playing Against a Calling Station

First, don’t get a calling station confused with a skilled player who plans on stealing the pot post-flop. Because it’s so hard to put a calling station on a hand, some very skilled players will often make themselves appear to be calling stations. While a calling station will call you down with weak hands, a strong player may call a lot of raised pre-flop hands, just to steal them later during the hand. The most common time they do this is when you are on the small blind. After the flop, turn and river, they will be the first to act. If they continually call your pre-flop raises, then lead out for big bets post-flop, this is not a calling station. This is a much more dangerous opponent, don’t get these two very different types of players confused.

Calling stations in heads-up matches are extremely poor players. They can often be tricked into calling big bets post flop when you hold a monster. Since they call everything and rarely bet, they’re difficult to put on a hand. They give out little pre-flop information other than the fact that they’re willing to play weak hands for too many chips. The best thing to do against this type of opponent is to keep it a skill game. Your opponent is playing a luck based game hoping that they make a hand somewhere along the way. The way to beat them is by playing aggressively post flop, and by making them pay you off when you hold big hands. Instead of coming in for big raises pre-flop, see the flops as cheaply as you can. If they check the flop in first position, come out firing somewhere around 2/3 the pot size. If they call and you don’t hold a hand, you should slow down and see if the turn or river gives you a made hand. While I hate to slow down after making a bet on the flop, calling stations will often play top pair all the way down to the river without ever making a bet. Although they don’t bet often, they’ll call just about anything you put out there.

If you are in first position after the flop, come out firing and see what they do. If they finally come over the top of you, you need to fold your unmade hands. If you hit a big hand however, one that you feel confident is a winner, go for the throat right here. In general terms, calling stations are such poor players that you can get them to call big bets with weaker hands than most players. Make them pay for their weaknesses.

Don’t give away the farm by bluffing off your chips to a calling station. If you hold onto your chips, a calling station will eventually give them to you when you hold a real hand.

Playing Against a Strong/Aggressive Player

This is the best player out there, and this is the player you are looking to become. They are tough to beat because they constantly mask their hands, and they never give you an inch. They make it hard to gather chips against them. They tend to win most of the big pots, and give away very little on their losing hands. These matches can become great mental challenges, but there are ways to beat them.

When two very skilled players are heads-up against each other, it’s a game of cat and mouse. They will often trade the chip lead back and forth many times, and get deep into the blinds. I’ve played in matches that were so grueling, that I found myself literally sweating from the hard work I was putting in. While these matches will improve your game, they also eat up valuable profit making time. Instead of blasting through a maniac in four minutes flat, you can find yourself grinding it out for an hour against a worthy equal.

If that’s the case, try to find a way to end it before you invest too much time. Even if you lose this match, if you lose it fairly quickly, it may be more realistic to go and beat two weaker opponents in the same amount of time as it takes to beat this one opponent. Another problem with a match like this is that if the match gets really grueling, you can find yourself mentally drained after the match, hurting your chances at any following matches you play.

Since you’re in what is likely a coin-flip match anyway, I suggest looking for situations to get your money in when you likely hold a slight advantage. If you can get your money all-in with pocket 9’s against AK, you’re about a 55/45 favorite. In the long run, this is a profitable play. In the short term, you have a slight advantage, plus you’ll open up time to go play against a weaker & more profitable opponent.

If you decide you just have to beat this guy no matter what amount of time you have to invest, the best thing to do is to never give him an inch. Stop calling his pre-flop raises with weak hands. Start raising pre-flop more often. Start looking for chances to set traps, then be sure to get every penny you can on your winning hands. Any time you think he holds a strong hand, but one that you can beat, you must go for every chip he’ll give you. You should also mix up your game as much as possible, even showing a couple of bluffs and trying to tilt him. Do whatever you can to get him out of his comfort zone. When you hold a big hand, overbet it and make it look like a bluff. You must have courage if you’re going to beat this guy, and you have to be willing to take steps that will set him up for a punishing loss later.

Another area where you can gather a few extra chips is by betting the river more often. If neither player has shown much interest in a pot, don’t be afraid to stick a pot sized bet out there on the river.

Try some bluff-calling on the flop when you’re in first position. If you check the flop, then your opponent bets out at you, call him regardless of the cards you hold. Then, lead out on the turn for about 2/3rds the pot, making it look like you want a call. This play will work sometimes, and sometimes it won’t. But, by doing this, you’re giving yourself a chance at winning a sizeable pot. You can also try a check-raise after the flop, but this is a move that gets over used, and carries less weight in the minds of skilled players these days. Since both moves require about the same chip commitment, try it as a bluff-call, with an attempt at stealing the pot after the turn.

Be sure to bet your big draws against strong opponents. For example; You hold Q, J, and the flop comes down 9, 10, 4. In first position, be sure to come out firing, giving yourself two chances to win this pot. He may fold, winning you the pot right there, or he may call. If he does call, you still have a reasonable chance at making your hand. If your opponent is in first position and he comes out firing, come back over the top of him with a strong raise. In either situation, if he calls, you have 8 outs that will give you a straight and 6 outs to catch top pair. Don’t play these hands weak, you must go after these pots. In the long run, whoever wins more pots like this one will generally find themselves in the chip lead.

If you have a sizeable chip advantage over a strong player, keep the pressure on by forcing him to have a hand. While you don’t want to give away a lot of chips, you also don’t want him to see cheap flops with weak hands. Bet out at flops any time you’re in first position. If he doesn’t have some sort of made hand or strong draw, he has to fold. Grind him down, but beware when he finally decides to get all his chips in the middle. The idea here is to win as many small pots as you can and continue to grind him away.

If you find yourself as the one with the small stack against a strong player, he isn’t going to want to give up that chip lead on one hand. You have to stay aggressive any time you’re in first position, but be smart if he comes over the top. Don’t allow yourself to get grinded down too far, look for starting hands to get all of your chips in any time you think you’re likely to hold the best of it. He likely won’t call, and it may keep him from getting too aggressive against you with weak hands, fearing that you’ll move in on him. If he does call, you’ll have a strong chance at doubling up and getting back into the match.

This is the guy you need to have the most courage with. As a skilled player, he’s more likely to lay down hands when he faces a sizeable bet, so stay on top of him when he shows weakness. The player that is able to dictate the action will usually win. Play smart, but never go down without a fight.

Final Bits of Advice

Heads-up tournaments are damn good fun. Those who like to play every hand, think fast, and love mental challenges can become great heads-up players. Anyone who wants to make more money playing poker should be learning how to improve their heads up game against all types of players. The next time you sit down at a sit and go and find yourself heads up against a highly skilled heads-up player, you’ll have a realistic chance of beating him. Bad players will get wiped out by you and never see it coming. Cash game players will be amazed at your ability to reads their hands, and how you consistently beat the game. There is every reason to become a great heads-up player, so give it a shot. Print out this article and read it however many times it takes you to get it stuck in your head. Eventually you’ll be able to make decisions like a machine, knowing what to do without even thinking about it. When this happens you’ll be a deadly player.

Watch free strategy videos from PartTimePoker

Prop Players Make Up to 120% Rakeback. Apply Today >>>

Early Stages of a Heads-Up Tournament

The first 20 hands you play in a heads-up tournament are far more crucial than most players realize. This is your period of time to gain information on how your opponent plays, without having to risk too many chips. If you wait until later stages to put him to the test, it’ll cost you in the form of higher blinds and higher risks. You must start testing him now. Later, when the blinds get bigger, you’ll already know what it’s going to take to beat him.

The information you need to gather:

* Figure out his preflop play. What types of starting hands does he play? Does he play everything? Fold on the small blind often? Raise often? What does he do, and what position does he do it in?
* How much does it take to get him to fold weak starting hands pre-flop? 2, 3, 4 times the big blind?
* What types of starting hands does he raise with pre-flop? Big hands only? Weak hands only? Does he mix it up or is there a pattern?
* What does he do when he hits top pair or better on the flop? Does he tend to bet or raise with this hand? Does he slow play? Does he mix it up?
* What does he do when he hits middle or bottom pair on the flop? Does he check, bet, or raise with these hands? Does he flat call your bets? Does he bet when he’s in first position, but flat call when you are?
* Does he call down your bets with gutshot straight draws or ace high? If so, how much does he call in these situations?
* How does he play his monsters? Does he slow play them? Does he bet big with them? Does he mix it up?
* Does he bluff a lot? If so, when does he do it most often?

In the early stage of a tournament, your starting hands mean nothing, stop paying attention to them. The early stage of the tournament is your chance to gain the information it will take to defeat your opponent later. While it’s always nice to have the chip lead early, this is not nearly as important as it is to know how to play when the pots get bigger. Once you’ve gained enough information, getting any lost chips back and winning the tournament will be much easier. Also, by not ‘playing your cards’ early on, your opponent will be confused about how you’re playing, giving you another distinct advantage.

How do you gain all of this information?

For the first few hands, I suggest raising preflop 2 x’s the big blind. If your opponent is willing to fold weak starting hands for only twice the big blind, why risk 3 x’s the chips to accomplish the same thing? If he wakes up with a real hand, you’re likely to lose more chips than necessary. If he calls every time you raise twice the big blind, start trying 3 x’s the big blind. If he consistently calls your raises when you make it three times the big blind, your opponent is either a calling station, or he feels that he’s a good enough player to steal the pot from you later in the hand. You can tell the difference between the two by your opponents post-flop play. If he continues to check & call, he’s a calling station. If he consistently leads out or raises you, you’re playing a more skilled opponent.

You should continue to make smallish sized bets to see what it takes to get your opponent to fold after the flop, turn and river. If he flat calls you after the flop, look at the flop and start thinking about what hands he might be calling you with. Continue to make smallish bets after the turn and river, and see how your opponent reacts. While the blinds are very small, try to see his cards by checking and calling small river bets. If you’re truly committed to learning how your opponent plays, you’ll be making what are typically bad plays, plays that you will not make later in the match. It’s ok, the information you’ll gain now will pay off in the long run. Plus, if your opponent has any skills at all, he’ll think you’re making these stupid plays because you’re a bad player, setting him up to make big mistakes later. Purposely making bad plays may be difficult for you to get used to, but instead of thinking about the fact that you just gave away 80 chips, laugh at the damage the misinformation will cause your opponent later in the tournament. Instead of realizing that your entire focus is on figuring out his game, he will take your skills for granted, putting his guard down and widening the leaks in his game.

Make a mental record of the plays he makes and the hands he played them with. By making a lot of small sized bets, then testing your opponent with slightly larger bets, you can gain the information you need to gain. Now it’s time to use this information against him.

>>>View part four of this article here.

Watch free strategy videos from PartTimePoker

Prop Players Make Up to 120% Rakeback. Apply Today >>>

An Alternative

Instead of playing the hand this way, let’s say that you move all in pre-flop, in either position. If your opponent folds, you’ll win his blind, plus some strategic advantages as well. By making this move, you’ll often strike fear into your opponents, causing them to play you more cautiously, allowing you to steal more pots than he normally would. This puts the ball in your court and sets you up to play a more aggressive and punishing style later.

If he calls your pre-flop raise, you’ll most likely have an advantage over him. In the long run, having a 60/40 advantage will make you a large profit in a very short amount of time at the tables.

Why would anyone be stupid enough to call your pre-flop all-in bet so early in a tournament unless they hold a premium hand? First, anyone who moves all-in pre-flop looks like an idiot trying to steal the pot. Knowing that your opponents will often think this, moving all-in pre-flop will often generate a call by a weaker hand such as Q 10, J 10, K 9 or a weak ace. Let’s get a little more into the details.

Let’s say you sit down for a $10 heads-up match. On the very first hand, you look down and see A10 offsuit, what do you do? Here are a few numbers to consider:

A10 os versus Q8 offsuit, you are a 64/36 favorite to win the hand.

A10 os versus A7 suited, you are a 66/24 favorite, with a 10% chance of a chopped pot.

A10 os versus KQ offsuit, you are a 60/40 favorite.

A10 os versus any pocket pair of 9’s or lower, you are at worst a 45/55 underdog.

A10 os versus pocket 10’s, you are a 30/69 dog.

A10 os versus pocket jacks, queens or kings, you are a 29/71 dog.

If he holds AJ, AQ, or AK, you’re about a 24/70 dog, with a 6% chance of a tie.

So, with 13 pocket pairs, plus AJ, AQ, and AK beating you, your opponent must hold one of only 16 hands to have an advantage over you. Of those 16 hands, only 5 pocket pairs and AJ, AQ, AK have a significant percentage advantage over you, for a total of 8 hands. Virtually any other hand he could have leaves you as either a very slight dog, or a favorite.

The vast majority of hands that he is likely to hold are going to make you a 60% or better favorite to win. On top of this, you’re playing a $10 match, where you know that a lot of people play poorly, tilt badly, and drink alcohol while they play. Beyond this, if your opponent is first to act pre-flop and he moved all-in in front of you, you already know that he is likely to be expecting you to fold to his all-in bet. So, what do you do?

This is an easy one…you call.

Before I go any further with this topic, if you want to employ this strategy you must first use a reliable poker calculator to record a number of hand versus hand values, keeping that record close to you while you play. After you’ve done this, use this information to decide if you likely have a 60% or better chance to win the hand.

Why is this strategy so powerful? Let’s run some numbers.

Let’s say you play in 1,000 matches where you and your opponent get all of your chips in when you believe you are a 60% or better favorite. Sometimes you’ll be a bigger favorite, sometimes you’ll be a dog, but in general if you do a decent job of finding these situations the numbers will work themselves out in the long run.

1,000, $10 + .50 matches will cost you a total of $10,500 to enter. If you win 60% of these matches, you will win $20, six hundred times, for a total win of $12,000, or a $1,500 profit. If each match took an average of 3 minutes, you will have 3,000 minutes invested, for a $.50 per minute profit. That equates to $30 per hour.

Now, compare that to 1,000 matches that take 20 minutes each, which is not a long match by any means considering that some matches will go as long as 45-60 minutes. If you were to win 60% of your matches that take 20 minutes each, you will make $1,500 in a total of 20,000 minutes, for a profit of 7.5 cents per minute, or $4.50 per hour. Even if you have a 70% win rate, you’re still only making 17.5 cents per minute, or $10.50 per hour.

Using the strategy I’ve outlined above, you can win $1,500 in 50 hours of play, versus 333.3 hours of play at a 60% win rate, or 142.86 hours at a 70% win rate using traditional strategies.

To be the most successful poker player you can be, you must think about time versus profit. Maximizing time versus profit is exactly what this strategy is all about. Now, once you have committed more time to a match, you shouldn’t be using this strategy. You don’t want to invest 20 or 30 minutes into a match, then risk your buy-in with a small advantage like this. At this point, you should be using traditional strategies to give yourself a more surefire chance of winning.

>>>View Part Three of the article here

Watch free strategy videos from PartTimePoker

Get The Top Rated Online Poker Bonuses >>>

When a player considers himself a specialist, the implication is that he plays a particular game exclusively. While becoming a heads-up tournament specialist may or may not be your long-term goal, I will be writing this series with discussion pertaining to those who are. As someone who has played thousands of heads-up matches and considers himself a heads-up specialist, I want to get into some topics that are rarely discussed in heads-up strategy articles. Beyond that, as someone who understands the benefits that every player can gain from becoming a great heads-up player, I highly recommend that every player take a couple months off of their regular games and focus on improving their heads up skills as far as they can. Once you’ve accomplished a high level of success at heads-up tournaments, you’ll be able to use these skills in other forms of poker and dramatically improve your results.

Before we go any further, consider some of the benefits of becoming a dominating heads-up player.

* Becoming an outstanding heads-up player will improve your profits in every game you play.
* Quickly build your bankroll.
* Action junkies are more focused when they play heads-up, improving their chances to win.
* Sitting down at a cash game and doubling your money is much more difficult than it is to simply beat one player.
* Experience in heads-up tournaments transfers into cash games, sit and go tournaments, and multi-table tournaments. In sit and go as well as multi-player tournaments, there is more money to be made from 2nd place to 1st place than any other point in the tournament.
* Heads-up play will help you detect betting patterns in opponents, useable in any form of online poker.
* Heads-up play improves your intuition, making it easier to make correct decisions.
* Learn how to win with weaker hands.
* Playing a lot of heads-up poker will improve your ability to manage tilt. When you play nearly every hand, you will lose so many hands that you ‘should have won’ that you learn to deal with it better.

Play Your Best By Playing Smart

The first rule that anyone who wants to become a successful heads-up tournament player should follow is only playing one table at a time. While there might be a few heads-up players that can earn a positive win rate while playing two or three tables at a time, most people can’t successfully process that much information. In every game you play, you must be thinking about how you’re going to beat this opponent. Since most heads-up players only play one tournament at a time, they’re giving all of their efforts in beating you. You should be giving them at least as much focus if you want to put up a fight.

In the early stages of a sit and go or multi-table tournament, you can afford to fold a lot of hands while you get your head in the game. However, in heads-up tournaments you’ll be playing nearly every hand you’re dealt, which means that you need to be ready to go as soon as you sit down. While you’ll fold hands like 5, 8 offsuit in a 10 player sit and go, you’re going to be playing these types of hands in heads up matches. In heads-up tournaments, your mind must be ready to go from the moment you sit down. You must be feeling attentive, methodical, smart, and aggressive from the very first hand.

A lot of players sit down saying to themselves “I’m gonna destroy this guy”. That’s the wrong attitude to have, and it will cause you to make all sorts of mistakes. The main problem with this is that it’ll keep you from paying attention to the information your opponent is giving you. Instead of thinking about how you’re going to play, think about how you’re going to pick apart his game and use his weaknesses against him. You should sit down with the mentality that you’re going to outsmart him. Heads-up poker is a battle, but it’s a battle of minds, not ego. Get rid of your ego while the match is in play. You can get your ego boost after you’ve taken his money.

The 60/40 Strategy

This first strategy idea I’m going to talk about does not apply to heads-up situations in sit and go or multi-table tournaments. This only applies to heads-up tournament matches, and when the buy-in for the tournament is equal to or less than 5% of your total bankroll. Also, this is only a strategy that I recommend for matches with a $20 or smaller buy-in. Above this level, I suggest using more caution with the following strategy as players at higher levels tend to be more sophisticated. This is a concept that isn’t discussed frequently, but many successful heads-up players use this method to make quick & easy profits.

Within the first few minutes of a heads-up tournament, you should be looking for situations to get all of your chips in the middle any time you think you’re a 60/40 favorite or better to win. In low stakes heads-up matches, it’s not uncommon to see players move all-in pre-flop on the very first hand. Some will even do this on the first 2 or 3 hands.

Why would someone do this? Well, there are a number of possible reasons. First, heads-up poker is an aggressive game, often played by people with naturally aggressive personalities. This aggressive player in front of you may have just taken a bad beat in his last match and be feeling the need to do the online equivalent of ‘kicking someone’s ass’. He may have just had an argument with his girlfriend. He might be drunk. He might’ve had a bad day at work and wants to take his aggressions out. Maybe he’s trying to declare his dominance, trying to tell you he’s a wild & crazy player to be afraid of. In small buy-in matches without too much money on the line, a lot of players are more interested in the adrenaline rush than anything else.

There is another reason why a player might do this too, but this is much less common. More experienced players realize that there are a lot of terrible heads-up players at the low stake levels. While most skilled players won’t want to waste a premium hand by forcing you out of the pot, there are benefits of moving in with these hands as well. Let’s go over a quick example.

You’re the small blind (also have the button in heads-up). So, you’re first to act pre-flop, but second to act after the flop, turn & river. Let’s assume that you hold a hand like A, Q, with blinds of 10/20, on one of the first hands of the match. You raise it to 60, three times the big blind. At this point, one of two things are generally going to happen. Most commonly, your opponent will fold, which means that all you won is 20 chips, a waste of a big starting hand like A, Q. The other common result is that your opponent calls, which now means you’re going to see a flop, giving your opponent a chance to make a real hand.

The flop comes down something like K, 9, 6. Now, your opponent is first to act, and he comes out firing two-thirds the pot, for a bet of 80 chips. Now what do you do?

Choice 1 – Fold: You lose 60 chips.

Choice 2 – Call: You’ve called with nothing, hoping that you either hit one of the 3 remaining aces on the turn, or hope that he’s on a bluff and will check the turn, giving you the chance to rebluff and steal the pot. This situation is sketchy at best when you’re playing a low-stakes match.

Choice 3 – With 120 in pre-flop, and the 80 chips your opponent bet in front of you, there is 200 in the pot. What will it take to get him to believe you have him beat and make him fold? You decide the amount it’ll take is a raise to 240.You now have 300 chips in the pot to try and steal 140 of his chips. While 140 chips is a decent pot to win, is an unmade hand worth risking 300 chips to win 140? That’s a high risk, low reward concept that will often cost you a big chunk of your stack.

Now let’s assume that you are the big blind in the exact same hand. The small blind flat calls the big blind of 20. Now you come in for a raise to 60. Your opponent will either fold, again earning you only 20 chips. Let’s take it further and assume he calls you. So, the flop comes down the same K, 9, 6. Being in first position in heads-up, and also being the preflop raiser, it’s always wise to make your continuation bet after the flop, hoping your opponent will fold right there. With 120 chips in the pot, you now decide to bet 80 chips to try and steal the pot. You have a total of 140 chips committed, for a chance to take 60 chips from your opponent. If he folds, great, but you had to risk 140 chips to win 60 from your opponent. If he calls, you’re back into a bad spot when the turn comes down and it doesn’t improve your hand. If he raises, you should be folding, losing 140 chips in the process.

While a couple of the possibilities described above can create a winning possibility, in either situation you had to risk more than twice as many chips as you could win. In other situations, you lost the hand.

>>>View Part Two of this article here

However, it’s necessary in a heads-up, no limit match to switch gears—to adjust your style and strategy at the most effective point in the game. Weather it’s a heads-up, no limit sit-and-go, or a heads-up cash session, try and think of heads-up poker as a boxing match. It’s crucial to go for the knockout here and there (all-ins and good bluffs), but it’s also necessary to throw some jabs out there (raises, continuation bets and smooth calls). In heads-up, no limit poker you want to be versatile and well rounded in your game (like contemporary baseball greats Irchiro Suzuki and Alex Rodriquez; there isn’t anything they can’t do). You want to know, and employ, all the tricks of the trade.

What I’d like to focus on first, though, is becoming a defensive player. Note: This article is generally informed by heads up play around the .50/$1 level.

Defense

Every player has his or her own style. Regardless of your style, it’s absolutely key to withdraw a little, act timid and become a defensive player against super aggressive players. You want to employ this type of strategy against players who constantly over bet the pot (putting $20 into a $12 put on the flop and/or continually making questionable continuation bets). These types of players are easy to take down if you can keep your nerves on an even keel. How? Let them steal a few pots, and, when you’ve made a strong hand (say, a set or top-two pair on the flop), smooth call their bets (as long as you don’t think they’re drawing) all the way to the river.

Example: You’re dealt pocket 10s in the big blind. Your opponent raises. Normally, pocket 10s would be a good re-raising hand here, but you know he’s super aggressive. You call and the flop is K 10 5. Check all the way and let him do all the betting. (Note: if he checks the turn and you still think you’re in the lead, it may be necessary to place a value bet on the river.)

When an aggressive opponent knows that his or her style has been compromised, it’s likely they’ll start to tighten up, especially if you take down a big pot. When this happens, I recommend becoming more aggressive (i.e., raising his or her big blind, regularly throwing out continuation bets three-fourths of the pot and making strong bluffs.)

When concentrating on how to beat your opponent, it’s often difficult to stay focused on the feel and pace of the game. So, every 15 hands or so ask yourself: Has my opponent changed his style? What is my image? Is he tilting? Surmise these details and adjust your game accordingly.

Counter-attack (or how to make believable bluffs)

There comes a point in a heads-up, no limit match when it becomes necessary to make big bluffs, especially if you’re not making hands and you know your opponent is making them against you. Of course, it’s always optional to just end the match when we’re not catching cards—but that’s not how poker players make money. We make money by reading situations correctly and having the ability to follow through with our reads.

Here are a few ways to make good, believable bluffs in heads-up, no limit poker.

Betting the ace

Say you raise in position with 10/8 suited and our opponent calls. The flop misses you, Q 4 5 rainbow. Your opponent checks and you check behind him. An ace falls on the turn and your opponent checks again. If you know your opponent wouldn’t check a pair of aces here and is prone to checking the flop if he didn’t hit it, now is a good time to bluff and attempt to buy the pot. Throw in a bet that’s three-fourths the pot and bet the ace. It’s likely your opponent will think you’ve hit the ace and fold to a large bet. However, if he or she calls, they probably have a small pair (4s, 5s) or a draw. If he checks on the river and a blank falls, bet again—and bet big.

Betting or raising when a flush appears

This is most effective when you have position on your opponent, but it can work out of position too. I’ve seen good players lay down a set of kings to a third diamond on the board on the turn.

Betting or raising when the board pairs

Say you raise with position with A/J, and your opponent calls. The flop is 2 5 10 rainbow. You both check, and the turn brings a 5, pairing the board. Your opponent bets to represent the five. Against a tight player it’s likely the hit trips or maybe have a 2 and think their two pair is good, but against an aggressive player (like you) it is unlikely. Ether way, if you think he or she is bluffing, attempt a big raise here, especially if you’ve been playing tight. If you’re out of position in the same situation, a large check-raise could work too.

Betting or raising on the river

Your opponent will make a pair less than 50 percent of the time if the hand goes to the river. With that in mind, sometimes it’s a good idea to attempt to steal a pot if the hand has been checked down to the river. I only recommend this, though, if there has been a raise preflop, and if your opponent is both tight and inferior. On a board of A Q 10 4 5, solid players, if a bet were made on the river, would call here with K high if they think the river missed their opponent. There’s no need to attempt to steal a pot if there’s hardly anything in there. It’s just not worth it.

Effective check raising

Check raising is usually done in heads-up, no limit poker when you have a made hand but attempt to conceal it by checking when it’s made. This is effective for extracting more bets out of your opponent, but only when you’re playing against an aggressive player. (I.E. you make your flush on the turn, you check in position, your opponent bets, and you check raise, hoping he or she will call and commit themselves to calling a river bet.) However, check raising against tight players is usually only effective when you’re bluffing. Therefore, check raise often against these types of players. Now, against bad players, check raising should only be utilized when you have a strong hand. Calling stations live up to their name against a big check raise.

These are just a few of the many advanced strategies you can employ when playing heads-up, no limit poker. Remember, these strategies aren’t always profitable against every player. What you have to do is determine what type of player your opponent is, and then decide how you want to play against him. Not everyone can be check raised to induce a fold, so it’s up to you to deduce his or her level of ability then play your game accordingly. And the best players will change their game regularly throughout the session, like a driver who switches gears in a car. Against better players, this is absolutely essential.

There are, though, exceptions—situations (such as penalty shots) when it’s just us against one other person; a brief, intense face-off that often determines the outcome of the game. It’s instances like these where we either push ourselves to excel, or falter, intimidated lacking confidence. But if we push ourselves to both play our best and manipulate our opponent, forcing them to play the way want them to, any opponent—even if they are “better” than us—can be beaten.

Heads-up, no-limit poker follows the same principle. Any opponent can be beaten, as long as you employ standard strategies, develop an understanding of your opponent’s game and know when to switch gears so that you can exploit both his or her weaknesses and strengths. In this two-part article, I’m going to give you some basic heads-up, no-limit poker strategies, advanced strategies and show you how any style of player, when manipulated, can be beaten.

Aggression and playing with position

In short-handed and max no-limit games, position often determines how we play our starting hands, and how we react to situations on the flop and post-flop. Therefore, a small pocket pair is usually a bad raising hand under the gun in ring games. Heads-up is different. Aggression in heads-up, no-limit poker is one the most important components in winning. In other words, leave your tight image at the door when playing heads-up.

Early in the game, when you have the button and the small blind, and when you’re getting a feel for your opponent’s style, you should be raising with almost any two cards. (I usually fold 9/3, 8/3, 10/2/, J/2, and the like unless, however, they are suited.) Against tight players, any two cards should designate a raise. Never limp in on the button. You want to punish your opponent’s tight image, and force them to play marginal hands. If they miss the flop, chances are they’ll check. If you too have missed the flop entirely, chances are he or she will fold to a pot-sized bet. And if they actually have a hand, chances are they’ll re-raise you pre-flop. Let’s take a look at an example of this situation.

Say the blinds are $1/2. You have the button and you raise to $6 with 4/5 of hearts. Your opponent, who has played the last 15 hands tight, re-raises to $18. He or she probably has A/K, A/Q or a pocket pair bigger than fives. A call would be the best move here. You have position and if the right flop comes, you’re going to win a lot of money.

Say the flop is A 10 7, with two hearts. If your opponent leads out, he or she probably has an ace with a good kicker, or maybe KK or QQ, in which case a lead-out bet would be a tester bet, them trying to get an idea to where you are at. If you call and they do have a pocket pair below the Ace, he or she will likely check the turn, fearing you have an ace. Either way, you’re drawing. If your heart comes on the turn, you should have the best hand. If he or she bets again, here is where you raise big and take either take it down or take their money. Aggression will pay off when you play mediocre starting hands and call large pre-flop raises.

Let’s look at another example against an opponent who has an aggressive image like yours. Say the blinds are $1/2. You have the button and, this time, you have AA, a monster starting hand. You’ve been raising your opponent nearly every hand and you can tell he or she is growing frustrated. You raise to $6, like you have been the last 15 hands while you’ve had position and, this time, they re-raise to $18. A re-raise would be the incorrect move here, as you would essentially be telling your opponent that, this time, you have a monster. You smooth call. The flop comes J 7 2 rainbow, a perfect flop for you. Your tired and frustrated opponent, probably holding a worse pocket pair (maybe KK, QQ, or 10s) is going to lose a lot of money. Why? Because you’ve been aggressive, and he or she has grown frustrated. This is the perfect opportunity to sit back and watch them self-implode by letting them do all the betting.

Now, this type of aggression will aggravate your opponent, especially if he or she keeps missing flops. Therefore, a check-raise to your flop bet should usually raise a red flag that you’re probably behind in the hand. However, if you have a big hand, say, an over pair to his or her top pair, you’re probably going to get all their chips with a re-raise or a smooth call followed by an all-in. This is where previous aggression pays off.

When you’re aggressive, you control the action; you determine the direction of the hands; you decide if you’re ahead or behind; and you, with a little luck, decide who wins.

Daniel Negreanu once observed that the key to Stu Ungar’s success (Ungar was the winner of the Main Event in 1980, ’81 and ’97) was that he controlled the pots he was in. In other words, the action was determined by Ungar. To become a winning heads-up, no limit poker player, you want the same edge.

Playing out of position

Playing out of position in heads-up, no limit is tricky. Tight players will limp-in on nearly every hand. The benefit of this is that when they raise, it’s obvious they have a hand. Thus, a Q/4 suited is probably not a good hand to call with. However, if your tight-playing opponent limps, a raise with that Q/4 suited might be a good move.

Now, the key to gaining an edge over aggressive players when you have the big blind is to re-raise often. Make them believe that you’re catching good cards and, more importantly, send a message that you refuse to be bullied. Re-raise even if you have marginal hands, such as Q/J, K/10 or A/x. If you hit a pair on the board, even if it’s bottom pair, lead out with a large bet. Your opponent will think you have a big hand.

This strategy will also force your opponent to rethink his or her strategy against you. It will get them folding a lot more, limping in with poor hands and calling bad re-raises. Whenever your opponent isn’t playing the game he or she is used to, it’s inevitable they’ll make mistakes. And these mistakes will likely lead to profit for you.

Let’s look at an example of playing out of position against an aggressive player. Say you’re dealt Q/J suited and your opponent raises three times the big blind, like he or she has the past eight times. You re-raise and he calls. The flop comes A 10 2. You pick up an inside straight draw, but you’ve missed. A lead-out bet here would be the appropriate move. You represent you have the ace. If he calls, he doesn’t believe you (maybe he has a pocket pair like KK or 9s. If he raises, you have a tough decision to make. But if he folds, then you’ve shown him you refuse to be bullied. (I might even show my bluff here. This would prove that you’re capable of bluffing him. And this bluff would pay dividends in the future when you do the exact same thing but with a big hand, such as top pair/top kicker.)

Now, let’s look at an example against a tight player. Say your opponent limps in. You have 2/4 suited, and you raise to 3 times the big blind. Your tight-playing opponent calls. The flop comes A 2 4. You have two pair. You check. He bets the pot. It’s obvious he has an ace here. A check raise will net you a lot of chips.

Aggression is essential in heads-up, no-limit poker. As I stated earlier, this allows you to create the action and determine where it goes. All bets lead to you. However, there are always times in a match when it’s necessary to switch gears. Becoming a defensive player, and utilizing other advanced strategies, will be the subject of my next article on winning at heads-up, no-limit poker.

Read Part 2 of this article.