Ten tips for playing heads-up poker. Heads-up

If you have decided to try yourself as a heads up player, PokerTask will give you some tips to help you avoid some of the mistakes that are common for beginners.

Overall, this is a very interesting and promising discipline. And what is most interesting, it is pretty simple. Many winning players choose heads-up as their specialization, which is why Isaac Haxton recommends playing it. The most important thing is to understand the fundamental principles of successful heads up play and adhere to them adamantly. The main point is that HU is a unique discipline and should be played differently from the rest. If you are good at multi-table tournaments or cash full ring, these skills will not help you much in heads-up play. So here are some tips for newbies to heads up.

Sit'n'Go or heads up cash

We recommend that you start playing heads-up with sit-and-go tournaments. Whatever one may say, at first you will make a lot of mistakes and possibly lose for a while. Playing in the SNGs, it will be easier for you to keep your bankroll at the desired level. Of course, the winnings will also be small, but it's better to put up with it until you get the hang of it. In addition, the format of these tournaments implies a time limit for the match. You will not play one tournament for more than 15-20 minutes, they often last 5-10 minutes, after which you can take a break or analyze the game right there.

Table selection

Never sit down first at the table. Experienced regulars scour the lobby looking for weak players and will be happy to hook up with a budding heads-aper. They almost never sit down first at the table. Do the same. If you see that someone is already expecting a game at the table, they are most likely a beginner too, and you will be comfortable playing against them.

Number of tables

Heads-up is a very active discipline. You will have to come to the flop almost in every hand, you will not be able to fold weak hands for a long time, since the blinds are constantly going through you. In order not to lose control, even advanced heads-ups play only one or two tables at a time. There is enough action here, believe me.

Position

Play extremely loose in position. There is no time to wait for premium hands, your main tool in heads-up is being the last to play postflop. Often, after your opponent checks on the flop, you will take the pot with a continuation bet, whether you hit the board or not, although you will often find yourself on the turn. This means that you should raise almost every hand preflop, with any cards, and have at least some idea of ​​how to do it. Only sometimes you should temporarily slow down if your opponent starts to over-raise your bets frequently. Out of position, however, completely garbage hands like 93o or 25o should be excluded from the spectrum. Normal calls are generally discouraged, you should tend to reraise or fold. This makes it easier to play medium hands, as the preflop aggressor will take a lot of pots that you would otherwise have to give up.

Stop loss

Even good heads up players can lose a lot of money by tilting. Unfortunately, all poker players are subject to this condition to one degree or another. We recommend that you practice self-discipline responsibly. Set a moment for yourself after which you should stop playing for a while. For example, losing five tournaments in a row, or losing two tournaments to one player in a row. Even if it seems to you that he is weaker than you, do not try to recoup, it will save you a lot of money.

Notes

Most of your opponents will have clear faces that you need to be able to use. In heads-up, the weaknesses of the players are more pronounced than anywhere else. For example, if you notice that your opponent has dropped to a continuation bet twice in a row, make it now almost always. If your opponent bets himself twice after you check, check-raise next time. Mark "answering machines" and put all streets against them, even with an average hand.

Adjusting to the opponent

You must be able to adapt every time you sit down to play against a stranger. The first few hands will be enough to figure out who you are dealing with. Whether it's an aggressive maniac or a passive phone, you must have different strategies in place against each of them. For example, aggressive players will constantly bet and over-raise. A good strategy against them would be to call down with any coincidence. Frequent raises from you can scare them away and prevent them from bluffing. Don't bluff too much against answering machines. They call hard all the way to the river, so make sure you have at least a pair.

Heads Up Bets

In this matter, attention should be paid to the size of preflop bets. The standard 3-4bb raise, as in other disciplines, is too wasteful here. It is enough to open-raise 2-2.5BB to be in the black by taking the blinds in two out of three cases.

Psychological pressure on the enemy

This is a rather subtle question, but worth paying attention to. If you can unbalance your opponent, you will have a big advantage. Of course, this is more true for aggressive, temperamental opponents. For example, you can open your cards after a successful bluff, this will guarantee you to make the most of the next time with a strong hand. Long reflections can also anger your opponent, all the more so. After all, many of them come to play heads-up precisely because of the richness of the action. If you deprive them of this, they will start to play too aggressively, make excessively large bets, and tilt. All you have to do is wait for a strong hand.

Stick to these tips and you can quickly conquer the heads up discipline. Even if you are a tournament player, playing heads-up periodically will be very rewarding, as we wrote about in.

Good luck at the tables!

For many players, poker is primarily a means of making quick money, so in order to reduce the playing time, they sit down at the heads-up tables. But in fact, this is a delusion for beginners, because heads-up poker (that is, a game against one opponent) is always more difficult and not everyone can win. However, a successful heads-up strategy will significantly increase your bankroll and improve your gaming skills.

Heads-up poker is a table game where only two poker players participate. If we talk about tournament games with full tables, then you can play heads-up only when there are only two participants in the tournament and they are competing for the first place.

The tournament player should be especially careful about heads-up play. In fact, every poker player who wants to win will have to compete for first place with one opponent. And at the final tables, everything will depend only on your heads-up skill, it is she who will decide whether you will have the main prize or for the second place.

Features of heads-up poker

Many rooms provide their clients with the opportunity to play at heads-up tables, where only two players can sit. One-on-one cash tables should not be confused with heads-up single-table tournaments. The principle of the game is, of course, similar, but you cannot start playing cash if one of the opponents does not appear at the table, and besides, if you wish, you can leave the table at any time.

But in the CIS, if you did not appear in the room during the tournament, then the opponent wins the event and all the chips are in the blinds. In addition, it is impossible to leave the tournament without reaching the final game and without competing for the main prize. Of the features of the one-on-one game, the following can be distinguished:

• The blinds are posted in each hand, only one player will have a MB and the other will have a BB
• There are only two positions at the table, so you are either the Button or the Big Blind
• The entire session will have to play only against one specific opponent, which will not change.

Taking into account the above features of this format, we will try to give some tips for beginner players that will allow them to win in the competition with the only opponent, and so:

1. Consider positions

Making the last decision postflop is more of a trick. In a heads-up game, position is especially important because you can act based on your opponent's decisions. This allows you to win more with strong cards and lose less with weak ones. In heads-up, the path from the small blind to the button takes just one hand, so you need to make the most of your strong position and play very carefully on a weak one.

1. Play aggressively

Most players don't get strong hands preflop statistically. You need to remember this and use it, but you need to remember that if you have an underpair in your hands, then you can use only one card on the flop to strengthen. You can easily make sure that aggression will significantly increase your bankroll. In addition, if you do not play through a raise then your opponent will not fold, and most of the passive hands will be a solid “check”.

1. Sweat control

A successful poker player constantly monitors whether he can win more than the average pot and lose less than the average pot. If you have a strong starting hand, then you need to plan the distribution and place your bets in such a way as to ultimately take away from your opponent as much chips or money as possible. Conversely, with a weak hand, you should limit and control the size of the pot as much as possible so that if the outcome is unsuccessful, you will not lose so much.

1. Watch the enemy constantly

In heads-up poker you will only have one opponent, so it is extremely important to understand as early as possible with which cards he will raise, call or check. Will villain raise if he draws a straight or a draw flush? What will he do if top pair comes in, raises, or checks-raises? How will your opponent react to the manifestation of your weakness on the river, will he actively bet with a promising hand?

1. Adjust to your opponent

If you want to take advantage of the fact that you can read your opponents, then you must be prepared for the fact that you will have to adapt to him. If your opponents don't raise big or call very often, then you don't need to bluff very often, but if you have really good cards, you need to make big bets. If your opponent is inconsistent in his actions, then you need to call his bets as often as possible. Sometimes you can bluff reraising if you are confident that your opponents will miss the flop. Remember, whoever your opponent is, you should always think about how you can change your game in such a way that you get the most out of your game.

You should always look for a good opportunity to bluff. For example, if you have 2 or 3 cards on the flop for a straight, you will need to wait for the right cards on the turn. With the next card, you may have a great chance of bluffing the pot. But always remember that in heads-up your opponent will rarely have a really strong hand.

1. Game variation

You can be sure that your opponents, just like you, want to predict your next actions. You need to make this task more difficult for them, so you will need to change your plans for the game from time to time. This is not difficult at all, you can just play poker hands or bet sizes in different ways, and also change the time in order to make decisions. If you change your plan, your opponent will think that most likely he is wrong.

Poker heads-up in tournaments

In addition to those one-table heads-up poker tournaments that we talked about earlier, poker platforms also host multi-table competitions. Many of them are held in the "shootout" format. There is no late registration in this kind of events, and the game will only be played in rounds. Each of the rounds will be over when there is only one participant at all tables.

This means that in order to advance to the next round, you need to win all the chips from your opponent and wait until the game is over at all tables. After that, the seating of the players will be carried out and the game will continue according to exactly the same principle.

It is generally accepted that only professional poker players take part in shootout poker tournaments. This is not strange, since there is a very strong field here and a poker player needs to know and master a variety of poker strategies for playing heads-up.

Let's summarize

Head-up poker is considered to be a very interesting format of the game. In order to take part in poker games of this format, a poker player needs knowledge of poker strategy and psychology. As a rule, you will need to form a strategy depending on the situation, while paying attention to the peculiarities of specific opponents, and not use some already developed techniques. You can play heads up poker on all online poker platforms!

A heads-up game is called heads up. Confrontation with one opponent is typical of a tournament and cash game. The misconception of novice poker players is that playing short tables is easier than playing long tables. The format of the competition requires a high level of skill.

Features of Heads Up Poker:

• Players make mandatory bets every time - first they put small, in the next hand they make a big blind and then by analogy.
• Two positions - big blind or
• Each hand is played with one opponent.

Based on the above features, when forming a strategy, consider:

• Opponent's characteristic features. Reveal the frequency of bluffing, the opponent's cards when raising the flop, which made and draw combinations were used to raise on the postflop, the folded hands. All information will make it possible to predict with high accuracy the strength of the enemy's combination and further decisions.
• Hand position. Button heads up is beneficial in positional play. With bad cards, if you fold, you will only lose the mandatory bet. On the flop, you are the last to make a decision - it will allow you to choose the optimal tactics, relying on the opponent's move.
• Sweat size. Compare pots won by you and those taken by your opponent. Your goal is to win bigger pots than your opponent. According to statistics, on short tables, players with an equal skill level lose and win almost the same number of games. It is only due to larger pots than the opponent's that it is possible to gain profit.
• Aggressive tactics. Due to the mandatory bets being paid on every hand, a wide variety of starting hands are required and an aggressive demeanor is required. Tight tactics are not suitable for single tables. By waiting for strong hands to enter the game, the blinds will bust your stack.

The heads-up game is dynamic. The player is required to have high concentration and the ability to quickly react to the opponent's decisions, which is why the multi-tabling mode is difficult.

Watch your stack. When the chips are equal with the opponent, you are in the comfort zone. The primary task is not to "inflate" the bank to a large size, with medium-strength cards in hand.

When your opponent's stack is higher, you are in the danger zone. Doubting the strength of your combination, go into the pass. When you fold your hand, you will lose less money than when you played it. Replenish your stock of chips by playing nut combinations.

Dominant Zone - Your stack is larger than your opponent's. Act as aggressively as possible, do not let the enemy reach a comfortable level. If you doubt the strength of your hand, pass - let your opponent take only the blinds. If you have a strong combination, provoke your opponent to make big bets.

The value of the cards

Statistics show that in a third of all hands, players get the right outs on the flop. In 10% of all games, poker players have drawn hands. Less than half are classic combinations that give high chances of winning.

According to statistics, in short confrontations, a pocket pair is stronger than an opponent's hand in 80% of hands. The probability of a pair coming to an opponent is only 1: 300.

Pocket pairs have 50% equity preflop.

From the information sounded, it follows that a wider range of played hands is chosen for the heads-up game. In addition to pairs of any rank, include hands with kings, aces, queens, and jacks with a second card of at least five in your range.

A kicker in a confrontation against one opponent is evaluated differently, since the probability of getting the same hand with an opponent is small. And if you have a three of a kind as a kicker, you have more than 50% to win if you have a promising combination.

Outcomes

Poker headsap is a match against one opponent. The tactics are different from games at a full table. The ability to “read” the opponent, adhere to an aggressive strategy, and implement bluffing techniques comes to the fore. Then, at the end of the gaming session, it will be possible to get a profit.

Share your comments on the topic. Tell us how often you play at tables with one opponent, what difficulties you face, what hands you choose to enter. Also ask your questions if they arise while studying the material.

Earlier (or "one-on-one") was a rare occurrence. The idea of ​​poker in general involves several opponents, so heads-up were played very rarely.... Casinos rarely played heads-up games because in this case they would have to allocate many more dealers and separate tables to accommodate a large number of pairs of players.

However, in a situation where the popularity of tournaments has grown, more and more opportunities have appeared, since a tournament cannot be won in the absence of a final meeting, when heads-up poker is at stake.(of course, if the finalists did not agree to end the tournament in a draw). Moreover, with the growing popularity of online poker, it became very easy to select a couple of players who would like to play heads-up, and for this it would no longer be necessary to allocate a table and a dealer.

Principles and rules of the heads-up game

One-on-one poker game is quite simple, if we already have a certain experience of playing ordinary poker. Actually, it's much easier to understand heads-up as poker with fewer players.... However, there are some nuances. Heads-up is difficult enough. Here, the player must make decisions for each hand, taking into account the characteristics of the opponent, and online cannot play many tables at the same time. That is, this is not the case when you open twenty nine-max tables and grind rake... Heads-Up poker is "tailored" for experienced players who already know how to adapt to the enemy and outplay him in the literal sense. T Since in "heads up" the player has only one opponent, it takes a lot of effort to defeat him... And in most cases, statistics can help, which are aggregated using special programs like. And, if we have a new rival, then next time it will be much easier for us.

When heads-up, as a rule, varieties of no-limit Texas hold'em are used. Poker with a limit and, for example, with a pot limit, like Stud, is not suitable for a heads-up game, but it is theoretically possible. The main difference between heads-up and Texas Hold'em as full-fledged poker is as follows - in heads-up, the dealer starts with. That is, the small blind goes ahead, last on subsequent rounds; and in full-fledged poker, for example, the small blind is already the penultimate before the flop, but after the flop - the first.

Otherwise, the game goes on as usual. Traditionally, players start heads-up poker with the same number of chips.... In tournaments, players will continue their game until one of them wins all of the opponent's chips. In the game of Heads-Up Poker with cash, players can start with a different number of chips, but they can buy an unlimited number of them until one of the players gives up.

Recently, we have seen a definite picture: dozens of regulars are sitting at different limits at heads-up tables, waiting for fish or weak opponents. This is the feature of modern poker that must be taken into account and try not to fall into other people's networks scattered in the online poker ocean.... Fish hunters (

Most poker books and articles use hypothetical two-player draws to explain complex terms. Of course, in reality you will not often play exactly one-on-one, although the ability to do it correctly is one of the most important for any poker player. And all because in the final of any tournament you will definitely touch this moment.

What is poker heads-up?

Sometimes you can come across a translation of the English term heads-up as a "warning", but in our case, "one-on-one" or "face to face" is more appropriate. This is a type of poker in which two players compete at once.

Now in many poker rooms you can find separate tournaments where players play only together. Participation in them is useful because you will learn how to behave correctly in the tournament finals.

It is quite natural that even participating in a large number of events, you will rarely reach the very end, and the game in this format is a little more difficult, and just different from the competition against a large number of opponents. Thus, it will not be superfluous to learn this.

Heads-up in poker is also called a round when there are only two players left in the hand, even if there were more of them at the beginning.

How to play heads-up poker?

It is worth starting with you especially, that when playing at least for three, your victory does not mean the obligatory defeat of both opponents. Playing together, the victory of one will necessarily signify the defeat of the second. Thus, when playing one-on-one, poker players, roughly speaking, exchange chips.

Our main goal in this format is to try to beat the opponent in any possible way, getting as much money out of him as possible.

Another point is the absence of one specific strategy when playing against just one opponent. You always have to adjust to who you are playing against and remember that he does the same.

So, you probably know that in order to win, it is much more important to consider the characteristics of your opponent, and not to play on the strength of your hands. Although the latter also cannot be ruled out. In the case of heads-up, such a requirement must be elevated to an absolute.

It will not be superfluous if by the time of the final you have already collected some information about how your opponent is playing.

Classic knowledge of the strategy of the game will not be superfluous either. Even when playing against an opponent, you simply have to know how to act in accordance with the mathematical expectation, what are the odds with each specific number of outs, how to read the opponent's bluff, and much, much more.

Oddly enough, but here it will also not be superfluous to take into account the position. Many people point out that when playing heads-up poker, the big blind is a more profitable place to play successfully.

Tilt will influence you here more than usual, especially if we are talking about the final of the tournament. You've probably already come a decent way, and you may be morally drained by the prolonged game. As we said before, heads-up is an exchange of chips, and their balance to one side can negatively affect your mood. You won't be able to stop here. To deal with this, you just need to play strong hands as competently as possible in order to reclaim more than half of the stack.

A good advice is to follow a specific strategy in most situations, and then drastically change tactics or use an unexpected technique.

conclusions

Poker heads-up is a game mode where two poker players compete one-on-one. It can be like one of the distribution rounds, when all other opponents just folded and decided not to continue; a specific tournament in this format; or the final of a long MTT or Sit & Go tournament.