Tournaments: Playing Heads-Up
written by BeatTheFish.com
...Fishy
says, "Never fold from the small blind, and stay aggressive! Even
though I'm akin to a goldfish, I still pack a mean heads-up punch."
For many
sit
and go buffs, this is a common situation that you should
learn to master if you’re sick of second-place finishes. When it’s
down to just you and one other opponent, the whole dynamic of the
game changes. Every subsequent hand is going to require an action or
reaction from you. You can change the pace of the game at any point.
When you’re down to heads-up play, you’re going to need to get
aggressive. If you’re fortunate enough to have a timid opponent, you
can easily manipulate them and take a lot of their stack before they
realize what’s going on.
Playing heads-up, you’re always going to be in either the small
blind or the big blind. The small blind is the preferable position,
as you’re going to act rather than react. You’ll take control of the
hand. The odds are that your opponent isn’t going to be holding a
decent hand, so you should play aggressively most of the time. Learn
what size raise it takes for your opponent to lay down his cards.
It’s usually tough for him to call, even if he knows you’re just
bluffing at him, because he’s going to be at a disadvantage for the
rest of the hand unless he really hits something. If your opponent
keeps folding his hands to your raise, why not keep raising? That
way, you’ll also know that he probably has something when he decides
to stay in the hand or plays back at you.
An aggressive play that I like to make in the big blind is when my
opponent just flat-calls from the small blind. He probably doesn’t
have much, but figures he can see the flop for cheap. Don’t let him!
Try about a pot-sized raise and see if that shakes him. If he stays
in and you don’t think the flop helped him, bet at it again. Of
course, you’ll be taking a risk that your opponent isn’t slowplaying
a big hand, but you need to be taking those kind of risks when
you’re playing heads-up.
Hands that I like to raise and even go all-in with preflop include
any Ace, any pocket pair, any two face cards, and suited connectors.
You put pressure on your opponent when you do this, especially when
you have him covered in chips. He knows that he’s got to put
everything in to call you, and a lot of players can’t handle that,
especially when they’re holding something like 6-2 offsuit. I never
recommend folding your small blind in heads-up play, either. That is
a timid play that forfeits your positional advantage.
...
Stay aggressive heads-up, and also consider mixing it up by
slowplaying everything once in a while. Did you make the nut flush
on the flop? Top pair with top kicker? Just call your opponent down.
It’ll really bewilder him when you show it down on the river, and
will make him afraid to bluff you in future hands.
General Poker Strategy
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