Poker Lesson 08: Heads Up Strategy

Think of heads up play as the poker version of tennis. It is one on one, with serves and returns. In fact it has almost every element of the game of tennis except for sweating and tiny little skirts.

Like any other game of poker, position is key. Instead of the button going around the table, it goes back and forth between the players. When the button is in your possession you will be the one who is posting the small blind in this format. This means that you get to act first, before the flop and last after it. This means you can take the lead in the pot, and then add some pressure by acting post flop. You want to do most of your attacking when you have the button. The button's main advantage is that there are three rounds of betting after the flop, which means if you wish you can launch three attacks at your opponent and essentially put most of their stack on the line.

Heads up poker is a horse of another color. Even experienced players can get sloppy in a one on one situation. If you keep running into conflicts in the early stages then the chances are that you have exposed some kind of weakness in their play – for example do they frequently call raises or check-raise out of position, thereby making themselves vulnerable, or do they play passively from the button allowing you to take a few more liberties? Do they bluff too much or too little, or always respond to your play in certain ways? Do they raise too much or too little, letting you into hands or ruining the dynamics of their game?

In all of these situation you can behave like the campus bully giving a wedgie to a member of the computer club. All of these are weaknesses that you can look to exploit through the course of the game, and you should of course adjust accordingly to them. Remember this is not about ego and dangerous moves are not often rewarded. It is all about the person who has all the chips in the end.