Heads Up Poker Strategy

Heads up poker play is a crucial aspect of tournament and sit and go strategy. Since the difference between 1st place and 2nd place is so great in tournaments and sit and goes, you can increase your win rate significantly by improving your heads up play.  This article will give you some advanced tips so you can dominate heads up.

Heads up is all about winning pots when no one has much of a hand. If you have your opponent dominated, you'll win the hand. If your opponent has you dominated, they'll win the hand. What makes the difference in heads up poker is winning when no one has much of a hand, so that's what we'll focus on.

Aggression

The key to doing this is aggression. The first thing you need to learn is that marginal hands become much more valuable when playing heads up.

Q7 off suit is the average starting hand. This means that if you face Q7 off suit against two random cards, it will win as often as it loses. Anything above Q7 is a statistical favorite in heads up play. Anything below Q7 is a statistical underdog, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t play those hands.

Position is also extremely important in heads up poker, because you either go first or second. Preflop, the dealer goes first and the big blind goes second. Post flop, the big blind goes first and the dealer goes second. When you are dealer, you should be raising preflop with any ace, king, two high cards, mid-high suited connector, or pocket pair. The only exception to this is if you are playing a maniac, and mean to trap, but for now let’s follow these rules.

When you are the big blind, never let your opponent in cheaply. One of the dangers of heads up play is letting your opponent consistently call your big blind. If you do this, you have no idea where you stand when the flop comes.

If the dealer just calls, you should be raising the majority of the time. This is especially true if you’re playing a passive player. If your opponent is playing aggressively, and raises from dealer position, you should often reraise. By doing this he will most likely fold, but if he goes all in you’ll know that you were beat.

This will give you the basic understanding of heads up play. Once you master this, you can move onto more advanced strategy.