The most popular poker game online is Texas
Hold'em. A problem many novice Limit
Hold'em players have is simply not knowing how to adapt when the table size
shrinks "short handed play!" Four or Three is short handed, though
many poker players consider the number to be 5. Short handed playing strategy
& experience is an essential part of winning a poker
tournament, obviously
it can be done without it. I would say the weakest game for 99.99% of the
players in the world is their heads-up heads-up
or short-handed game.
Playing poker for high stakes is far different than playing in other games. You
will find yourself in less multi-way action and more one-on-one situations.
Therefore, your ‘heads-up’ skills will count enormously. The best players
will dominate in a fairly short period of time. The jousting occurs in the
smaller bets in Limit
Poker, and in the opening and flop in Pot
Limit. After
these initial confrontations, the serious game begins. Then you will see the
‘high level’ players playing short-handed more often because in most games
they are usually in heads-up
confrontations anyway. The best players will dominate in a fairly short time. A period of no more than 24 hours should
determine the best player in this game, no matter how lucky the individual is.
The best poker players will choose Pot
Limit, since it is the most skillful way
to play all of these flop
games. It is also the most skillful way to play 7
Card Stud, 7
Card Stud High-Low, and Razz.
Draw
Poker should be played in a No-Limit
style whether it is high or low. However, with proper ante
structure and blinds,
Draw poker can easily be played in a Limit format. The game that only deserves
to be played No Limit is 5 Card Stud 5
Card Stud (with all 52 cards - no stripped deck).
This is a game where the best players can play for months at a time and not
lose.
The most important thing about heads-up play is that one needs to be
aggressive
and control the betting. Thinking quickly in poker is a huge advantage, as many
players can't assimilate the facts quickly enough. Good players make decisions
that are lightning fast. The faster you can comprehend the situation the larger
your advantage over your opposition. By playing at a fast pace you force your
opponents to make decisions more rapidly, and if they can't think as quickly as
you, they will feel intimidated and rushed and will make mistakes. They will not
feel they have the time to analyze the play, and will often respond without
giving the play proper thought. The faster you play, the less information your
competitor gets to absorb, the greater your edge.
Consider Limit
Hold'em, heads-up. First let me explain that many of my
concepts are hard to comprehend for the layman and often require an experienced
player to grasp their validity. Concept one - you can play every hand in heads-up
Hold'em
and defeat an opponent who is not as good as you. In fact, it
may not be a bad idea to even play every hand against anyone, including PRO'S.
“How can you play every hand and win?” I will ask you,” What are you going
to do with an opponent who raises every pot on the button and calls every raise
when you have the button?”
The people who sit and wait for a hand, like they are in a ring
game, will soon
find they have lost numerous buy-ins in
blinds. Others will often
raise
every pot on the
button and call every
raise when you have the
button. So to fight a
person who plays every hand, you must do the same thing. This way, in Hold’em
you can crush an opponent who is not as good as you. The swings will be great,
but the person who reads his opponent the best and bets the best will come out
on top with all the chips.
Think of heads-up in this manner - the cards are turned over, face up.
Wouldn’t someone bet every time? Obviously if the cards were turned face up
one of the players would see they had the advantage and would therefore bet. The
same holds true when the cards are face down. So when there is not a bet on one
of the streets, the person with the best hand is either setting up a
check
and raise or that person doesn’t realize he has the best hand.
The idea of the game is to realize when you have the best hand by reading the betting
patterns of your opposition. Obviously, you can’t be right all the
time, but as long as you’re right more often than not, you will be victorious
over your opponent. You have to do is be able to recognize when you have the
best hand more often than he does.
An important factor in playing heads-up is to control the game by
betting and
raising. You have to rely on
position and the ability to outplay your opponent.
Out-playing him means knowing when he is going to bet and
check. You can
maximize your wins or losses in a pot by check-raising which often allows you to
get the free
card when you need it. When playing heads-up
check-raising is one
way to control the betting. Now that does not necessarily mean you have to
bet
every time. The concept here is that when you want the money in the pot, it gets
into the pot, and when you don't, there is no
bet. It's that simple. The object
in Pot
Limit or No
Limit is to get the money called when you want it called and
to get free
cards when you have a bad hand. (These are not easy tasks.) And, of
course, the stronger players will bluff
and steal from those who haven't learned
how to bluff or how to read
bluffs.In heads-up
play, you must assess your opposition "believe me, they are
assessing you." Determine the type of opposition you are facing. "Keep
Book" Are they aggressive, super-aggressive,
passive,
tight, or will they
battle every hand with you until the finish? Here is where the skill really
comes in. The difference between winning and losing is having so many different
styles or gears that the opposition can’t read you. The best players have
styles for offense and for defense - they ‘change
gears’ in a heartbeat,
stopping on a dime and accelerating to light speed in a split second. PRO'S have
brakes, clutches and turbo chargers for the jumps into hyper-space. They know
when it is best to become passive, for speed can kill, especially in poker –
but, when properly applied, speed can be the ultimate weapon. Punish the
opposition on the river!
Playing every hand is a reality you would face against many of the best Limit
Hold'em
players in the world. Random cards are what they are, random cards -
how one plays them is the difference. The cards don't break even in this
imperfect world, but in heads-up it really doesn't matter. Hand values increase
as the number of players at the table decreases. Smaller pairs are playable in a
short-handed game - but raise with them rather than call. The best Limit
hold'em
players have an incredible advantage, in part because many of them
will play a very high percentage of hands. Obviously, no one can ‘have’ a
hand every time in poker – how the hand is played is what makes the
difference. That is where the contest lies. Betting and raising is the key to
controlling the game in almost all situations.
The key to success at Limit
heads up Hold'em
is to set the same worth on all
the pots whether you hold AA
or a 7-2 off-suit. By this I mean not to make the
worth of any pot too much different from any other pot (unless you have the nuts). But the basic rule of thumb is not to make the pots so big that it takes
four or five to get the money back. If both you and your opponent are playing
every hand and should you go to the end, theoretically (statistically) you
should each have the same amount. But this is poker where statistics
do not
govern the outcome - the one who out-bets the other will win the money.
Sometimes you will get a free card from your opponent and sometimes you will value
bet him to get an extra bet. But it is not a perfect world and the cards
don't break evenly. But in heads-up
the best players have so big an edge it is
almost irrelevant.
If this seems too far out in left field for you, experiment one day. When
playing heads-up, raise the pot every time on the button. Check every time after
the flop. Bet or raise every time on 4th street. Notice your results. In fact,
try without looking at your cards - just don't let the opposition know you are
doing this! See if they can adapt to this style of play. If they can’t,
proceed with it, if they can, change tactics. The more weapons in your arsenal
the harder it will be to defeat you.
Consider this - in a heads-up situation, if you sit and wait for a hand like
you’re in a ring game, you will soon find you have lost numerous buy-ins
and blinds. And when you do get involved in betting, the opposition will know you
have something. They will check-raise and
trap you, or let you win the minimum.
You will be blinded out "Like Broomcorns
Uncle" if you wait for a premium hand.
Heads-up players that win, bet their own hands, they don't bet yours. You have
to learn to do this yourself. The object of play is to get the money called when
you have the best and have free cards given to you when you have the worse. Very applicable to
Limit
heads-up
Hold'em.
Heads-up is not a game for
callers "Calling
Stations". Callers will go broke quicker than they can
pull the money out of their pockets, because calling demands they have the best
hand. Those who are calling will soon be losing. If you find yourself always on
the defensive against an opponent, you are most likely over-matched, because it
is the bettor that has the edge, not the caller. Even if you always bet and
always lose your money betting, you are still better off betting. Betting allows
you two ways to win rather than the one you have by calling: if you bet, you may
not be called, thereby allowing you to win with possibly the worst hand;
scenario two is that you have the best hand and, of course, win.
This is so important that I will repeat it - Heads-up is not a game for
Calling
Stations.
Feeler bets, those made on the flop, will give you some kind of information
about the opposition’s hand. Check-Raising
(with or without anything) is a
major part of this game. In heads-up up, you must be prepared to bet with nothing
because many times the game is merely ‘nothing’ against ‘nothing’, with
the pot going to the best bettor.
Remember, the game of heads up poker is betting that your opposition does not
make his hand. Think about that. The game of heads up poker is betting that your
opposition does not make his hand. And this is why position is so important.
As a rule of thumb, never 3 bet on the big
blind in heads-up
Hold'em. And
never 4 bet on the button in heads-up
Hold'em. Anyone who 3 bets in the
big
blind, will come out betting on the flop the majority of the time - he has
already told you he wants to establish dominance in the hand. So expect him to
come out swinging to either try and steal or continue to play the hand he has.
No matter what you have or had, either way you are setting him up. (Same thing
goes if you have Aces on the big
blind and get raised.) By calling you are not
telling the opposition anything. But you now know that he will try to steal it
after the flop if he doesn’t have a hand or bet it if he does. Here is where
the trapping comes into play. If you had Aces on the button raised, and were
re-raised, do you think it would be smart to make it four bets? NO - Better to
play possum and feign weakness and have the opposition bet into you, thereby
setting a trap for themselves. This gives you a far better result than making it
4 bets before the flop and taking control of the hand too soon. You are setting
your victim up to bluff the
pot or
trap
himself. Be patient and you’ll be
pleased with the results you achieve.
Not allowing the opposition to read your style is the difference between winning
and losing. The key is having so many different styles that the competitor
doesn't know which gear you are in, or how to combat it. All heads heads-up players are
aggressive some are
very aggressive. But in a horse race, the speed of the
fastest one is the
one to fear. However, do you always want to be the fastest, if the pace of the
game is fast enough? The answer is no. The name of the game is knowing how to bet in order to gather the most information about a player’s hand. Sometimes
it is best to lay off the pace and drown him in the river.
Many things are a given in heads-up poker, just as in
ring
game
poker. Expect a person who raises on the button to
bet when the
flop is high
cards. Also expect that he is going to bet no matter what in that situation, or check to give the impression he is
sand-bagging. Then, when you
check on 4th
street, he’ll come out betting, believing that YOU think he was trying to
trap
you.
The best way to lower the luck factor is by playing short-handed
Pot
Limit, or
short-handed anything. Small
blinds and large stacks in Pot
Limit are as sure a
way to victory as was ever devised. You will be able to bet on the river
without
the possibility of being drawn out. It takes tremendous skill to play this game,
as it demands the use of all the weapons in your playing arsenal.
Playing split
games gives you a greater edge and balance in your overall game;
your inability to play all games equally well will not hinder you as much. Split
games are more forgiving than others and allow you to play far worse than you
could in any other games and still win. You get into positions in split games
where you have 2 small bets in the pot and call 3 larger bets with the best case
scenario being you break even – something that doesn’t happen in other
games. Cut your eyeteeth playing split games – they offer variations that
raise (or lower) your level of play.
Playing Poker Means just that "Playing Poker!" Learning to adapt is
the key to heads-up play. And never underestimate the opposition. It is better
to over-estimate him and adjust your play later on. If you have to adjust
‘down’, he is yours anyway.
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