Heads up

gichka97 · Jun 4, 2020

Hey guys,

Do you think heads up is gambling, especially on tournaments when you reach the final table and you were playing so serious a lot of hours and when 2 players are remaining, the luck is the thing, which will determine the winner? Are there any tips how to play good in heads up?

Poker_Mike · Jun 5, 2020

gichka97 said:
Hey guys,

Do you think heads up is gambling, especially on tournaments when you reach the final table and you were playing so serious a lot of hours and when 2 players are remaining, the luck is the thing, which will determine the winner? Are there any tips how to play good in heads up?

If you think about it whenever you raise to isolate then you are essentially headsup - even at a full table.

But - headsup in a tournament - down to the final two players - is a whole different game.

I like to say, "Play the player not the game."

But that could sound a little confusing.

I like to try to get my opponent to commit a lot of chips on the flop or turn and then get them to abandon them.

But most players won't fall for that type of trap.

So usually headsup is actually a war of attrition. Button raise - BB call - button cbets the flop and BB folds or raises. Over and over and over.

Any pair is a monster headsup. Any Ace or King is also a very strong hand that could justify shoving or calling a shove.

I hope this helps a little bit. Personally I don't like to gamble.

Here is the page covering headsup play -

https://www.cardschat.com/become-a-winning-poker-player/day-23/

Good luck !

Luan · Jun 5, 2020

man I analyze first the player and I always get tired of the player always being aggressive in the hands trying to leave the opponent with no option of playing causing him to move all in with any card.

TeUnit · Jun 5, 2020

Since HU is often the biggest pay jump in the tourney you really want to be good at it. I think one of the best ways to practice is to play HU hyper sngs, this is usually more similar in stack depth than a deep stack HU sng. If you want to watch some HU training videos http://www.husng.com/ has a ton of free HU videos.

lattedank · Jun 5, 2020

Heads up requires a lot of skill, not so much luck in my opinion. It's not gambling.

DancingNancie · Jun 5, 2020

No I think playing heads up is very much a skill. I think this is a very big strong suit of mine and don't lose many tournaments when getting to final 3. I think the pay jumps dictate the play a lot of the time and you can exploit that. I think betting patterns are also a lot easier to pick up on heads up. I think it is a lot easier to find places to get your money in as a favorite as well.

zwbb · Jun 5, 2020

gichka97 said:
Hey guys,

Do you think heads up is gambling, especially on tournaments when you reach the final table and you were playing so serious a lot of hours and when 2 players are remaining, the luck is the thing, which will determine the winner? Are there any tips how to play good in heads up?

Of all the possible hands in hold'em, only 6% will be paired. This means that only in every 17th hand will you have a pocket pair, and so will your opponent. Each of you will have couples only in every 300th case (i.e., far from every heads-up tournament you will fall into this situation

celtics33 · Jun 5, 2020

unless you are playing AA where you are 80% favorite most of the time its close to a coin flip so yes luck does factor in. but skill is also required and a strong mental game.

MusterIsBack · Jun 5, 2020

There are so many rules for heads up. For example, in a heads up, you need to know what kind of bluffs you can do, and in most cases you have to play in a position with more range. If you are not in the position, your opponent can hit and bluff you a lot. Also, you have to play with a lot of hands in the heads up. If you are not in the position, you will easily fail.
Don't forget that a head up requires a lot of knowledge and skills and is not a chance. Heads up to the type of game you play with different hands. Also, the bet sizing in the heads up is very important.

DancingNancie · Jun 5, 2020

MusterIsBack said:
There are so many rules for heads up. For example, in a heads up, you need to know what kind of bluffs you can do, and in most cases you have to play in a position with more range. If you are not in the position, your opponent can hit and bluff you a lot. Also, you have to play with a lot of hands in the heads up. If you are not in the position, you will easily fail.
Don't forget that a head up requires a lot of knowledge and skills and is not a chance. Heads up to the type of game you play with different hands. Also, the bet sizing in the heads up is very important.

I am not sure I would agree with this. I think there are far less rules playing heads up and it is more art than science. You are basically raising from button and 3 betting from BB when appropriate. I picked off a 6 high bluff last night heads up when he was holding same betting pattern from previous hands that just didn't make sense. The call ended the match and confirmed his bluffing line.

Pindiez · Jun 5, 2020

HU is a really good game mode, but is complicated. HU requires a lot of skill and strategy for me. You must analyze the other player

Sorry for my english

Igor Popadyk · Jun 6, 2020

You can practice playing in the backs. As for me, then one on one is easier

gichka97 · Jun 6, 2020

Thank you for the suggestions from all of you. I can agree with most of you that in heads up, it requires some skills, but there are people in heads up, which will call with everything and you will need the luck in some situations and I think it is more important in that part of the game to have it. Mix from skills and luck will be perfect in heads up and also without luck in poker, it is impossible to win and can argue with everyone, who is telling me that you can win without luck.

junior86 · Jun 6, 2020

WHO IS MORE CRAZZY

Who do you think more crazzy playing poker? For me the Russians, all in always. Are kamikaze.

caracaski220 · Jun 6, 2020

caracaski220

Heads up play is very important. Luck plays a small part,: However skill is the greatest component at this lever. a good heads up player will win 90 percent of the time, at thos level.

mar_dragan · Jun 6, 2020

Yeah i guess hedas up is rly different type of game.
You need anther level of skill and another tactics for win.
Gamble and luck is also required for this type of game,and of course yo must be aggressive player too.

1nsomn1a · Jun 7, 2020

I think heads up is the most adrenaline-fueled game, the quintessence of all poker.I started playing heads up and it's still my favorite part of the game.

Heads up is like a Boxing match, you exchange lekgimi blows with direct jabs, look for weaknesses in the defense of the opponent and then turn off the light with one strong blow, trapping him, of course, if you do not get caught.

Or the pokerroom can't stand it and will give you a cooler.

zwbb · Jun 9, 2020

Igor Popadyk said:
You can practice playing in the backs. As for me, then one on one is easier

Heads-up games can be too simple when you play against a weak opponent, but they can be terribly difficult when you are confronted by a thinking player.

rj_montana · Jun 9, 2020

It's important to take the ego or appearances out of it, a lot of times HU players lose a couple hands and then figure they "need" to win the next one regardless of hole cards going to try to run over the pot for "image", this is a major error

Heads up

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