Heads Up Poker

One of the great things about internet poker is the ease with which you can play different games. A game that I enjoy playing from time to time is the “Heads-Up” sit-n-go. I discovered these several months ago when my bankroll was short at Full Tilt Poker. I immediately realized that these were a great way to build a bankroll. If you played well, then you could easily pick your spots and have a very high win rate. There were fewer suck-outs than ring games and normal SNGs. Heads up SNGs also allow you to gain a lot of experience very quickly. From these games, I obtained a greater appreciation for the power of position and how to play cards that are less than premium hands.

Although I initially did great at these games, I soon burned out and started playing horribly. I was trying to run over my opponents rather than pick my spots. After a several month hiatus, I started playing heads-up again this week – this time at Poker Stars. I have been playing $5+$0.25 SNGs and I’d guess that I am winning about 70% of them right now. The biggest improvement in my game is that I am playing less aggressively. I am betting more like a normal game, somewhere in the range of half to 75% of the pot size (or maybe a little bigger). This allows me to apply pressure to my opponent while not risking too much of my stack.

My cynical side also enjoys watching bad players make horrible moves. Many of the people at TPF absolutely hate “donkey of the week” posts, but I love them. (Aside: I must admit that I am afraid that one of these days someone will post a “donkey of the week” and it’ll be frazwood. Certainly, I’m capable of playing that badly.) Anyway, I had this hand this morning. I am not sure if my push with a 3-flush on the board was that great, but I know that calling with a Q-high flush draw (and an inside straight draw) was a really bad idea.

Table One on One
Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: frazwood (1750 in chips)
Seat 2: donkey (1250 in chips)
frazwood: posts small blind 10
donkey: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to frazwood [Ts Qh]
frazwood: raises 40 to 60
donkey: raises 80 to 140
frazwood: calls 80
*** FLOP *** [3d Jd 8c]
donkey: bets 120
frazwood: calls 120
*** TURN *** [3d Jd 8c] [9d]
donkey: bets 160
frazwood: raises 1330 to 1490 and is all-in
donkey: calls 830 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [3d Jd 8c 9d] [9s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
donkey: shows [Qd 5h] (a pair of Nines)
frazwood: shows [Ts Qh] (a straight, Eight to Queen)

I have read very little about heads up strategy, so I had to develop my own -- although I doubt that it's anything earth-shattering. Preflop: I am loose-aggressive with the button; I am a little tighter but much more passive when I am the big blind. Post-Flop: I am loose-aggressive when I have the button and tight-aggressive when I don't. My purpose of this strategy is to put myself into a position to outplay my opponent after the flop. This is much easier when you are the aggressor when you have position; alternatively, out of position, you need a better hand.