Archive for ALTERNATE POKER FORUM Your Poker Forum For Online Poker Freerolls, Buy-Ins & Leagues Talk Poker Forums, Poker Lounge, Strategy and Rules          ALTERNATE POKER FORUM Forum Index -> Poker Strategy & Rules PoolDemon Playing heads up When it gets to heads up, I don't play any two cards, I have minimums that I push with or call an all in with, depending on the player involved. Lately it doesn't matter if I had the best hand PF, or the worst, but I'm not hitting that flop & it's getting frustrating... I know the odds of the hands I play vs the unknown hand of my opponent, if I feel that it's coin flip time, I'm playing hands that are 50% to win or better usually, with a preflop push or call all in. Last nights last hand for me was 9-8 off, a lower hand than what I like, but with the SB only calling, I can represent a better hand, and push, I could be called by 77 or lower & it's a coin toss, or 10's or higher & I'm way behind, but if I'm the aggresor, at least I put my opponent on the decision... So the real question is, am I playing too aggressive, or just getting very unlucky lately ? Know-nuffin Re: Playing heads up PoolDemon wrote: ...I know the odds of the hands I play vs the unknown hand of my opponent, if I feel that it's coin flip time, I'm playing hands that are 50% to win or better usually, with a preflop push or call all in... I wouldn't cross the road with those odds. Heads up is often a feel for how much the other player can be manoeuvred; and what you think their impression of you is. Do you think you you are getting into too many coin flips. harry_lime i think heads-up play depends and varies very much on the individual and you can't force a style of play that you're not conmfortable with. i'll give a few tips of how i play heads-up (probably the most successful side of my game) and you can make of it what you will. i'm not saying it is correct, merely how i like to do it : - i'll rarely look to go all-in pre-flop unless i either have 80% of the chips or just 20% of the chips. - i rarely worry about my own cards but try and throw my opponent off balance by varying my betting a lot so i'm not often having to show my cards win or lose. - i will force myself to mix up my plays by not allowing myself to make the same pre-flop bet 3 times in a row - irrespective of my cards. - if i find a player limping or minimum raising a lot, i will start flat calling with even more marginal hands and again, re-raise every 3 or 4 times irrespective of my cards. now this type of play won't work for everyone but for me, it stops pattern forming and i do it almost automatically now. this hopefully makes me harder to read (as i'm often almost betting against type) and allows me to focus on my opponents style and betting rather than worry about my hole cards. if he/she is wondering what the hell i'm doing, then half the battle is won. you're still going to have to make that knock out punch of course but if you can keep on the front foot, the opportunity should arise eventually. so this is a loose approximation of how i would go into a heads up although i'm always ready to change tactics at any time (i have to say that ). my point being, i rarely get frustrated at not hitting cards as most of the time, it won't be a factor. if your aggression is constant and controlled, then stick with it, as this will win out in the end but if your aggression is putting you all-in on too many marginal hands then i would say, yes, it could be time to evaluate a bit. a bit random all this but i'm pretty sure we all have different ways to go about heads up so i felt a little synopsis might be useful. ignore what you will - i ceratinly would set any rules by it. PoolDemon Re: Playing heads up Know-nuffin wrote: PoolDemon wrote: ...I know the odds of the hands I play vs the unknown hand of my opponent, if I feel that it's coin flip time, I'm playing hands that are 50% to win or better usually, with a preflop push or call all in... I wouldn't cross the road with those odds. Heads up is often a feel for how much the other player can be manoeuvred; and what you think their impression of you is. Do you think you you are getting into too many coin flips. well, maybe, but it's usually me that places the big bet to make it happen, being aggresive heads up usually is the best way...for me anyways, but lately it's not working out as am getting outdrawn, or soemtimes behind & don't catch up...just a tad frustrated lately with it... PoolDemon harry_lime wrote: i think heads-up play depends and varies very much on the individual and you can't force a style of play that you're not conmfortable with. I can mix it up, but it's felt like AIOF lately in my HU's, if not AI PF, it's AI off the flop, maybe i'm just in a rut... i'll give a few tips of how i play heads-up (probably the most successful side of my game) and you can make of it what you will. i'm not saying it is correct, merely how i like to do it : - i'll rarely look to go all-in pre-flop unless i either have 80% of the chips or just 20% of the chips. - i rarely worry about my own cards but try and throw my opponent off balance by varying my betting a lot so i'm not often having to show my cards win or lose. - i will force myself to mix up my plays by not allowing myself to make the same pre-flop bet 3 times in a row - irrespective of my cards. - if i find a player limping or minimum raising a lot, i will start flat calling with even more marginal hands and again, re-raise every 3 or 4 times irrespective of my cards. now this type of play won't work for everyone but for me, it stops pattern forming and i do it almost automatically now. this hopefully makes me harder to read (as i'm often almost betting against type) and allows me to focus on my opponents style and betting rather than worry about my hole cards. if he/she is wondering what the hell i'm doing, then half the battle is won. you're still going to have to make that knock out punch of course but if you can keep on the front foot, the opportunity should arise eventually. so this is a loose approximation of how i would go into a heads up although i'm always ready to change tactics at any time (i have to say that ). my point being, i rarely get frustrated at not hitting cards as most of the time, it won't be a factor. some great tips H, when I can, I play similar... if your aggression is constant and controlled, then stick with it, as this will win out in the end but if your aggression is putting you all-in on too many marginal hands then i would say, yes, it could be time to evaluate a bit. Well it's controlled & calculated, as I always have a rough idea of what my PF% to win is, vs who I am playing and chip stack sizes etc... a bit random all this but i'm pretty sure we all have different ways to go about heads up so i felt a little synopsis might be useful. ignore what you will - i ceratinly would set any rules by it. thanks for the replies... harry_lime PoolDemon wrote: if your aggression is constant and controlled, then stick with it, as this will win out in the end but if your aggression is putting you all-in on too many marginal hands then i would say, yes, it could be time to evaluate a bit. Well it's controlled & calculated, as I always have a rough idea of what my PF% to win is, vs who I am playing and chip stack sizes etc... something to try on occasion : take your flop percentages, out percentages, etc, out of the equation and just play your opponents stack and betting style. maybe it works for you, maybe it doesn't, but personally, i think playing the percentages heads up are very over rated and generally bank on the idea that that's what everyone else is doing which gives me a huge advantage from the off. in other words, put your head into the percentages your opponent is playing rather than your own. it works ok for me unless i'm playing a HOUSECATS or Kesza type who i get the feeling are doing exactly the same thing. which makes them harder opponents to read for my particular style. PoolDemon harry_lime wrote: PoolDemon wrote: if your aggression is constant and controlled, then stick with it, as this will win out in the end but if your aggression is putting you all-in on too many marginal hands then i would say, yes, it could be time to evaluate a bit. Well it's controlled & calculated, as I always have a rough idea of what my PF% to win is, vs who I am playing and chip stack sizes etc... something to try on occasion : take your flop percentages, out percentages, etc, out of the equation and just play your opponents stack and betting style. maybe it works for you, maybe it doesn't, but personally, i think playing the percentages heads up are very over rated and generally bank on the idea that that's what everyone else is doing which gives me a huge advantage from the off. in other words, put your head into the percentages your opponent is playing rather than your own. it works ok for me unless i'm playing a HOUSECATS or Kesza type who i get the feeling are doing exactly the same thing. which makes them harder opponents to read for my particular style. well, that's kinda what I do, I adapt to who I'm playing, if it's an HC or K style player, who regularly pushes, I will play a more aggresive game, otherwise, they steamroll you...with that style, you can't try & guess what they have, so knowing the odds of the hand you are holding is very important...you will be in many more coin flips than wanted, or blinded out fast... If I get to play someone like yourself, the way you mix it up lets me play more pots, more "real" poker, which is more to how I prefer to play it, just lately I've been involved in much more of the AIOF style, and have to play accordingly...and I'm not hitting the flops or haveing the better hand PF or off the flop hold up, so I am as I said before, quite frustrated... Arjonius One thing that I think makes quite a difference in heads up play is the chip stacks relative to the blinds.  Basically, you can do a lot more when you're deeper.  In the large majority of tournaments I've been in that late, that's not the case, which leads to a lot od all in or fold play. PoolDemon definetely tournies reach a stage that there isn't enough chips in play relative to the stacks/blinds that it becomes AIOF... HOUSECATS All depends on how my opponent is playing to how i play. If he is overly aggressive then I look for 2 good cards and try to win the coin flip. If he over bets preflop every hand than it well be Allin or fold. If he just calls or min raise then I well play the flop and try to trap or out play him. And I am sure he has the same plan as me. MrBadBeat This is a really good thread - I've only just discovered it. I used to think I was OK at heads up and tended to get the better of opponents more often than not. But I've been missing out of late. I think I've become too aggressive and too keen to pull the all-in trigger to scare the other player off the pot. I can relate to the points that PoolDemon is making. I also like Harry's points about mixing up your style of play and trying to put your opponent off-balance regardless of the cards you're holding. I think I'm too card-focussed and play too aggressively if my cards are promising and fold too easily if they are weak. Maybe I've got to try to play a cheap buy-in heads up without looking at my cards (covering that part of the screen up) and see if I can get a feel for how I can wrong-foot the other player. Maybe looking at cards is over-rated...        ALTERNATE POKER FORUM Forum Index -> Poker Strategy & Rules Page 1 of 1