Introduction to Heads-Up
Introduction
In this article
- You need a minimum of 50 stacks
- Pick out the fish
- Loose in position, tight out of position
Many players consider heads-up to be the Cadillac of poker. For some it's the one on one nature of the discipline, and for others the prevalence of reads and psychological aspects, that make the format so attractive. Whichever way you look at it, heads-up is becoming increasingly popular.
In this article we approach the most important features of this game mode: you will learn what to pay attention to when it comes to bankroll management and table selection. We will also introduce you to the basics of the pre-flop game.
The fact that we can only provide you with the fundamentals is self-explanatory: NL Hold'em is a very situation-dependant game, especially in heads-up. Adjusting to the opponent is the most important skill in heads-up, and even though there might be some common characteristics, every single player is unique.
That's also the reason why you shouldn't try this variant until you possess a solid foundation in both full ring and short-handed games. Without good post-flop skills and hand-reading abilities, heads-up turns into nothing but pure gambling.
Bankroll management
As heads-up matches are usually way more aggressive and you'll be all-in or in big pots more frequently, the variance is a lot higher and this has to be reflected in your bankroll management: a conservative bankroll management of at least 50 stacks is strongly recommended.
In case you want to climb the limits faster, there is another approach you can try: when your bankroll reaches $6000, you can take a shot at NL200, but if you lose 5 stacks and fall back to $5000, 50 stacks for NL100, you move down to NL100 again.
This means you keep using the 50 stack bankroll management, but you can advance to the upper limits faster if you beat them right away. As usual, the prerequisite for those shots are both tilt resistance and discipline. No matter how big a fish you spot on a higher limit or how slowly you progress on your current limit, if you can't handle the tilt or moving down a limit, you yourself will be the fish faster than you realise.
Variance can strike hard in heads-up. Make sure to keep this in mind: you have to be able to move down. You have to keep the tilt in check. If you can't, heads-up is the wrong game for you.
Table selection
It's not unusual to see astronomical win rates in heads-up, even for bigger sample sizes. In fact, the reason is very simple. If you play 6-max tables and spot a huge fish, you have to share him with the other four players - you won't be able to play him in every hand, so your share of the win rate is moderate.
In heads-up, however, you have him all to yourself and can exploit your edge against him in every single hand. You can compare the situation to a 6-max table where you're playing against 5 fishes - something that, in contrast to heads-up, almost never happens.
This should make it clear that table selection is probably the most important thing when preparing for heads-up and many strong players underestimate this factor. But how to use this knowledge in practice?
One recommendation is to set up a database with lots of mined hands, so you have an idea about players' abilities before you sit down at their table.
Of course, you can't just go and use the stats in the usual way, because you're not looking for people with the highest possible VPIP anymore, but for opponents with other leaks. If your sample size is really big, you can of course just look at "amount won", or "amount lost" respectively, to spot your victims.
Other than that, it is also a good idea to look for opponents that play too many hands out of position, which is shown in the difference between their VPIP and PFR. A high "Fold to continuation bet" value is also a nice trait, as it allows you to win a lot of pots with unimproved hands right on the flop.
Full Tilt Poker has another nice feature that can come in handy: you can attribute colours to certain ability levels. If you ever run into a player who is obviously superior to you, mark him red, leave the table and avoid him in the future. If you play against a real fish however, give him a green note. You can go ahead and expand this colour scheme further, e.g. by attributing colours according to player types.
How do my pre-flop ranges look like?
First of all, it's important to point out that the difference from 6-max isn't as big as you would think. In fact, the same principle applies: you try to put the villain on a range, then to derive the best possible decision and act accordingly, just like for any other poker variant. This means the differences post-flop aren't overly big, although the wider ranges open more opportunities for moves.
One main difference is that there are no multi-way pots, rendering mainly the pre-flop game considerably looser. This also means you will find yourself (and your opponent) unimproved on the flop more frequently.
As every decision is completely dependant on the opponent you're up against, it's a lot harder to give good guidelines to follow on the table; basically, every line is possible under certain circumstances, though some common ground can be established.
Being small blind in heads-up gives you a huge advantage, as you will always be in position post-flop - you want to use this as often as possible and can thus play a lot of hands. Generally speaking, it's a good approach to either raise or fold in the small blind. A sensible pre-flop raising range would be:
22+, A2s+, A2o+, K2s+, K2o+, Q2s+, Q6o+, J2s+,
J7o+, T6s+, T7o+, 96s+, 97o+, 85s+, 86o+, 74s+, 75o+, 64s+, 65o+, 53s+,
54o, 43s, 32s
Of course you have to adjust it to your opponent: if your opponent rarely defends his BB, or defends it mostly passively and then often folds to a continuation bet, you can raise even looser. The higher you estimate your fold equity, the looser your game should become.
In most cases, you shouldn't play any tighter, except if you happen to run into a villain that 3-bets massively or gives you a lot of action post-flop, meaning you won't see a lot of pots without showdown.
In case the opponent 3-bets, your course of action will be dependant on his 3-betting range, which doesn't differ much from the usual ring game approach. You will of course meet opponents that will 3-bet a lot more than you're used to, which means you will also have to loosen up in this spot.
In the big blind, you should play very tight, as you have to continue the rest of the hand out of position. The same thing goes for other variants: loose in position - tight out of position!
If you're still unsure about the opponent's playing style, it's easier to 3-bet hands that you want to play right away. Due to the limited stack sizes, you will give yourself less room for big mistakes post-flop but you are committed to the pot faster anyway, in case you hit anything.
What hands to defend and whether you defend them actively or passively is, yet again, completely dependant on the opponent. A general range that you should always defend is the following:
22+, A8s+, ATo+, KTo, K9s, QTo, Q9s, JTo, J9s, T8s, 97s, 87s, 76s, 65s
It is often the case that you can play looser after collecting some good reads and in case you're able to outplay your opponent post-flop, but especially Ax hands shouldn't be played looser against unknown; otherwise they will lead you into difficult "way ahead / way behind" spots, which tend to be way too expensive without information all too often.
Conclusion
In the end, it's fair to say heads-up cash games aren't that much different from other NL cash games. The game is generally a bit looser, but you still have to figure out the opponent's ranges and make your decisions according to them. This means the differences in the post-flop game are mostly minor and are beyond the scope of this introductory article.
One thing that emerges, though, is the strong influence of variance: in heads-up, you can move up or down a couple of stacks really fast. This can get to your head quickly and find its way into your game. Tilt is lurking behind every corner and experienced players will downright aim at tilting their opponents.
Even when it looks effortless and your opponent seems to be a gigantic fish, the game is very demanding mentally. If you mess it up, show that you have the discipline to leave the table - move down the limits if and when you have to. A lot of good players managed to tilt away their whole bankroll telling themselves "Why stop? I do have a huge edge."
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