Poker Heads Up Cash Game Strategy
A good No Limit Hold’em player can win a lot of money when he is superior to his opponents. This superiority is most evident in heads-up. Here he only has one opponent and, in the best case can play against an inferior player. He doesn’t have to share the opponent with other good players. But how do you play heads-up in No Limit Hold’em cash game?
Heads-up aggression
Aggression is always a key component in poker, especially Texas Hold’em, and more importantly, in heads-up. Patient or reluctant players who are successful are usually referred to as tight-aggressive. In heads-up (HU) cash games, even successful tight-aggressive players have to adapt and play a loose-aggressive style.
Select starting hands
Heads Up Strategy Poker Simply put, you can play all hands in heads up. Many players who come from the ring games have problems with this concept. Just why, From a basic heads-up strategy standpoint, an aggressive player will win more hands than a player who only has good starting hands. A clear numerical example: A player buys at a full ring table and in a heads-up game with 100 big blinds each. In a full-ring cash game, it is normal to often fold several hands in a row; you only pay 1.5 big blinds in ten hands. With the same number of hands in a heads-up game, however, you have to pay 7.5 big blinds.
While you can wait longer for good starting hands in the full ring game, in heads-up, you have to be able to generate money without a hand – aggression beats made hands.
The only problem is that the opponents understand this concept too. Otherwise, you could just raise and fold every time your opponent wakes up with one hand and plays back. Ultimately, he would be blinded. Against weak players, this should be the basic strategy in your game.
But since better players will play back with weaker hands, aggression becomes even more important. You have to raise, reraise and check-raise in some spots, as well as build up pressure, knowing that your opponent will often also not have a made hand. This makes it a fun game of cat-and-mouse and is why many players consider heads-up Texas Hold’em to be poker in its purest form.
Hand rankings
You can play two random cards quickly, but you should also find out what a good hand is for a heads-up strategy. 8-3 offsuit in a 10-handed game is a terrible starting hand, but in heads-up, it is far better than 4-3 offsuit (the other way around in a 10-handed game). High card wins the pot heads-up very often, as only two hands compete against each other. This can also be remembered for playing in the blinds in a 10-handed game if up to one is passed. Then you also play heads-up effectively. In heads-up, ace-rag (an ace and a low card of a different suit) becomes a very strong hand, as does two face cards, e.g. B. King-Queen).
If a player who normally does not play aggressively suddenly plays back heads-up, you should tighten your hand range in this situation. So you don’t want to get into a raise war preflop where your opponent won’t fold due to the money invested and his pot odds, and you are always underdog yourself. For example, you should bring suited connectors with undercards like 4-5 in hearts to the flop cheaply and thereby possibly defeat an overpair from which the opponent can no longer part after the flop. So you filter your aggression, and now and then, you decide to call instead of placing a raise.
Game flow
Hand selection isn’t the only way to control your aggression. One should also consider the game flow. If you push your opponent around the whole time and know that he is only waiting for situations in which he can lure you into the trap, you should slow down your game and also fold promising cards before you run into this trap with your eyesight. Maybe you’ve seen him play cautiously and know how he’s going to play a monster hand. But maybe he limps in this one situation, although otherwise, he always raises. Maybe he calls pre-flop and post-flop, where he would otherwise have simply passed. If the board structure is dry, be ready to pass many of your hands if your opponent is aggression on the turn or river. Or you frustrate him by checking both streets. If you hold the nuts against an otherwise rather tight player, who this time takes the initiative himself, it is a tried and tested method to wait until he pushes the entire stack into the middle because he wants to play his made hands. So you can easily collect your opponent’s entire stack.
If the heads-up cash game opponent is playing more aggressively than you are, you should definitely rethink your strategy. If he is much more aggressive, you are probably wasting money unnecessarily if you don’t just pass at the beginning. One must not find oneself in the situation in which one believes that the opponent has won the game of cat and mouse, and one can only hope for a run of good cards. Then you should rather change the table and thus the opponent.
If you get to a point in heads-up where an all-in can no longer exert pressure due to the size of the stack, you should either fill up or leave the table. In a tournament, the strategy here should be to regain control through steals and to balance the game again. Even aggressive players could make the mistake of trying to keep their chip advantage, waiting too long for a good spot and paving the way back into the game.
If you don’t have significantly fewer chips than your opponent, you should stop the reraising and call more easily. This is how you show your opponent that you cannot be bluffed out of hand with a bet.
Summary
Here we have once again summarized the most important points on the subject of heads-up cash game. In heads-up situations, play a completely different range than you would at a full ring table. Play more aggressively and value the high card. In this form of play, it is much more often decisive. Try to always be the aggressor at the table against weaker and tight opponents. Again, be careful when tight players take the initiative themselves.
If you can’t cope with the way your opponent is playing, switch tables rather than risking your stack with weird moves.