Head2Head: How To Change Your Strategy For 1v1

Whether you are a multi-table tournament expert, a Sit’N’Go grinder, or a shorthanded cash-game shark, adapting your game heads-up can be quite tricky. You don’t have to play HUSNGs or HU cash in order to know that, there are many other ways you can end up playing Head2Head. Maybe you want to increase your ROI and are aware of your heads-up leaks - doesn’t matter the type of game, single-table tournament, MTTSNGs or just plain ol’ MTTs. Hopefully you will eventually play heads-up for the win - or maybe you are sick of waiting around for some seats to become available and you want to start the action by opening up a cash table, in all cases you have to approach poker differently than you usually would at a shorthanded or a full ring table.

Head2Head is a different card game filled with many ups and downs, variance on steroids, and a great deal of money up for grabs. Here are some basic adjustments you ought to make when playing against a single opponent.

Loosen Up!

The first and most important adjustment you have to make is loosening up. And by up, we mean way up. It doesn’t matter if you play a boss-like 30/25 at your usual games, these sort of stats are nitty to say the least in a heads-up play. In fact, you have to play somewhere close to 70% of your hands and even more when in position to optimize your chances of winning.

Position is even more important during heads-up play as it gives you countless opportunities for bluffing, pot-controlling, and value-betting. Remember that the small blind is king, you will have position over your opponent the entire post-flop play so don’t be afraid to open up what you would otherwise consider junk in your usual games. This means things like suited three-gappers, small suited one-gappers or Jack-rag.

And to further convince you about the dramatic shift you have to make, consider what the heads-up players usually say to newbies:

While you can't take the saying perfectly literally, think of the strength of the two hands in play. Only four random cards are dealt before the flop. There is a high probability that both players have a weak holding, which leads us to our next section:

Bluffing Is Mandatory

Indeed, there is no turning back. The nit play has no place in heads-up, so you'll have to mix it up and bluff a decent amount of time. Why? You guessed it, because the opponent will usually have a weak holding, some kind of a marginal hand that can’t stand pressure.

Don’t be afraid to double- or triple-barrel if necessary while at the same time keeping in mind the opponent in front of you. Is he the type of player who can call three bets with Ace- of King-high? Be sure to have a plan and only bluff on favorable boards and cards. Will he fold a bottom pair to pressure? Then use this weapon and kill you opponent at the heads-up poker table. Either way, you’ll need some serious soul-reading skills in order to crush your foe.

Again, we can’t stress enough about the importance of position: use bluffing in position when you are last to act and you have gathered as much info as possible, then open up your small blind aggressively. Yes, that’s right, AGGRESSIVELY!

Aggression Is Key

Playing passively can hurt you a lot in a heads-up game. Don’t just complete the blind and call post-flop. There is a lot of dead money in the pot - in many cases not even contested - and the only way to get the goods is to bet and raise like you've got the nuts.

Also take into consideration the rake which is sky-high in heads-up cash. Why? Because there is a lot of action involved and a lot of hands that are defended, many times even turned into a bluff. If you play passively, you will not only lose to your opponent but also to the House. You can’t give up that many pots anymore because all those pots will come back to haunt you in the long run. In other words, don’t play like it’s your usual 12-table niting-down grind, not paying that much attention to the way your opposition is playing.

Heads-up play requires your full-commitment on the poker felt, that’s why you won’t see many heads-up players - tournament or cash - playing more than two to four tables. So go out there and play poker like it was meant to be played, pushing your opponent’s buttons, making him tilt, and forcing him to spew away money, another major plus for being aggressive.

Heads-Up Play: The Purest Form of Poker

All the above adjustments and recommendations make heads-up a both loved and hated poker variation. Loved because of the action and hated because of the high variance. Many even say that heads-up play is the purest form of poker. Why? Because to really be a crusher, you have to be an expert at how to play your whole range on a variety of boards. This usually requires a lot of experience, not to mention excellent hand-reading skills.

In Head2Head, playing the top range is not enough anymore and bluffing becomes a must. Versus good opponents, you have to play balanced in order to survive and you also have to adjust and re-adjust your strategy on the go as the meta-game changes.

How do you adjust heads-up? Be sure to leave a comment about your head2head play below.