Heads up -- limp with premium hands?

[baudib]

I was wondering what your thought is on this. If you're down to the final two, should you limp with huge hands like AA, KK, etc.

In this situation, I'll raise with almost any ace and may make huge raises with smaller pocket pairs. But with a big hand like that I'd rather take the opponent down right there by trapping them. It works well when they catch top pair on the flop with J10 or something but it can really backfire sometimes. Obviously AA and KK are better than 50-50 vs. one person but if you don't raise you have no idea what the other person has. It also becomes difficult to lay down AA or KK on a raggy flop when the opponent may have hit two pair with 73o.

How do you play this?

[Fnord]

Heads-up isn't as much about the cards...

In this situation, I'll raise with almost any ace and may make huge raises with smaller pocket pairs. But with a big hand like that I'd rather take the opponent down right there by trapping them.

Predictably tricky.

[CrunchyNuts]

An observant opp will notice the changeup and be cautious. A donk will be easily trapped (but may still get lucky).

However, I don't consider a PFR heads up with a good hand to ever be a bad idea - it might be the one where they happen to get fed up and push AI over you.

[dalecooper]

Predictably tricky.

Truer words were never spoken. This kind of trickery will really blindside a poor or average player, but a good player will eat you alive as soon as they figure out what you're doing. Which may be sooner than you think. For reference, I saw Phil Hellmuth on the heads up championship employing basically this exact strategy, and the commentators pointed it out - and a hand later, his opponent said it out loud, too. (Why, I don't know... he was only inviting Phil to change gears by pointing it out.)

The optimum heads up strategy against a good, observant opponent - at least when the stacks are large relative to the blinds - is to employ a basic approach with regular change-ups. Limp your very best hands 3/4 of the time, but 1/4 of the time fire in your normal raise or even an overbet. Raise most of the time with ace hands and small pairs, but limp those sometimes as well - when you limp an ace and pair it, or limp a small pair and flop a set, you will destroy the opponent that thinks you always raise with those hands. You have to keep 'em guessing a bit. Now, if the blinds are high or your opponent isn't that good, don't bother with all that trickery - it's unnecessary.

One thing: don't telegraph all your hands. You mention making huge raises with small pocket pairs. I have a friend who plays heads up like this. He has a standard raise for any ace or two high cards like KQ, KJ. He has a mega-raise for small pocket pairs (because, quote, he hates playing them after the flop). And he limps in (intending to check-raise) with big pairs. The first time I played against him this was very effective and the match ended quickly (he had me outchipped and hit the right hands at the right times, let's put it that way). Since then I've had his ownership papers. I'm not afraid to play him heads up any more because his raises - or lack of raises - basically tell me when he has a hand I should worry about.

[drmcboy]

If opp usually lets you limp I'd stick with the raise, if he's been popping you when you limp then this is the time. If you get a raise that's not AI no need to slow play to the flop, either he folds to your push and learns a lesson (you shall not punish my limp) or he calls and you do the happy dance.

I also see a lot of opps HU who seem to always think the blinds are a lot higher than they are - pushing 4-6K into a 350 pot with any pair/Ax, KQ-J, folding everything else. Obviously you want to limp here.

Side note - HU you should be raising more than just PPs and As.

[Fnord]

For reference, I saw Phil Hellmuth on the heads up championship employing basically this exact strategy, and the commentators pointed it out - and a hand later, his opponent said it out loud, too. (Why, I don't know... he was only inviting Phil to change gears by pointing it out.)

I think I saw this episode (only one of the heads-up chamionchip I saw.) Was it against Lyle Berman? Phil was doing a lot of limping pretty good hands, keeping pots small, drawing bluffs and playing well post-flop.

[dalecooper]

Yes, that's the match. Actually Phil was a bit trickier than this because he wasn't doing much raising at all - he played snake in the grass with more than just aces and kings. But the point remains, his opponent picked up on it pretty quickly and if the match had gone much longer Phil would have had to change his approach. If you check when you hit something good and bet when you have little or nothing, your opponent will figure it out if they're decent.

It was a good match though. Speaking of which, did you see that crazy one with Scott Fischman and the guy whose last name I can't pronounce or even vaguely spell? That was just... strange. The other guy (not Fish) laid down trip queens on the river to a decent raise... baffling. Later on he made some good moves though. I felt throughout like he was very intimidated by Fischman; couldn't even tell after the fact exactly how he won. I seem to recall Fish threw away a lot of chips on a very weird bluff, maybe that was the key hand.

[baudib]

I do try to change things up, e.g., just check with 33 or KQ. I would always raise (although not reraise) with AK heads up. I also raise with other hands than Ax, Kx or pp, like medium connectors.

if I think I'm a lot better than the other guy and am outstealing him then I may just raise. I was wondering how other people play this.

heads-up or three-way, I'm all-in with pocket 9s, 10s, Js in most cases.