Advice on heads up strategy.

[Sco]

I have a few questions on heads up strategy. I usually play for like $2 or $5 at the moment, and seem to win around 50% although lose money due to the house cut. I am finding it really hard to do certain things - firstly I never raise a shjit hand, i would always call or fold really....how often should I mix things up?

Can anyone suggest any other tips i could use specifically for heads up?

thanks
Andy

[bair]

i raise or fold every hand. unless i get a monster then i sometimes just complete or check. theres no calling in my HU game.

[LeFou]

Raise any suited, any ace, any pair, any 2 higher than nine.
If reraised a lot of the suited cards can go in the muck. Most pairs should call, as should a decent number of the aces. With stuff like KTo you need some idea of what opp reraises with.

You want to beat opp into submission early. If heshe just completes the small blind, raise substantially with any two cards. Yes, any two cards. Eventually opp will [EDIT] stop (not "start") trying to sneak in with a limp. You'll be given a lot of blinds. At that point, be Very Wary of a limp, because opp is begging you to raise, and probably has >TT. Now you can check, and hopefully hit a flop to crack that hand.

[EasyT]

Great advice, LeFou.

Follow up question on your strat. Does the size of the blind have any bearing on your strategy?
Is this for say, the final 2 of a10-man SnG, or does your strat change if you're playing a 2-man tourney. Do you muck more early in a 2-man while the blinds are small? Or come out aggressive regardless of the smaller blinds?

EasyT

[Miffed22001]

tactics are important post flop too.
Remeber to mix it up here.
If you hit cards either top pair or better then while more often you should bet it sometimes check it see if you can catch the other guy trying to buy it with second pair.
I try also to bet anypair in the same why therefore making your hand difficult to read. Ok if he calls and you dont have top pair thats a pain but still play it strong.

[LeFou]

Great advice, LeFou.

Follow up question on your strat. Does the size of the blind have any bearing on your strategy?

I think the more important factor is your stack relative to opp's. If you've got himher 2to1 or better, start firing away with both barrels immediately. Opp might get sick of this before heshe catches a hand, and push back into something that's worth callin with. In which case you'll often end the tourney quick.

If you double up the opponent, heshe will think that you'll cool off. This is NOT the case. Keep firing, and you are very likely to be back in the running or way ahead again after a few hands.

If you start the HU action with a chip disadvantage, take note that you're not going to scare the opponent as easily. But -- again -- you need to be punishing attempted limps. If you're 1:3 in stacks, you need to have some standards on this, and not raise w/any 2 as above.

"Describing a player as passive in heads-up play is a more polite way of saying that he can't win" -- Jeniffer Harman

[andr3w321]

I think the most important thing in HU is the button. I will raise on the button with any face card and mid suited cards. Try to stay away from calling raises off the button, you are at a huge disadvantage postflop. I'm not a big fan of raising off the button unless you have a really good hand.

HU is all about playing your opponent and setting him up for the destack. If he is really aggressive and bets at everything check raise him a lot. If he moves AI everytime you limp preflop to him, try limping to him with your monsters, and call his AI when he moves. If he's very passive, just bluff at him a lot and back down when he plays back. Raise this player a lot preflop. Remember high card wins HU. A2 beats KQ 60% of the time, but also remember that A2 is easily dominated so don't be too quick to make moves with a hand like this. My favorite hands to raise an opponent AI with are any suited Aces, any ace offsuit down to A8 and suited connectors or 1 gap connectors. That's about all the strategy I have for you. Good luck to you.