Two Plus Two Internet Magazine - October 2007

http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/current/Bush1007.html

Two Plus Two Internet Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 10

Five Basic Mistakes to Look For In an Opponent When You're New to Heads-up No-limit Hold 'em by Frederic Bush It's hard to get a bigger edge in poker than when you are heads-up against a weak opponent. No-limit heads-up cash games in particular can be extremely profitable at the moment, because little material has been published on how to play heads-up, and that material has been primarily focused on tourneys. The presence of an ante in tournament poker, and the smaller relative stacks, make heads-up tourney advice of limited applicability to no-limit cash games, which means that new players have little guidance in how to play. I am sure that will change over the next few years, as this game becomes more popular, but for now there is a window of high profitability. Here are five common errors that opponents make heads-up that I consider to be the easiest to spot and most profitable to exploit. I believe that even without a deep theoretical understanding of heads-up hold 'em, a player who is a winner in other no-limit hold 'em games should have a strong edge against an opponent who makes these mistakes.

1) Your opponent limps in on the small blind instead of raising I was recently getting back into heads-up poker after several months away from the game, and I refused to play against a guy I recognized as a regular, winning player. "Good luck with the button limpers and minbuyers," he said sarcastically. Now, while a minbuy is not in and of itself a large error, limping your button is. The most powerful move you can make in heads-up hold 'em is to raise your SB. As Sklansky teaches in The Theory of Poker, all poker results from a struggle for the antes, which in this case means the two blinds. Raising your button practically guarantees that you will get your share of blinds uncontested. Proper play in the big blind involves folding most hands; the positional disadvantage is difficult to overcome. As a result, raising almost every hand in the small blind is immediately profitable vs. a tight opponent. This move is so obvious to most strong players that they do it almost without thinking, which is why, when you find someone who doesn't, you should take notice. Someone who gives up that advantage is passing up guaranteed EV by allowing you to play a large number of pots that you otherwise would have to give up uncontested, and that's a big leak. I should point out that someone who raises 60% of the time and limps the other 40% is still making a mistake (he's giving you information about when his holding is sub par) but he's not making a mistake of the same order of magnitude that a guy who limps 60% of the time and folds 40% of the time is. It is *very* rare that you will find an opponent who will open-fold his SB too much. These sorts of folks are usually new to Heads-up and probably ill-suited to the game. If you find someone who's folding, perhaps, 50% or more of the time on his SB, then you should be able to grind him down over time in a variance-free fashion merely through stealing his blind more than he steals yours.

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Two Plus Two Internet Magazine - October 2007

http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/current/Bush1007.html

2) Your opponent rarely folds his BB when you raise the SB I mentioned how bad the positional disadvantage is. Most of your profits in heads-up games will come from people playing poorly in their big blind, and that generally comes from seeing too many flops. The player in position gets to dictate how big a pot to play, and can punish an opponent who plays too many weak hands. Bad suited cards make weak flushes and weak two pair hands. Bad high-card hands make weak one-pair hands. In these cases, it can be tricky to gauge how strong your hand is in comparison to your opponent's hand. With position, you can check behind on a street to control the size of the pot with a medium-strength hand. However, out of position, you might well be facing a pot-sized bet with that same middle-strength hand, which can be an expensive problem. On some occasions, you will find someone who plays 100% of his big blinds. These folks are uncommon, but they are to be treasured. They are routinely putting in their money with the worst hand and the worst position.

3) Your opponent rarely plays back at you out of position Since you're going to be raising a ton from the small blind, you're going to be raising some lousy hands, and in this case the best defense is a good offense. A big blind who reraises a lot preflop is your worst enemy because you will often be faced with the choice of either letting him take down the pot preflop or continuing on with a marginal hand in a large pot. Similarly, you're going to be taking frequent stabs at pots in position. Someone who might throw in a checkraise is much more dangerous than someone who won't. First, you lose control over the pot size when the checkraise comes in. Second, you lose your pot equity with hands like overcards or bottom pair or a gutshot draw when you are forced to fold to an aggressive player's substantial checkraise. A weaker opponent might've merely check/called and let you draw out.

4) Your opponent passively chases hands for big bets Sometimes, it can be hard to spot a player who is chasing too much in a heads-up match. A good heads-up strategy can involve calling bets with hands that might get you laughed at in a full ring game. However, you will find people who call way too much with hands like one overcard or a low inside straight draw on the flop. Even with stronger possibilities, calling a large bet on a draw while out of position is no better a play heads-up than it is in a standard ring game, especially compared to alternative lines such as leading out or check/raising. When someone calls a big bet on the turn and you end up winning with a marginal hand, be sure to see what they had. Against this sort of player, be more inclined to bet turns on drawish boards with marginal hands, and don't fear pounding away with pot-sized bets with top pair hands.

5) Your opponent uses minbets and minraises An opponent who minraises preflop as his standard raise is doing better than someone who limps in, but is still giving you great odds to play, allowing you to open up your calling range. Someone who minraises postflop is giving you very favorable odds to call and improve, and simultaneously building you a very large potential pot to win. Someone who minbets postflop offers all kinds of possibilities. You can call with just about anything or raise him to build a nice pot.

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Two Plus Two Internet Magazine - October 2007

http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/current/Bush1007.html

Postflop minbetting can be an effective tactic when combined with preflop limping. However, if this combination of plays forces you to concede some small pots out of position with bad cards that you would've folded had your opponent raised preflop rather than limped, you are not losing EV. This advice should help you in your game selection if you are new to heads-up poker. It may pleasantly surprise you how common it is to find very poor opponents in small-stakes heads-up games, once you learn how to spot them.

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