TEXAS HOLDEM ONE ON ONE

Heads-up play, especially in a no-limit game, is the ultimate poker battle, says Phil Shaw. Read our in-depth guide to the game and reap the rewards next time you play one-on-one.




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A ring game of poker can be nerve-jangling enough, but if you really want to get closely acquainted with the edge of your seat, heads-up (one-on-one) poker is the game for you. As in any duel, there can be only one winner, and there's no-one else to hide behind. Passing every hand or playing passively will quickly seal your defeat, and that's why beginners - even those experienced in other forms of poker - rarely have much success. They simply don't adjust to playing against one person rather than a full table and let their opponent run over them.



Experience Counts
If you find yourself up against a passive, inexperienced beginner in a heads-up game, it is a sensible strategy to just raise as often as possible pre-flop and bet on the flop (without making this too obvious). Show them you have a hand whenever possible and back off at the first sign of strength from them. This will rapidly build your stack and erode theirs.

Remember that the odds of them starting with a pair are 16/1 against, and that if they have two unpaired cards the chances of flopping a pair are around 2/1 against.

Even if they do start with or make a pair, when the flop comes down, the chances are it will be so small that they will still fold to a bet because of all the overcards! If they have a draw it is also likely that they will play it weakly, and you will simply be able to keep betting, or check and fold to a bet if you think they have made it. In tournament play, after you have used this tactic successfully and gained a big lead you would then be able to take a cheap shot at knocking them out by playing an all-in hand, or if they realise what's happening and become overly aggressive (which happens quite often) you can slow down a bit and prepare to trap them with a big hand.

Between more experienced players, however, the game is played much tighter and tougher. This often results in a war of attrition, with neither player getting too far out of line or being prepared to surrender a hand too easily. In this situation, you want to play solid, aggressive poker and steal as many pots as possible. It is also best to bear in mind that early on, very big pots will usually mean very big hands, so it's important not to over commit and let yourself get on the wrong end of a decisive confrontation.

It's usually very hard to lay down a smaller full house to a bigger one, or even a flush or straight on a paired board as the chances of such a clash of hands is tiny, but you must always bear in mind that your opponent could be trapping you with a hand of this sort, or could have started out with Aces or Kings in a hand where it's suddenly hard to see how the community cards have helped them.

This is heads-up in a nutshell, and it distils the two essential aims of poker into a pure form: disguising your own hand, and figuring out what your opponent has.



Poker at its purest
In heads-up play, then, the fact that poker is all about situation and psychology is most apparent, and your constant aim is to simultaneously confuse your opponent and understand his actions. If you are a novice player, it's probably best to get some experience of this playing in ring games or normal tournaments first, but if you already play a good general game, it's easily possible to do this.

First of all, you must recognise that in most heads-up matches, the same player is both the button and the small blind. That puts the button player at a major advantage, since whoever holds the button gets to act first before the flop, where they can steal the blinds or raise first. They then get the benefit of seeing what their opponent does first on the flop.

This is almost as powerful as having the serve in tennis and you should use it to your advantage whenever possible, by raising pre-flop and creating bigger pots with most playable hands - any Ace, face cards like QJ, KJ, or even Q10 and K9 are all raise-worthy, while raising with drawing hands like 8h9h or Tc7c will add an extra dimension to your game by making you harder to read. Only unplayable garbage like 82 off-suit should be folded, because against just one opponent, the average starting hand they will have is so low.

It's quite acceptable in heads-up to call with a single face card or something you wouldn't dream of playing in a ring game, just to see how the hand develops - although, you wouldn't normally want to call big raises or play big pots with such a hand unless it turns into a monster. Then, if the flop connects with your hand in any way and your opponent checks, you can simply bet it (you should also bet some of the time with no hand, as there is a good chance the other player has missed and is checking out of weakness).

You may find yourself betting a good hand, a weak hand, a draw or nothing at all, but what is important is that by doing so, you force your opponent to make a tough decision. If they call and you sense weakness, it is normally right to bet again - some players will call on the flop just to see if you show weakness on the turn, so you must leave no doubt in their mind. If they are drawing, a bet on the turn, around the size of the pot, will usually make it incorrect for them to continue, providing the turn card looks unlikely to have helped them. If you are check-raised or bet into at any point, you must base your decision on what you know about your opponent, Heads-up is often a war of attrition, with neither player getting out of line or being prepared to surrender a hand too easily whether your hand justifies playing on, or whether moving all-in would force them to fold.

Folding a few times in these spots is no big deal, as you will succeed in stealing other pots to stay ahead in chips. What matters is that you are creating a situation where your opponent feels forced to play back at you out of position. Then, at some point, you will have a big hand to trap them with. For this reason, it is often a good idea to bet a very strong hand as well, perhaps making a small bet (known as a 'weak lead'). This may incite your opponent to raise what he thinks is an attempt to buy the pot cheaply, or even making a very big bet that looks like an outright bluff. You should try to make the move as indistinguishable as possible from how you have acted in the last few hands.

Your chances of success with this move will improve if you have shown a few bluffs recently. It also helps if you have convinced your opponent that you are an aggressive maniac or have no idea what you are doing!



Off the Button
By contrast, out of position, you need to act more defensively to avoid your opponent's traps, and try to trap him with strong hands when he overplays his position. Hands you would raise with from the button pre-flop should be played slower (unless they are very strong). You should also try to keep the pots smaller by checking more often when you have a weak hand or a draw, and usually only check-raising with very strong holdings. If your opponent is raising frequently from the button, you will need to call a few times with slightly weaker hands than you would like in order to send the message that you cannot be run over. Don't, however, go too far afterwards unless you make something.

In short, you must turn your opponent's desire to attack against them by playing the defensive role and checking more often in most situations before either folding, calling or raising. If you call a raise initially, then miss and fold to a bet, you have just taken a cheap flop, since you already had money invested in the big blind. If you call and sense weakness, you can bet first at either the turn or river and try to take the pot, or if you are very strong you can check-raise. If you have a reasonably strong (but not great) hand, you could also call all the way. This will let your opponent bluff off their money to you at minimal risk, as long as you think you are still ahead and the risk of a draw succeeding is minimal.

Of course, playing this general style will make your opponent realise you are taking a defensive role, so you don't necessarily need a hand to stay involved. You can call a bet on the flop with the intent of bluffing first later (especially on the river if your opponent checks the turn, as this may indicate they thought you were going for a check-raise on the turn), or check-raise with nothing if you are confident it will cause a bluff to fold. This last move (known as the 're-bluff') is a high risk venture, but all top players use it at some point and it is particularly suited to this heads-up situation. That's because your opponent actually expects you to try to trap at some point, and will be wary enough to let a few hands go!



Going For the Kill
A heads-up tournament will soon reach a situation where one player has a significant chip lead and is preparing to move in to polish his opponent off. A useful rule of thumb here is that going below a 3/1 chip deficit is highly dangerous, as even if you double up at some point, you will still be behind. In this position, you will really need to draw a line in the sand as soon as possible and refuse to be eroded any more, usually by trying to force a favourable all-in hand. The big stack will be trying to trap you by slow playing or using the button effectively, but from his position of power he is less likely to gamble in a marginal situation. You can use this to your advantage to build back up by moving all-in more frequently, especially if the blinds have got quite big.

The correct strategy if you are the big stack here is to continue applying pressure wherever possible with bets in situations where you can either steal small pots or fold to a raise without giving too many chips up. You want to either erode the short stack to the point where a double through will still leave a massive chip deficit and you can take a cheap shot at them, or force them into making a final mistake against a strong hand.

The key to heads-up is using situation and psychology to your advantage. The cards matter less than in any other type of play, and the roles of the two players are more strongly defined, either by position or by chips. Bear this in mind and play fearless, solid poker and you will not only succeed in heads-up play most of the time, but you will also sharpen your general game immeasurably.



Reproduced with the kind permission of Inside Edge magazine.