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Playing Heads-Up Limit USA Poker

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Heads-up limit poker can win you lots of money and be lots of fun. Even back when no-limit was the rage, the heads-up limit tables remained filled. Don't let this poker jewel slip past you!

One of the best points about heads-up limit is that it causes you to learn about every single human aspect of limit poker including aggression, hand selection, bluffing, trapping, reading, value betting, folding and lastly, pot odds. Let's look at each of these:

Aggression:

Those weak of heart can really get run over in heads-up poker. There are two ways of winning a pot: you show the strongest hand or your opponent folds. The value of aggression is so huge; you could play poker without even looking at your cards if you wanted! The object of aggression is to cause your opponent to fold more hands than you fold. This makes the most important part of poker strategy the aggressiveness in bets and raises.

Hand Selection:

You should select the hands worth putting money in the pot when you have the best hand and avoid putting money in the pot when you don't have the best hand. Too often, players in limit heads up games don't make others pay to see the flops after they posting the big blind or they let the small blind limp in. In heads-up poker, always raise with Aces, Kings, Face/kicker, mid-high suited connectors, or pocket pairs. These can really take in the chips for you. Then, raise for value and play out on a flop whether or not the cards hit.

Bluffing:

More times than not, in heads up limit poker, neither of you will hit anything on the flop. This is where bluffing and aggression combine to allow you can to take down the pot even if you have nothing. When the turn arrives, the real important action begins and you can make things happen with a check-raise bluff or a raise behind the action. If your opponent is faking an attack, you'll catch him regardless of what you hold. Watching and observing, identifying small patterns or timings on the part of your opponent, is absolutely key to this tactic. Sometimes, simply toss one out and see what happens. Should you get caught, switch to a tight style and draw your opponent in for the kill by using that loose image to your own advantage.

Trapping:

When the other player believes you're not being honest, trap him in order to take his money. A check-raise followed by another raise on the turn that gets called added to a river bet gets you twice the big blind and most likely another big blind from the pre-flop and flop. Then means, financially, you could fold on the flop on an un-raised pot four times in a row if you could pull a trap every seventh hand. When you're playing an aggressive opponent who loves to run you over with bets, just sit back and let him do the betting, then pound him with check-raises and raises when you do have a strong hand. This way, if you can fold when you have nothing,; your traps will make up for it. If you have Ace high or low pairs, you can call to showdown if necessary.

Reading:

Learning how to read your opponent in heads-up limit poker can be a powerful skill. This is true of poker in general, but especially of heads-up poker which is a game where if you can make the reads, you make money. Reading is simply identifying patterns in behavior that are anomalies. How often does he check-raise? Does he have strong hands when he does? Does he bet low pair? Does he bet draw hands? You can't figure this out with just one action on your opponent's part or just one hand, so you must raise frequently on the flop or call to see the turn so you can figure out what's really going on. There really are only three choices for action - bet, check, call. By adding a raise or calling the flop, this increases the options from 3 to 9, bet-bet, bet-check, bet-call, check-bet, etc. Paying close attention to the opponent will really pay off in reading heads-up players.

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Value Betting:

Value betting is about getting in that turn raise and river bet so that your opponent doesn't see a showdown on the cheap when you have do a strong hand. Even when your hand is a little but on the weaker side, you can still toss the other player and gain some fold equity. If your opponent is a loose player, grab equity from the bet with Ace-X calling you down. Too many times, opponents check on the river with a stronger hand because they're scared that you have one that's even better. In heads up, there aren't a lot of draws that are made, so an opponent sticking with you to the river is probably calling with mid-pair or low-pair but it isn't that often that he has a monster. Get that extra bet in and take his money; don’t be afraid of doing it.

Folding:

Knowing when to get out of a dominated hand is important, especially when it can save you a big bet or two. Sometimes you won't realize it until you're on the river or turn, but the willingness to fold a hand when you're sure your opponent isn't bluffing is much like extracting an extra big bet of your own. In a full ring game it is often impossible to fold with some of the great pot odds. After all, some of them will be as large as 20 big blinds or even more so winning only five percent of the time makes this call to be correct. In heads-up, the pot is more often around three to five big blinds, making it sensible to fold if you know you're beat. Once the pot gets big, it becomes harder to fold at critical points like the river, given the pot odds at that point. The key is to fold early or when you're in trouble; don't wait until later when you are over-committed to the pot.

Pot Odds:

Pot odds are the least important in heads-up because you will rarely call based JUST on the pot odds. Play flushes and straight draws aggressively because, whatever odds you are getting, aggression gives those odds a huge value and folding equity too. Even with an inside straight draw, it is not bad to bet if action is checked to you or if you are first to act because you still have the possibility that your opponent just might fold to you. If you miss your draw, you can keep attacking in the hope the other player will fold; but the, you might hit your draw and end up with a well-disguised hand to use for trapping.

Conclusion:

These are only a few quick tips to heads-up limit poker and a few effective strategy tips for the game. Playing one-on-one poker may seems difficult at first, even for the seasoned player, but it is a skill that becomes valuable because tournament poker players benefit and non-tournament limit players at times find themselves in games that are short-handed.

 
 
 
 

 
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