Heads Up

I've been playing quite a bit of HU lately as a break from the daily full ring grind and I have noticed the level of play particularly soft. In my last two games, I'd estimate my edge at over 80% which is much higher than I could achieve playing full ring. Mind you, I'm just talking $2 stakes at the moment! My goal is the improve my HU game and read Moshman's recent book while I learn. I also think HU is a good way to practice my post flop game which can get rusty when sitting pretty snug in aggressive full ring games.

I have noticed four distinct types of players - from easiest to toughest:

1. Predictable: My last two games were against players where every bet defined their hand strength. If they limped, they had a marginal hand. They'd bet the flop when they hit and so on. In these games, I honestly didn't think I could lose.

2. Passive: Surprisingly, quite a few opponents have been ultra passive. Never raising their button, c-betting or even betting middle or bottom pairs. In these games, I could just grind them down risk free until the eventual allin race when I had a comfortable chip advantage.

3. Hyper aggressive: This was the type I expected to meet but haven't seen too many. I expected to see more players over-adjust to HU and bluff too much, or just not care about dusting off 2 bucks and want to gamble. Against the couple I've played, I've just had to wait for hands and playing a trapping game. There's definitely less edge and I simply need to catch cards at some stage.

4. Solid HU TAG's: Only one or two games so far and I've noticed these guys often multi-table the HU games. In one game, I remember getting completely outplayed by a regular and made sure I took notes on their play.

I have found sharkscope is very helpful to identify the winning players and get a quick feel for how to game might go.




FG