Heads up poker is a lively form of Poker that many players use almost exclusively to be a professional. It is a skill based version of poker that many players view as a pure form of poker due to the duelling nature of the game. Players like Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and Andy Bloch spent years studying the game and heavily basing their play on mathematics they can profit consistently. Learning heads up poker is good for players who like to be in action all of the time, because you must play nearly every hand heads up. Online Poker also offers constant games as there is always a table waiting for an opponent.

In Heads Up poker you cannot play like you do in a full ring game. You must adjust the range of your starting hands to reflect both that you are constantly in the blinds and that your opponent will also rarely hold a dominating hand. You may be surprised to know that K 4 is still a 50.23% favourite in a heads up situation to win against any random two cards. K4 would be instantly in the muck in a cash game or tournament situation but in heads up this falls into the positive range of hands that if we play we can profit from. As there are many starting hands stronger than K4 we can see that we will rarely be folding pre flop.

There are many useful statistics apply to poker in a heads up situation. For example, if you hold an Ace pre flop it is 25% less likely that your opponent holds an Ace. If you raise with every Ace (which you should) you will rarely face a better Ace.

Most hands better than our friend K4 should be raised pre-flop in position. By not raising we are not giving our opponent the chance to make a mistake by calling. Only a third of the time the flop will hit an unpaired hand so playing aggressively is optimal here. There are 1326 combinations of starting hands, one of which you will hold. So out of 1325 combinations of cards your opponent can hold; only 6.25% of the time they will hold a pair pre-flop. This means being aggressive is likely to win over time as a further 66% of the 93.75% they do not hold a pair they will miss the flop. Couple that with playing mostly in position, you can see the real advantage you can enjoy instantly by adapting your strategy to suit the mathematical laws of poker.

Position is very important in Heads up play. When you are the small blind you hold the dealer button which is a massive advantage. When you rail some of the better players watch how they use the advantage of the button. With the button, you act first before the flop and last after it. By playing more in position, you are maximising the advantage you hold in over 50% of the game. You get to see whether you opponent commits chips before you do and can act with good information from that point.

Heads up poker skills are particularly important for your poker success. In a large tournament there is often a massive jump in prize money between second and first place. To ignore the skills needed to win a tournament is like always accepting second place. Unless there is a chop, you will be at a great disadvantage in a heads up situation. Playing the online poker Heads up Sit and go tournaments sharpen your skills and become a vital part of your poker skill set. So I recommend you get studying and get learning starting today.

By Malcolm Clarke