If you have aspirations of winning a large poker tournament, a small poker tournament, a home game tournament or even a $1 Sit and go poker tournament then you will need to become adept at winning in a heads-up situation. The game of Texas Hold’em changes dramatically when you reach this important stage of a tournament and whilst you are guaranteed a good pay-out in comparison to your stake your biggest jump in terms of prize money faces you at this point. If you constantly get dominated in heads-up matches you will enjoy far less success than earning your fair share of first prize finishes.

1. Always Raise Pre-Flop in Position

This tip incorporates two major points to remember in heads-up poker. The first is position. When you hold the button you act first before the flop and last after the flop. Your basic strategy must be to cause your opponent to pay chips in order to catch their hand and then play the rest of the hand knowing they are out of position. Position in heads up play is very significant.

Raising is the second important point to remember. Limping in worrying about a possible re-raise is a bad strategy. You must be aggressive in heads-up play and force your opponent to make some tough decisions on the value of their hands.

2. Learn the Odds and Master the Math

Math is important in all forms of poker but maybe even more so heads-up. Every bet and check gives you information that you can feed into your knowledge of poker math to help you decide how to proceed. You need to remember things like outs to a flush, outs to your overcards and so on.

Shove or Fold if you are getting Outplayed

Hand values on a large range of hands improves against one opponent heads-up because of the likelihood your hand is best. Use Pokerstove and other tools to learn about the strength of any two cards against any other two cards. Using this information you can show a profit over time simply shoving the positive expected value (+EV) hands when you get them. If it appears every time you bluff you are raised and your chip stack is dwindling, put your opponent to a tough decision by shoving your chips and forcing coin-flips. You can often slow down a very aggressive opponent heads up if you show a willingness to fight back against their tough play.

React to your Opponents Style

Heads-up poker is an intimate form of poker where your focus is entirely on one player. As the match progresses you are constantly given new information on how hands are played. Make notes on what a check means, what a bet means and what raising means from your opponent. You can then adapt to their style. For example, if they are too tight you should bet out more and if they check when they have no hand bet and take the pot from them.

I recommend that you practise heads-up play by registering for the many heads-up Online Sit and go poker tournaments available at major online poker rooms like bwin.com. Although the stacks are level at the beginning of play the same principles apply and you will experience within these matches situations where you are the large chip leader and the short stacked player. It is time well-spent as a huge amount of money could depend on your proficiency in this type of poker format if you have a good run in a large poker tournament.

By Malcolm Clarke

One of the most fascinating books I have read recently was “Deal Me In” which traces how some of the most well known professional players found their way into playing poker. Every player that you play against has a story on how they found the game and fell in love with it. When I am talking with someone who plays Poker I always ask them when did you start to play and every story is fascinating. I am going to give you some of the most common routes into poker and perhaps you can relate to some of these common routes into the game.

Video gamers quite often turn to poker. The poker community has certain similarities to the video gaming community in that they both regularly have meets (poker players would call them tournaments) where they come together with like minded people who share their interests. Poker is more based around gambling than video gaming but the principles of being skilled at one particular thing and perhaps slightly obsessive in nature are common in both pursuits. Famous players who have previously been top video gamers before successfully mastering poker are Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke, Hevad “RainKhan” Khan and Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier. There are certainly many others.

Many poker players begin playing whilst at college or university. The intense social environment at college is based upon trying new things and gaining new experiences. Poker is very active in Universities and as students do not normally have a lot of money many young players gravitate to the game in an effort to not have to get a normal waiting job during their studies. Some students find they play so successfully they leave their studies for a life as a professional poker player. The online poker sites make playing poker possible from anywhere in the world which suits the lazy students perfectly as they can stay in bed and play from their bedroom! Alan Cunningham, Tom Dwan and Shannon Shorr are well-known players who quit college to be professional poker players. As with video gamers, there are hundreds of players who have done this.

A lot of chess players move across to poker as a way of challenging their mind. Ylon Schwartz and Howard Lederer are two players who played chess at a high level before conquering the poker world. A lot of chess clubs have poker action in side games and these clever chess players find the world of poker gives them new opportunities to channel their mental energy into a new game. In chess it is purely skill based so a better player will almost always win. A young chess player may never beat Vladimir Kramnik but in a poker setting they could get lucky and beat a world class player. This is the appeal of poker; the dream can become reality for any player. Chess players are usually very intelligent and analytical which gives them a head start in learning to beat poker.

The final common route into poker we will cover today is players being casino employees before becoming poker players. This is more common with the Las Vegas professionals but players like Scotty Nguyen and Mike Matusow all dealt the cards before trying their hand after work shifts at the game itself. The dealers get to watch all of the action and can see many hands during a shift. They are professional railbirds at the heart of the action so they will pick up free tips from professionals on the right and wrong ways to play hands. As they are concentrating on the game hard and must know the rules inside out poker dealers are ideally placed to learn to play good poker.

Please write to us if you are a chess playing student working as a poker dealer who loves video games! The truth is there are many routes into poker and people from all walks of life stumble into the game and are forever grateful for finding it. As long as you work hard to learn the rules Poker can be enjoyed by everyone, no matter how they came to know about it.

By Malcolm Clarke

If you’re a poker fan and looking for a great 2009 WSOP blog, look no further. The bwin Poker blog will have reporters live on the ground in Las Vegas for the upcoming Main Event, bringing you all the news about the WSOP. They’ve already covered events at the Aussie Millions, WPT Venice, and PokerNews Cup this year, so expect the same amazing coverage from them in their WSOP blog in a few weeks.

If you play Texas hold’em, you probably know that you can’t just enter any pot with any hand you happen to be dealt. One of the ways to gain an edge in poker is by limiting your play to a very specific range of hands and then playing those hands aggressively. Here are the hands you should be considering when you play Texas hold’em.

Premium Hands

Premium hands are the hands at the top of the Texas hold’em pecking order, hands like AA, KK, QQ, AK suited, AQ suited and AK. You will always play these hands from any position.

You will often raise and re-raise pre-flop with these hands. In many cases, you will be happy to get all your money in the pot before the flop.

Strong Hands

Hands that are playable but not quite as strong are medium to big pairs and big cards, especially when suited or connected. Hands like AQ offsuit, AJ and AT suited, KQ suited and unsuited, JT suited and unsuited, JJ, TT and 99 fall in this category.

You want to play these hands, but need to be careful because they are easily dominated by the premium hands. If you are in early position or there has been a raise, you should be more inclined to fold these hands if they are not close together or suited.

For example, if someone in early position raises, you should probably muck your AT. However, you may want to call with JT suited if it is cheap enough. You could flop a monster and receive a payout.

Marginal Hands

Marginal hands have some value, but need a little help. These include small
and medium pairs like 88, 77, etc. and hands like Ax or Kx suited.

You should try to refrain from playing these hands in early position or if
there has been a raise. In late position, you can be more willing to play these types of hands.

Suited Connectors

This is a special breed of hand like 9hTh or 6c5c. They have both straight and flush possibilities. Some players like these hands because they can flop a well-disguised monster hand.

However, to play them effectively you also have to be able to get away from these hands on marginal flops. These hands should usually be reserved for late position play.

If you’re looking for breaking poker news in general or live updates from the 2008 WSOP, check out the 2008 WSOP blog at PokerRoom.com.

Their dedicated blogging crew will be on the ground at the 2008 WSOP Main Event, bringing you updates, interviews, videos, stories and more about all of the poker action in Las Vegas as the biggest poker tournament in the world kicks into high gear with the kick off of the 2008 Main Event.