by Diane McHaffie
The cards you play in heads-up poker are less important than how to play them. That’s right! When playing heads-up or short-handed poker, you’re going to be involved in many more and hands generally considered unprofitable in full-handed games will often be profitably played heads-up.
Position. Imposing cards aren’t necessary to call or raise the big blind heads-up, although position is still important. The common procedure is this: When you’re the small blind you have the dealer position and the big blind has the disadvantage of acting first, with the exception of the first betting round.
If your opponent is accustomed to playing full-handed tables, he may not appropriately adjust to a heads-up meeting, resulting in guarded actions. This enables you to profitably play almost anything against him.
When competing heads-up, it’s advisable to play many more pots, not allowing too many to slip by uncontested. If you fold too frequently, a smart opponent will take lethal advantage of the situation by attacking you relentlessly. Therefore, the hands you do choose to play may not be as profitable and your opponent will probably become master of the table if you continue to be wimpy. Ridiculous. The rule against exposing cards to other players is one that greatly irritates Mike. He doesn’t have a problem with obeying when there are several players participating in a pot. However, he disagrees if you’re playing heads-up. He feels the rule is “ridiculous” and if it’s beneficial to expose cards in an “honest” way, you should have the freedom to do so. Of course, he says, there are exceptions, but just for verification, he feels the “no-show rule is flawed.” Personally, I’ve never been brave enough to attempt showing my cards to study my opponent’s response.
I have witnessed Mike boldly place his cards face up on the table and inquire of an opponent, “How would you play these cards?” This is mainly to get a reaction, tell, or comment from his opponent, which will guide him on how to proceed. But then, Mike will also tell a server at a restaurant to “just bring me something from the menu,” and he’ll happily eat it whether he likes it or not. Not me! I’ll at least give them several items to choose from, but not the whole menu.
Performance. Years ago in New York, I watched Mike reveal his cards face-up on the table, hand after hand, for a good thirty minutes. Why? Well, he was perfecting the image that he wished to portray for the night. Hey, eventually I was a believer! Mike became sedate, played discriminatingly, and began reaping the rewards of his stunning earlier performance. Because he was still chatting about his odd plays (as were others at the table), and continuing to reel his opponents in, they seemed unaware that his reckless actions had vanished. Only the Mad Genius performs so outlandishly with such success! Doubling. In heads up, opponents often get buried and want to raise the limits. How should you handle a pathetic player that you’re confident you can easily take down? It’s more profitable if you refrain from agreeing to double the betting against this opponent, because he could actually get lucky, rake in a few massive pots and then leave the game, smiling and happy. Had you continued to play at the previous lower stakes, he likely would have played much worse, trying hopelessly to get even. You could have won it all.
You will find, as I did, that your actions against a single opponent differ greatly from competing against several players. One can jump in with much smaller cards, bluff more, and be more aggressive. It’s exciting!
I agree with Mike, heads-up is my favorite choice in poker. Sometimes, three is definitely a crowd. When others join a headsup game, it slows down the pace and changes the play entirely.
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