Please help me. Heads-up, I suck.

[BritNewbie]

Can someone PLEASE give me some basic guidance about heads-up play?

At the moment I feel completely lost. I know I have to play looser than in a normal game, and I know that most of the time when I'm looking at nothing after the flop, so too is my opponent, and I'm prepared for the variance to be way more wild than in a normal game, but I still feel completely lost half the time (in fact, that might be an underestimate) about when to fold and when to keep going.

I'm not even sure what sort of PFR% I should be aiming for, or how often to re-raise pre-flop. Like I say, I suck.

Any help someone could give me would be much appreciated. I'm real keen to learn.

Thanks

[sammy_g]

Some random thoughts on heads-up play:

* Bet ace-high for value unless your opponent shows strength
* Take a lot of stabs at the pot on the flop. You'll often take it down with any two
* Don't give up pairs easily
* Induce bluffs with your good hands (like top-pair) against aggressive opponents. Often they will bet your hands for you
* In a heads-up match, be careful about falling into patterns

Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players has some excellent material on heads-up poker.

Good luck.

[naphand]

The sectionm in HFAP is extremely limited in its scope. It is a good introduction to the theory of why you must play more hands, but tactically it won't take you very far.

[cjx]

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=1614376&page=&view=&s b=5&o=

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=1623433&page=&view=&s b=5&o=

Read those. That's about the best I can do for help as I'm not terribly comfortable heads up just yet myself.

cjx

[BritNewbie]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Much appreciated.

Pretty much confirms what I was suspecting - heads-up isn't my game, right now! I'm off to play some ten-seated ...

Thanks again.