Heads up Poker on Paradise Poker

[toad556]

I have found that the best way to play against the players on Paradise Poker is to check most hands off and let my opponent bet them for me (this is different than the holdem strategy). I occasionally play several of the regular 2/4 stud players at Paradise poker. I admit, they are pretty good, but when I check and let them do the betting, I make money. They can be aggressive, but I let them do the betting for me, since if you bet into them, they have a good knack for reading a hand. I have won everytime I have sat at their tables, and now most of them refuse to play me. I believe money can be made by letting them do the betting. Just dont try and play their game of getting aggressive, you will lose in the long run

[Acesover8s]

While your specific advice is good, it won't really beat GOOD heads up players. It will only beat players who are aggressive to a fault. Aggressive players have one of the key components to winning heads up play.

A really good heads up player is constantly watching how you're reacting to him, and trying to throw you off. I certainly don't think I'm a great player, but I try my best to get aggressive for a while, and just when he's used to it I back off.

You have to constantly be aware of where you are in the hand, both with the cards and with your opponents mindset. A good exercise I'll try is to randomly decide on a hand before the cards are dealt and approach it with one of the following mindsets:

1 I'm going to steal this pot at some point.
2 How many raises can I get in this hand.
3 I'm going to let him think he can outplay me this hand.
4 Not going to look at my hole cards until the turn.

Not saying that these are good strategies, just that they allow a certain randomness to slip into your game, making it hard for you to read me.

And one last point. If I come across a player heads up who is not going to raise me but just call me down at every point. That is a pure gravy game.

[tewall]

What if your cards do not agree with the concept you've decided upon ahead of time? For example, if you're going to try to steal a pot, you don't want to have too good a hand. Or if you're going to see how many raises you can get in, you don't want to have a real clunker (unless you think you're opponent will fold). Also I do not know what "make my opponent think he can outplay me" means. Sounds like it could be expensive.

I certainly agree with your overall premise, however, which is to have different ways of playing hands. However I think of it more in terms of having a strategy that applies to hands within a given context. For example, I may decide I'm going to steal a pot before I'm dealt a hand, but only if I get a hand weak enough to try that. (Sounds wierd, but if you're hand is too good, your opponent will only throw his hand away if you have him beat, so with a pretty good but not great hand this strategy will just wind up betting your opponent's hand for him, which is what must be happening with the original poster). Or I'll decide I'm going to trap my opponent, in which case I need at least a decent hand. The point is you still need the right cards to fit the given strategy you've decided on.

[tewall]

The strategy you're suggesting can be effective, especially if you occasionally bluff/semi-bluff (but not too often). To beat it requires patience, betting for value when you have enough of an edge and laying off the bluffs/semi-bluffs. Heads up you have to be very careful not too fold to often, so an aggresive strategy can be effective. It may be that your strategy is working for you because your opponents have developed a strategy which works against others, but they haven't noticed your play.

When playing an aggresive strategy, one thing you have to be careful of is not betting hands which are good enough that your opponent will only throw away hands that are worse than yours. I suspect this is what's happening for you. (Your making money on hands that are not good enough for you to value bet, but are good enough to call with, so your opponents are betting your hand for you and you're getting more bets with these mediocre hands than you should.)