Books on heads up play ?

[Tosh]

Wondering if there are any books on heads up and short handed play? I know the main ones have sections on it but any devoted to it ?

[tewall]

No.

[PuffsNutz]

There is a good article written by Ramsey many years
ago on Rec.Gambling.Poker...You'll have to dig
it up in an archive.

[Lumps3]

if anyone finds this can you post a link? I couldn't find it in my search....

[PuffsNutz]

I put the following thoughts together some time ago. They apply
specifically to Head to head but should be germane to short handed:

If you are going to takes your normal ring game strategy and apply it to
Head-to-Head (h2h) play then you will probably be most successful if you
are naturally aggressive. One of the biggest difficulties in adapting
to h2h is in re-evaluating hand strength.

For example you hold J7. In a ring game you would fold without thought.
But h2h this represents an average hand. In other words if you are in
the sb then there is a 50% chance that your opponent has a worse hand
(J6 or T9 or worse). Players who are new to h2h are very likely to fold
hands such as Q3 or even K5 not realising that they are actually quite
strong.

A second error that ring players make is to underestimate the value of
the blinds. In a ring game you will not be too worried about winning
say $3 in blinds when the average pot size is $60. However h2h the
average pot size is likely to be $20 or less. The blinds are therefore
far more important. A player who does not defend his blinds will
quickly lose a lot of chips.

An aggressive player will automatically take advantage of both these
common mistakes. However the aggressive player will lose rapidly against
an experienced h2h player even if the h2h player is the weaker player in
a standard ring game.

The reason for this is that when you are h2h it is easy to counter an
aggressive player. You simply muck your poor hands early; reduce your
calling requirements the appropriate amount and avoid getting into a
raising war unless you expect to have the best of it.

Similarly if your opponent is loose & passive then as an experienced h2h
player you will reduce the use of semi-bluffs but bet far more for value
and give extra respect to raises.

In other words any playing style used in a ring game can be easily
countered h2h. Successful h2h players don't have a fixed style but
instead adopt whatever is required to counter the style of their
opponent. Hence my lead-in - 'Play Your Opponent'

Because it is h2h your opponent will sooner or later (hopefully later)
realise that he is losing chips steadily and he will decide he is being
too tight, or aggressive, or loose, or passive or whatever - and he will
modify some of his betting patterns. At this point you have gained an
important psychological edge and you are part way to your real goal -
total psychological dominance.

**** Forcing your opponent to play differently from the way he is used
to, and is comfortable with, is the first stage to dominating your
opponent ****

The next stage is to make sure your opponent doesn't get off the hook.
You have to be on the watch for changes in strategy, identify them
quickly and modify your play to suit.

As a simple example suppose your opponent has been playing very
passively and has only raised from the sb with, as far as you can
ascertain, premium hands. Now he raises from the sb twice in
succession. It is possible that he has hit AA both times but it is best
to assume that he is playing more aggressively. Reduce slightly your
calling requirements. If he doesn't raise again for a while then it is
probably a false alarm - go back to plan A. But if the raises continue
to come more often than you would expect continue to lower your calling
requirements. This prevents him from picking up the blinds as he was
hoping to do.

In effect this rapid changing of strategy is a bit like the well known
game. If he picks stone you pick paper; if he picks paper you pick
scissors; if he picks scissors you pick stone and on and on constantly
keeping your opponent on the defensive.

**** Preventing your opponent from having more than momentary success
when he changes an element of his strategy is the second stage to
dominating your opponent ***

Another error that the normal ring player will make when h2h is to not
realise the increased importance of the post-flop play. In a ring game
it is very unusual for a particular post-flop situation to be repeated
even approximately. However h2h there are relatively few betting
sequences and the exact same situations will repeat over and over again.
This allows the observant h2h player to quickly pick up accurate
knowledge about his opponent and to spot weaknesses.

For example what does a loose player do when he hits the flop big? Does
he raise/check raise on the flop or does he wait until the turn? Either
way you can use the information to your advantage. Similarly, what does
the aggressive player do when he misses the flop completely. How does he
react if you call on the flop and raise the turn? If he won't lay down
a hand you are happy, if you can find betting sequences where he will
consistently lay down his hand you are also happy; you have found a
weakness you can exploit.

You therefore need to be very observant after the flop to be able to
analyse his normal play. You also need to use your betting (when you
have options) to probe your opponent. For example your average opponent
bets from the bb on the flop, you call. What does he do if you bet at
him on the turn? Find a suitable situation (ie not a complete bluff)
and try it!

Every weakness you find you should aim to exploit. However judicious
exploitation of his weaknesses can be more profitable long term. If
your opponent does not know why he is losing then he may well modify
part of his game which is working well and play even worse as a
result. Again you must watch carefully so that you identify these
changes as soon as they occur.

**** Preventing your opponent from being able to identify why he is
losing steadily is the third step to total dominance ****

Even if your opponent modifies a weakness in his game, rather than a
strength, the constant need to make changes will undermine his
confidence. In addition, after sufficient changes his whole game is
likely to fall apart. This is a bit like a piece of software.
Initially the software is ok but has some bugs in it. When you fix a
bug it improves that area of the software but it might well introduce
unexpected problems elsewhere. As you make more and more changes
so the cohesiveness of the whole goes down until you would be better off
rewriting the whole thing. Of course with software you could take a
long time testing the bug fixes first but your opponent can't do that
h2h.

Which brings up another major difference to ring games. When h2h you are
totally involved in the game all the time - there are no breaks when you
can fold your hand and watch your opponents play. The game is far more
intensive and mentally demanding. You should use this to keep the
pressure on your opponent. If you are losing then slow the pace of the
game down, think about each action and be prepared to discuss hands when
they are over (even ask for deck changes & set-ups - this is one time
when it does have a benefit). If you are winning then put the pressure
on by playing fast and not lingering between hands. A lot of opponents
will just follow your lead. Especially as a loser tends to want to get
on with the game quickly so that he can recoup his losses. If he is
playing fast then he has less time to work out why he is losing.

**** Keeping the game at a fast tempo when you are winning is the final
step to total dominance****

By this stage your opponent should be shell-shocked. He has lost
steadily from the start, he has made a lot of adjustments to his game
and nothing has seemed to work, his confidence has gone and he is not
getting a seconds respite. The steady trickle of chips your way should
by now be an avalanche /images/graemlins/smile.gif

You might expect that a player who starts losing a lot would quit
quickly. My experience of h2h games (admittedly without a dealer) is
that this is not so. Of course if you put several bad beats on him he
may go on tilt and quit. But in the main you are winning by outplaying
him and for some reason, probably due to the intensity and speed of the
game, it is much harder to get out in this situation when you are
losing. Normally the game will continue until either the winner insists
on quitting or the loser runs out of money.

Obviously when you are ahead you should do all that you can to keep the
game going providing that you are dominating him. If things start to go
right for him and he begins to recover confidence then find some
pressing reason to quit (falling asleep at the table might work).

If you play h2h for a while and you are not making progress then as said
before slow the game down and think things through but be prepared to
get out quick and with a small loss. Don't get caught up in the game.

And finally there is no reason to go on tilt h2h. Think of each hand as
just one move in a long game. Even if your opponent puts several
horrendous bad beats on you in quick succession the chips lost and more
importantly the chips not won are relatively few (compared to a ring
game) and can quickly be recouped. The time to worry is when you are
losing chips steadily without being outdrawn.
--
Ramsey

[happyjaypee]

[PuffsNutz]

Just to clear it up for those not following the
thread, that this article was written by
Ramsey on Rec.Poker a few + years ago.

[Lumps3]

ya thanks for posting that!

[eugeneel]

From SB (first to act be4 and after the flop) an ok HU player would never play something like q3. A good player would never play k5 and I would not even play k9 against some specific opponents that reraise often, call, and almost never fold the bb.
Your heads up hand analisis as being above avg is probobly the most incorrect thing I have ever read on 2+2.
Heads up is my strongest game and I can beat or break even with any opponent I have ever played in the 25-50 range.

[Lunamondo]

I don't know what people base their ideas about kickers when it's small blind vs. big blind and the BB has the position. I haven't verified the simulations and logical arguments. Maybe it's based on simulations (reduced kickers can be found from the turbo advisor profiles also), or some popular source I am not aware off, other than S&M at HPFAP mentioning they don't like 2 and 3 kickers very much when they are stealing (and stuff like that then), but find it no reason to fold them, or one might but one doesn't necessarily have to, while Ciaffone won't steal from the button with K6s if the BB is tricky or aggressive; I would play that monster without a second thought. But otherwise I just see that there is a school of thinking that would drop most unsuited hands with a small kicker, while the suited hands might rate to be good a bit looser than that. Vs. weak or tight players one might however play even all hands, while one would be tighter (like no major small kickers, at least when not suited) vs. aggressive or tricky players, that then as compensation lose more money when one flops stronger; though I have no sims, math here, but many do overall everywhere follow stuff like that, me included. Not always playing K9 is a mistake; nine is a high enough card together with a king to stand anything, and the arguments are only about K2, K4, mostly K5.

[PuffsNutz]

Hi, eugeneel

once again to clarify, the article was written by
Ramsey the Dragon on RGP many years ago.

Also, wasn't there an issue that you play at
pokerroom.com which has backwards blinds?
Big blind is on the button at this site,
so you would naturally play much tighter from the
SB.

The only other sites that have the blinds backwards,
are sites like Party..This is a software/technical
issue, because the software cannot switch the blind
positions.

So in a normal/traditional HU structured game:
(UB, paradise, stars, every live casino worth
a grain of salt on the face of the earth)
if you are folding K9 from SB you are in trouble.
In fact it would be silly to fold J7.
I agree with the other poster who states that
the only real hands with issues would be hands
from K2-K5. (Even though I think he was talking about
the pokerroom structure.)

So Eugeneel, next time please be aware that 90%
of HU players live and online, play with the SB on the button (last to act all rounds).

I also want to say that pokerroom is making a mistake
by not switching the structure...It currently
encourages players to play much tighter, thus
lowering rake..The traditional way, forces action
nearly every hand, putting most of the skill factor
in post flop play.

And if you are at least break even in ANY game, why not
switch to UB, and play 30/60 then move up
to 80/160 then to 200/400 when your BR gets bigger?
There is no shortage of games there.

[tewall]

I'm not aware of Ciaffone having written anything about heads up play. Do you have any source for that? I think he may have been talking about ring game that got passed around.

The problem with small kickers is you are too likely to have a hand with only 3 outs if it's behind, making it costly to chase. Sklanskly alludes to this problem in HEFAP but doesn't clarify (leaving it to others to elaborate I guess)

[eugeneel]

I am very used to the pokerroom and party method of HU (by chance those are the only 2 I play at) I would have to readjust before I go to UB or another site... that would be very difficult as I feel I have a close to 100% strategy.

Pokerroom is not losing rake on this HU system as the ammount of time it takes to fold a hand and to redeal a new hand is very small on the comp. This means foldable hands account for very small % of HU games (in time)