3 handed vs heads up - shouldn't it be about the same ?

[Bubu]

Hi,

I started playing a guy 3 handed and then we fell down to heads up for a while (online UB 10-20 hold' em). I thought I had a handle on his game 3 handed, but he surprised me by really pumping up his aggression level when we lost the third player. I don't think he was changing gears. He has done this twice now - 3 handed relatively tight. 2 handed loose super aggressive (capping the flop, re-raise semibluffing the turn). Anyone seen this effect before ?

Am I missing out on something ? Should the difference between 3 handed and heads up really change your game that much ?

cheers,

Bubu

[Ikke]

No, it totally changes the game. Really, the biggest change in poker is going from 2 to 3 handed. Some reasons: you ante every hand and the positions relative to blinds are reversed (HU: SB is in position postflop, where 3-handed BB has position on SB). This totally changes the dynamics of the game. There are probably more reasons as well, but these are probably among the most important ones.

Regards

[Bubu]

Good points. But still, the guy - wow. He went bananas. Before he was quite player, tight. Heads up, well, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sort of thing. I had not encountered this before. But he is a strong player with more experience than me. Thanks for the pointer.

Bubu

[doormat]

Also, in 3-handed you have twice the number of opponents as you do in 2-handed. 2-handed is a game of pressure, as you saw.

doormat