Heads up aganst the big blind

What do you do with an unmade hand? This situation comes up often because there are a few players who call raises from the big blind with 70-80% of their hands (or more in one case). Since my late position first-in raising hands are heavily weighted against pairs, about 60% of these heads-up flops leave me pairless. About half that time the big blind has me beat with a pair or better. I bet the flop often, but not always, and I occasionally check a made pair of aces or kings to sew confusion and hit him with some legitimate turn raises. But what about after I bet the flop and he calls. What to do against an opponenet whose bluffing frequency is vexing?


I'm beating them, but not as much as I'd like to.


Help me beat the archtype. He calls about 85% of heads-up big blinds. Almost invariably checks the flop. If I bet he calls with any draw or pair, and sometimes will just call to see if I bet the turn. Maybe calls 75% of the time. Occasionally he has a real hand, but he'll three bet big pairs most of the time. Check-raises occasionally on the flop, not enough to get a handle on it, definitely purely bluffing at times, maybe up to a fourth of the total. On the turn, he'll usually check again if he just called my flop bet. If I bet, he'll call only with a made pair or big draw and folds a lot more if the board is scary (A K and/or Q on the board). If I don't bet the turn, he'll bet the river if he has a pair and an additional 25% or so when he's just bluffing. I can't read him. What do you recommend?


Matt

I offer only the obvious.


1. Change seats to give yourself the button against tighter blind opponents.


2. Cut down on the number of steal raises versus this opponent.


3. If you do check the turn and he bets the river, call with anything that can beat a bluff.


This guy is definitely unreadable. You have my sympathies.

I would always bet the flop, and take a lot of free cards on the turn. If you have a large pair (aces thru queens), consider checking behind him on the turn, then bet or raise the river.


You don't need to change seats, this guys plays crap out of position, and commits a lot of money with it. THis is a good thing. Just don't steal with terrible hands. You will have better cards and position HTH, what more do you want?


Good luck.


Dan Z.

Great question. I focus my energies on one and only one thing. When he checks the flop and I bet and he calls, I try to put myself in his mind and figure out his commitment level. The bread-and-butter mindsets I'm looking for are:


1) He will fold if he doesn't improve on the turn.


2) He is ready to call down with his pair.


If 1, I bet the turn. If 2, I check the turn.


The clues to which mindset he is in are often so subtle that I don't even know what they are. But I know they exist often enough to make the effort worthwhile. This is a situation in which my actual cards serve only to distract from the more important issue, namely, his plan.


Tommy