Hi Bill. My advice to you is to stick with your full game until you get more experience before trying the short-handed and heads up games. Much of the skill necessary to play a good heads up or short-handed game comes from being able to read your opponent's cards. Another necessary skill is your ability to get into your opponent's head.


If you were to jump into a heads up game right now, it would be like jumping into a school of perannahs after you cut your finger. If you think that you stood a fighting chance because you play tight, you would be broke in less than a heartbeat. You need to get some experience against loose, wild, maniac type players instead of the calling stations. You need to know how to handle those sort of players in a full game before tackling heads up or short-handed contests. You need to know when to come back over the top at them or just let them go or just run with them. It gets back to reading their hands. The most difficult players to read are the loose maniacs.


Also, in heads up games, you will run into counterfeit calling stations. They are capable of switching gears on you at anytime and the call you all the way to the river without ever betting their hand. Sometimes they will have nothing. Sometimes they will have a monster. But you will never know it. They determine to stay with the hand either before the flop or after they see the flop. They could also be using game theory to make their decision to stick it out.


Honestly, I think you missed the perspective of this forum. I may be wrong but I think you're looking for advice on how to play when it's you and another player or two in your full ring game. If that is the case, the most important thing you can do is read as many books as you can. Read the posts on this site. Read the Usenet posts at rec.gambling.poker. Read as much about the game as you can. The second thing you can do is ask questions. Put your posts here. Dig for the answers. The third thing is to play. Keep a log and a list of lessons learned. Evaluate your play with more scrutiny after a winning session than a losing session.


Poker is an endless quest for knowledge of the game. If you are a true poker player, you never stop learning about the game. It is also an endless cycle of reading and thinking about the game away from the tables and playing.


There is also a potential flaw in your game. Of course, you want to win. But so do all the other players at your table. If you hold your "bottom line" too close, you may create a major problem in your game. You will have some losing sessions as well as some winning ones. The difference between them should be your "bottom line".


The "will" to win is nothing without the "will" to prepare.