[btetreau]

As others have mentioned, KJ KT A8 are not bad hands heads-up, as you are ahead more often then you are behind. And with the Q8 flopped Q99 hand, him calling all-in is not bad as you've probably missed - was he right? What did you have in that hand, or was that just an example?

I think that you're not realizing the full differences between a ring/cash game of NLHE and heads-up. HU, you've got to be much more aggressive and have to be willing to risk everything on a hand like KJ or A8. Also, I found that I really need to remind myself that HU, you will both miss the flop much more often than either one of you will hit something, so you've got to semi-bluff and if you hit top pair, don't be afraid to gamble with it.

From your post it sounds like you don't think that this player will fold to the semi/not-all-in bluffs, so then just be patient, wait until you hit something on the flop, and push it all in. Or, wait until you've got an A in your hand with a decent kicker and PUSH pre-flop. I might be wrong, or someone else here might have the numbers to back this up, but if you're playing HU and you've got an A chances are very good that you are ahead. Anyone know those numbers?

Oh, and don't worry about the different color chips, the only thing to consider would be having them worth more or less than 1/50 the buy-in. HU, though, with 50 chips each I doubt it would make a difference.

Good luck, BT