Heads up play door Neil Patel

Hoi allen

Hieronder heb ik een tekst gepost van Neil Patel, dit is zijn visie op Head up Play.
Laat me maar eens weten wat jullie er van vinden.


Loosen up your game
Bluffing is a very important part of winning heads up, so if you are a tight player, you must loosen up. You don’t have to have the best hand to win, you just have to make the other person fold. You should play far more hands and see more flops than you did during the course of the tournament. The strength of hands goes way
down during heads up play, and even small pairs can take down pots. For example, if your opponent did not raise pre-flop and you catch low pair on the flop, by all means, make a bet. Heads up is all about forcing your opponent to make decisions. It’s not always about who has the best hand, it’s all about who makes the bestplaced bluff because that will end up turning the tides in your favor.


Steal small pots
Stealing small pots is a common move to grow your chip stack, especially when you are about even in chips. Position means everything heads up. If you are on the button, which means last to act, and your opponent checks, you should usually bet. Even if you don’t have anything, there is a good chance that your opponent doesn’t either.


Make more pre-flop raises
If you are a conservative or tight player, a hard thing for you to do is to raise before the flop. If you consider yourself one of these players, you must learn to get outside your comfort zone and raise with a fair to modest hand. For example, K-10 unsuited is not considered a great hand during nine-man tournament play, but in heads up it is a good hand that usually deserves a raise. Any Ace deserves a raise as well. Change up your play to keep your opponent on their heals. You may want to make a big raise with even poor to mediocre hole cards. If you raise pre-flop and win a showdown with 7-5, and do the same later with A-K, your opponent will be second-guessing himself whenever your raise. out the window by calling away your chips?
Remember, in no limit Hold’em heads up play, you want to be the aggressor. That is not to say that you should make the first move all in. Too many players shove all their chips into the pot as soon as they see A-K, forgetting about all good, skillful plays you made to get to this point.
Instead, make a good-sized pre-flop raise and force the action on your opponent. If he calls, he still has to catch cards on the flop. If you have position and he checks, even if you missed the flop, make a continuation bet. Make a bet about 2/3 the size of the pot. This will usually get your opponent off any gut shot draws. Even if you get called, a bet 2/3 the size of the pot won’t hurt you too badly.


Avoid coin flip all ins
Newbies tend to go all in before the flop with any modest hole cards (pocket pairs or an Ace) and let Lady Luck decide their fate, even when they are close in chips. Unless they are short-stacked or you have a monster hand, avoid the temptation to call a coin flip. You’ve likely spent a good amount of time to get
where you are. So why throw all of that work


Playing with a big chip stack
Anytime you have a 2:1 chip stack lead on your opponent, you are in control and should play like it. Now that you have a good chip lead, slow down your aggressive play. Ease off the pre-flop raises. This is because your opponent is likely to re-raise you all in. You don’t want to raise with moderate hands at this point because your might get caught with your hand in the cookie jar. Your opponent is looking to double up and will settle for a coin flip. On the other hand, you don’t want a coin flip. One miscall with a mediocre hand and you will have to play from behind. Say you have 2300 chips and your opponent has 700. The blinds are at 50/100. At this point, your opponent is probably going all in with any pocket pair or any Ace. You should remain patient and wait for a good hand. Your opponent might pick up a few small pots in the meantime, and that is okay. It is a far better alternative then calling with a modest hand and going to a coin flip. Don’t let your opponent limp in from the small blind. He almost certainly has a weak hand if he
tries to limp in, so raise him. If he re-raises you, it’s possible he was trying to trap you and has a big hand like Kings or Aces. You can fold this hand and continue to whittle away at his chip stack. You can also trap your opponent by limping in with a good hand. If you hit top pair, try checking to see if your opponent comes out firing. Even if he has a middle pair, there is a good chance he will go all in, in which case you are in great position to win.


Playing with a short chip stack
If you are the short stack, pay close attention to the level of blinds and when they are scheduled to increase. Think about much time you have before the blinds increase to the point where you need to go all in. If you have around 1000 chips to your opponent’s 2000 and the blinds are still small, you can afford to call some hands and try to win small to medium-sized pots. However, once your chip stack dips below 700 or 600 and the blinds are at 50/100, you have to pick a hand and go all in. Avoid making small raises as they signal weakness and you will likely get re-raised. The absolute last thing you want to do is wait for a great hand. If you wait too long, your all in raise won’t amount to a big enough double up and you will still face a hard uphill climb.

Conclusion
The aggressor often wins in heads up. Look for signals of weakness in your opponent and exploit them.
Avoid coin flip situations and chasing drawing hands. When you have a significant chip advantage, be patient and wait for him to make the ultimate mistake. When you are the short stack, be aggressive and go all-in  re-flop.