Heads Up Holdem Strategy
Heads Up No Limit Texas Holdem Strategy Heads up play is arguably the most difficult form of Texas Hold ‘em. It takes some time getting used to because it constantly forces you to make marginal decisions. If you fold most of your starting hands, you’ll get run over – it forces you to play many pots with weak hands.
In this lesson we’re going to run through a number of heads-up match-ups that will help give you an idea of where you stand in a variety of pre-flop situations when playing hold’em. Be aware that we’re only going to focus on individual hand match-ups. When playing hold’em it’s essential that you put your opponent on a range of hands, rather than specific holdings. However, knowing the odds of common pre-flop match-ups is a good starting point. Pick out and study what will help you. While it’s not essential that these statistics be committed to memory, it won’t hurt you if you do.
Knowing how to play heads-up become more important for those players who are looking into winning a tournament and there are several strategies that can be implemented. Typically speaking, the most aggressive player is most likely the one who wins more times. Keeping intense pressure on your opponent and putting them to test constantly is always a good strategy. Fixed Limit Heads-Up Strategy My strategy was to open close to 80% of hands from the button and call quite liberally from the small blind. In limit hold’em, you basically always get the pot odds to call a bet. Fixed limit games have two bet sizes, the small bet and the big bet. Heads-up is, without a doubt, my favorite way to play. It’s a true test of your poker skills, and the best way to improve your game. While it may be nearly impossible to find a one-on-one table in a brick and mortar card room, online clients such as Poker Stars and Full Tilt offer it as a regular staple. If I had to choose one word to describe heads-up sng poker strategy, it would be 'aggression'; but there's more to it than that. Let's take a step back and look at a full 10-handed table.
Heads Up Holdem Poker
Let’s start by looking at hand match-ups when holding a pair:
Pair vs. Pair
The higher pair is an 80 percent favourite. We can get very technical and highlight the fact that if the underpair didn’t have any clean suits and/or the maximum number of straight outs then the high pair’s equity would increases by one or two percent.
Pair vs. Overcards
This is the classic coin flip hand that you’ll see many times late in tournaments with one player being all-in. The term coin flip indicates an even money situation which is really a 55 to 45 percent situation, as the pair is a slight favourite.
Pair vs. Undercards
In this situation the pair is normally about a 5-to-1 favourite and can vary depending on whether the two undercards are suited and/or connectors.
Pair vs. Overcard and an undercard
The pair is about a 70 percent favourite. Another example of this holding would be J-J against A-9. The underdog non-paired hand has three outs while the favourite has redraws.
Pair vs. Overcard and one of that pair
The classic example of this situation is the confrontation between a pair of cowboys and big slick. The A-K has three outs and it becomes a 70-30 percent situation or a 2.3-to-1 dog for the cowboys. This is a far cry from the next situation where even though one of the pair is matched the other card is lower.
Pair vs. Undercard and one of that pair
The non pair has to hit its undercard twice or make a straight or flush to prevail. The pair is better than a 90 percent favourite or slightly better than 10-to-1 odds. I’ll take those odds anytime.
Pair vs. Lower suited connectors
You see this match-up late in tournaments when a player is getting desperate and pushes all-in with middle suited connectors. A hand such as Q-Q against 7-6 suited would be a prime example. The pair is a strong favourite to win.
Pair vs. Higher suited connectors
Here is the real coin flip situation. A pair of eights heads-up against a suited Q-J is a fifty-fifty proposition. The higher suited cards would have an edge against a lower pair, such as 2’s or 3’s, since the board itself can sometimes destroy little pairs.
Common Pre-Flop Match-Ups (Non Pairs)
The following heads-up confrontations contain no pairs.
Two high cards vs. Two undercards
The two higher cards are usually a 65% favourite to win, but it can vary depending on whether any of the cards are suited and/or connectors.
High card, low card vs. Two middle cards
In this match-up the high card gives it the edge. But it’s only a marginal winner, approximately 57% to the hand containing the high card.
High card, middle card vs. Second highest, low card
The edge is increased by around 5% when the low card becomes the third highest card, as shown in this example, which gives approx 62% to 38% for high card/middle card combination.
High card, same card vs. Same card, low card
In this example the A-J is in a very strong position. If we discount any flush or straight possibilities, it only leaves the player holding J-8 with three outs (the three remaining 8’s).
Same high card, high kicker vs. Same card, low kicker
The high kicker gives this hand a fairly big edge. It’s very common for A-K run into A-Q, A-J, and lower, and it’s why Ace-King is such a powerful hand, particularly at the business end of no-limit hold’em tournaments when people move all-in with any sort of Ace.
Statistical Variations
For any math maniacs reading this who do not find these odds precise enough, I acknowledge that the math is rounded and for the most part does not take into account the possibilities of ties and back door straights and flushes. What players need to be equipped with is the general statistical match-up – not the fact that in the example of a pair of eights against a suited Q-J the percents are exactly 50.61 for the eights to 48.99 for the suited connectors with the balance going to potential ties. I call that a fifty-fifty proposition.
Of greater importance than quibbling over tenths of a percent is the fact that in most heads-up confrontations you can never be a prohibitive underdog. That is one reason why poker is so challenging and fun. Of course, while true, I’m not attempting to embolden the reader to ignore the odds and become a maniac. Math is the underpinning of poker and if you regularly get your money into the middle with the worst of it you will go broke.
One statistic that hasn’t been mentioned, and it’s one that I particularly like is this – the odds of both players being dealt Aces when playing heads up (one on one) is 270,724-to-1. It’s my favourite statistic because it provides me with almost total confidence when I’m playing heads up and receive pocket Aces that I’m the boss! That confident feeling lasts right up to the river when my Aces get cracked by some rotten piece of cheese which my opponent elected to play. As mentioned already, rarely are you a prohibitive underdog – so remember that to keep those losing hands in perspective.
Related Lessons
By Tom 'TIME' Leonard
Tom has been writing about poker since 1994 and has played across the USA for over 40 years, playing every game in almost every card room in Atlantic City, California and Las Vegas.
To mix things up a bit, I spent one evening playing limit hold’em heads-up tournaments
Limit stands for fixed bet sizes and a fixed number of bets.
My first idea was to spend the whole evening playing limit hold’em heads-up tournaments on various stakes. But the problem was that there wasn’t much action going on on Tuesday evening in PokerStars.
Fixed Limit Heads-Up Strategy
My strategy was to open close to 80% of hands from the button and call quite liberally from the small blind. In limit hold’em, you basically always get the pot odds to call a bet. Fixed limit games have two bet sizes, the small bet and the big bet. The small bet is used before and on the flop. On the turn and river, the bet size is double.
Therefore you get 1:3 odds to call a bet from the button (big blind). You need only 33% of equity to make a profitable call. For example, AK is only 67% favorite to win 72, that’s why we can call basically with every hand. In practice, it is not advisable because you’re not able to realize your equity and it would be impossible to play the part of the range profitable post-flop. This is the reason why we should fold the bottom of our range, for example, 72 offsuit.
Heads Up Poker Strategy Book
I noticed that being heads-up in full-ring limit hold’em is quite different from playing heads-up in a “heads-up tournament”. The reason is the betting order. In full ring heads-up situation, the small blind acts first and will NOT have the possibility to act from the position. In a heads-up limit tournament, the small blind HAS the position and possibility to act last. This changes the dynamics of the game and we have to adjust our standard fixed limit strategy. For example, in full-ring I often check-raise all kinds of backdoor draws, like gutshots, backdoor flush draws, but in heads-up I was making more donk-bets because of the betting order.
In heads-up limit hold’em most important decisions are made on the flop. We should have a good basic understanding of which hands we should check-raise and which hands are good for calling on multiple streets. It might not be a surprise, but aggression is a key element in this format. One common mistake is to call until the end, every time you have some kind of a hand (for example 4th pair). Although the fixed limit favors merged raising range, with value hands, I like to have some low suited connectors or suited one-cappers in my raising range.
5 important tips to success in Limit Texas Hold’em Heads-Up
- Play a lot of hands from the button, I would advise close 80%.
- Play straight forward and fast. When you have a good hand you should bet and continue betting to protect your hand.
- Calculate pot odds; you need to have a clear understanding of how to calculate odds. There are a lot of No-Limit players who have the ability to play winning poker with their experience and without calculating. In limit poker that is not possible.
- Play a lot of weak hands from the big blind, because you get 1:3 pot odds.
Getting The Nuts on Every Hand
I soon found out that there weren’t many games going on Tuesday evening. Finally, I spotted a fixed limit regular (yes, there is one) in several micro and low-stakes tables and I decided to challenge him. The match went back and forth but I think in the end I got a small edge when the blinds were higher with aggression. The tournament was a Turbo and it still lasted 23 minutes.
One hand from the match: the blinds are 25/50 and I have $1195 and the villain has $1805. The villain bets from the button and I raise with K♥A♦. The villain calls my raise and the flop lands 3♣9♠5♠. The flop doesn’t hit villain’s bet-call range so I decide to make a continuation bet. The villain calls and the turn
The river is 7♣ and a couple of straight draws complete (T8, 68 and 46), but they all are very unlikely because the villain did raise before the flop. Also, backdoor flush draw completes but it seems very unlikely. All things considered, I think you can go both ways here. Check-call is reasonable and raise-call is okay. In my opinion, check-fold is the biggest mistake you can make in this spot. I bet third time on the river and the villain folds.
I was able to play another tournament as well. It lasted only 11 minutes and I was in total god-mode. To be honest I don’t remember running this good in years. Too bad it happened in $3,5 fixed limit heads-up match and not in a high-roller. Regardeless, I absolutely crushed my enemy and I hit every possible backdoor draw that has ever been invented.
Is Limit Heads-Up Solved?
An interesting fact about fixed limit heads-up is that it was defined as the first essentially solved game of poker. Cepheus was the first program that could play limit heads-up in such manner, that there is only an extremely small margin by which, in theory, the computer might be beaten by skill. Cepheus strategy was very close to the Nash Equilibrium strategy for fixed limit heads-up. You can still play against Cepheus on the University of Alberta website.
A new computer algorithm can play one of the most popular variants of poker essentially perfectly. Its creators say that it is virtually “incapable of losing against any opponent in a fair game”. Philip Ball, 2015
Final Thoughts on Heads-Up Limit Hold’em
First of all, it was very fun to play heads-up fixed limit tournaments on PokerStars. While playing fixed limit, you don’t feel the same kind of pressure as in the no-limit games. I also liked that fixed limit is more math-based and you actually need to calculate pot odds and your equity to make profit.
The biggest downside was that there weren’t many games going on and the fixed limit seems to be halfway dead poker variant at the moment. One thing that will keep limit hold’em relevant in the future, is mixed games. Fixed limit hold’em is in the rotation of 8-game and HORSE. Players who want to succeed in the two abovementioned games, need to know fixed-limit hold’em as well. I also praise the WSOP that they have kept the $1500, $3000 (short-handed) and $10 000
When it comes to the PokerStars’ sit and go tournaments, I think the biggest downside was the structure at the beginning of the tournament, even though it was a turbo. In my opinion, the stack sizes were too big (or blinds too small) for quite a while in the beginning, and when the blinds started to rise I thought that the structure was way too fast.
PS. I strongly advise using a heads-up display while you are playing fixed-limit hold’em. It gives you a better picture of what kind of 3bet/limp/bet ranges villains have.