Mix up Your Heads up Play

Heads up play is poker at its most basic, yet it's also among the trickiest aspects of the game. If you're predictable when facing only one opponent, you're going to get beat. (And when I mean only one opponent, I mean both heads up matches and situations at a full table when you constantly find yourself up against the same foe.)

You'll have to mix it up, pulling off check raise bluffs and checking in position with good hands to induce bluffs. Let's take a look at a sample hand and different ways you can mix up your play. (This example applies mostly to limit hold'em, but also works for no limit hands to a lesser degree - lesser because of the caution that often must be used when you can be check raised for all of your chips.)

You have A-K, raised the pot and your foe called and you take the flop heads up. The flop is Kd-6c-2h. Fantastic, huh? You could be beat and you could get outdrawn, but the likelihood of each is pretty slim, so that fact gives you plenty of options for how you choose to play the hand. So how will you play it? Let's look at some options.

1. After a check from your foe, you bet the flop. He calls and you bet the turn. He folds.
2. After a check from your foe, you bet the flop. You both check the turn. He bets on the river. Depending on how scary the board looks, you either call or raise.
3. You both check the flop. He bets the turn and you raise. He folds.
4. You both check the flop. He bets the turn and you call. He checks the river, you bet and get called.
5. He bets the flop. You raise and he folds.
6. He bets the flop. You call. He bets the turn, you raise and he folds.

There's numerous more ways this hand could play out, but that's a list of some of the basics. At various times during the game you should play a hand like this in ALL of these ways. Why? Playing like this makes you very unpredictable and will greatly confuse your opponent. If your opponent held a hand like 8-8 in this example he might have folded on the turn if you bet the flop and the turn, but if you check the flop, he might call the turn and the river, earning you more profits.

Disadvantages of using tactics like checking a round of betting to induce calls or bluffs on later streets include the possibility of getting outdrawn or missing out on bets that would have been called on earlier streets, but not on later ones, such as when a player is drawing at a straight or flush. That's why you don't want to get cute when the flop is dangerous, giving your opponent a free card. But if the flop looks like the one in the example above, don't be afraid to mix up your play.

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