Texas Hold'em Heads Up, one-on-one play tips & strategy

In Texas Hold'em you will find yourself in one-on-one (known as "heads up") situations from time to time, and if you are in a tournament and you have made it to Heads up then it's the last hurdle to winning the tournament!

When playing Heads up you have to be aggressive, even if you are a tight player in Heads Up situations you have to play more loosely or you are going to end up losing all your blinds if you fold until you have a good hand.

If you are dealt Queen-Seven off-suit (known as the computer hand) or better then you should play this hand. This hand has odds of 51.77% of winning when dealt against another random pair of cards. It is the medium of all possible poker hands and works out slightly in your favor if you are dealt it, obviously this isn't a great hand to play but if you think of it in heads up play with it's odds value then it is worth trying to play.

Heads Up play and Checking
It may be thought that your hand isn't that good and also the hand of your opponent isn't that good and once the Flop comes you may find that this still doesn't help your hand that much so you could check, your opponent may also check if their hand isn't very good either.

Once the next card is turned you may still not have much of a hand but you should not check again but make a bet. Checking is just showing to your opponent that your hand is still weak but placing a bet may indicate that the turn had in fact improved your hand. You don't need to bet big, but enough to make your opponent think about if their hand is worth risking any more money on!

If your opponent raises at this point then the chances are that they have been bluffing and trying to catch you out, if your hand doesn't hold much value still then it is probably best to fold.

Chips Stacks in Heads Up
The chip stack each player has in heads up can also make a big difference as to how they approach this. If one player has a considerably larger chip stack than the other then they can be more aggressive, you might also find that the player with the smallest chip stack is less aggressive and fold more hands as they wait for a decent hand where they can actually risk their chip in. Obviously if a player with a small chip stack doesn't do much betting or raising for a few hands and then comes in with some raises then it's worth seeing how strong your hand is, it could be that they have finally got a better hand or they are bluffing. If you have a good hand yourself then play on and see if they continue with that hand or not.

If you find that when you play poker you struggle when it comes to heads up if you are in a tournament then a good way to practice it take part in heads up games. Most of the online poker rooms actually allow you to take part in heads up games so you can practice heads up play without having to go through full tournaments. If you are lacking confidence in your heads up play then start by playing in some low stake heads up games, either one's where you play for cash or ones where you buy in and use chips.