In this article we will look into one of my personal favourite forms of poker: no limit texas holdem heads up. As you probably know in that format you are playing against only one other player. For the sake of this article we will assume that you have ended up playing against only one player because you chose to and not because a tournament or sit and go got down to the last 2 players and you had no choice but to play out the heads up (if you don’t have lot of experience with heads up poker you might want to look into making a deal with the remaining player.. obviously without letting him / her know that you are making the deal because your lack of experience.
So in this article we will reveal 10 tips to playing heads up no limit texas holdem poker game. If you are unsure about the rules of that poker format or are looking for some basic information about it you might want to check out this article: heads up holdem before reading any further.
The tips that you will find from this article are aimed especially for mid stakes games (0.5/1-3/6) but as in heads up you can meet some really good players already at 0.25/0.5 and some really bad players even at 500/1000 the most important thing is to always keep in mind (as much of a cliche as it sounds) that you are always “playing the player” and not the stakes. Also the tips are naturally aimed especially for people who are looking to win money in poker and are not thus concerned about following the tips taking some of the fun out of the game and about having to work on their poker strategy and skills.
10 Tips for No Limit texas holdem heads up poker games:
1: Always look for bad players to play against when you are trying to win money. Naturally if you are playing against players who are better than you in poker you can’t really expect to make money over the long term.
2: Do everything you can to avoid getting tilted and playing on tilt. Playing on tilt is surely the easiest way to lose your whole your bankroll.
3: Protect your bankroll and don’t take idiotic shits to the too big games. Always have at least 50 buy in bankroll for the stakes that you are playing at.
4: When playing against short stacks “broadway hands” go up in value and suited connector type hands down in value. The implied odds are smaller against short stacks thus prefer hands that are already “made hands from the start”
5: Use poker tracking softwares to stay aware of your bottom line – over the long term. You shouldn’t worry about the short term results, but you should stay aware about how you are doing over tens of thousands of hands.
6: Boost your bottom line by taking advantage of the VIP bonuses and other promotions offered by the internet poker sites. Especially during the bad times these poker promotions will help you more than you might even think.
7: Remember to maximize the value you get of your winnings hands. In heads up no limit texas holdem you need to be able to valuebet thinly even with your hands that might not look that good, but you still suspect to be winning hands.
8: Don’t try to bluff the people who don’t seem like they can be bluffed. Learn from the mistakes of others and don’t repeat them and bang your head against the wall by trying to bluff the people who can’t be bluffed.
9: Stay aware of the latest strategy trends in poker by reading internet poker forums and watching poker coaching videos. Even if you might end up considering the trend stupid and tips bad staying aware of them will help you guess what your opponent might be thinking in each situation.
10: Always stay aware of what the other player thinks you are thinking. Against some players this is really simple “he has bluffed couple times so he must be bluffing again” = you don’t bluff again for a while. But naturally against good players this will go far beyond that level as they know that you know what they are supposed to be thinking.
