First real heads-up battle

Yesterday, I played my longest HU match against someone. Though I have played a lot of heads-up the past month or two, I typically have short sessions against weak players. If a session lasts longer than 200-300 hands, it is abnormally long. This system has produced great results for me, but I also want to find ways to improve my HU game against better players.

My session yesterday was against someone I believed I had an edge against. He seemed competent, but was playing too tight preflop and seemed to have exploitable leaks postflop. I asked him if he wanted to start up a 2nd table (which I don't normally ask opponents), and he said yes. We proceeded to log a 820 hand session, which is pretty long for HU.

I can honestly say this was the most fun I've had playing poker in a while. As the session progressed, I realized he was a smart player and adjusting to my style. It became a grueling mental battle. I don't have much experience playing more than 1 HU table, but I realized that there are even more head games when you're playing multiple tables versus the same opponent.

When all was said and done, we played for stacks several times, took bad beats on both ends, and had a mutual respect for each other. I lost roughly $600. I talked to him on MSN messenger after the session, and learned that he normally plays 5/10 NL 6 max. I doubt we'll have a rematch because my edge is either microscopic or non-existent. I just hope to have learned from the experience. Here are a few hands from the session:

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Hand 1: Having an image helps Heads-up

I had been taking stabs at pots on the river versus him early on, and he had been looking me up. That helped greatly to get paid off in this spot. I remember when Phil Ivey said that it is never that bad to get caught bluffing - and he couldn't be more right.


Hand 2: See, I can mix it up too!

By this point in the match, there has been a lot of 3 betting by both parties preflop. I began floating his 3 bets in position with marginally good hands, so I thought this was a good spot to mix it up and just call his 3 bet with a monster. I just called on the flop to disguise the strength of my hand, because I felt like it would smell like a bluff when I go to bet the turn. The plan followed through greatly and I managed to get my money in with 75% equity.

Hand 3: Meta-game sure makes you stack lightly

This was at the tail end of our session. We had crazy meta-game going on. Since I had been C/Ring his continuation bets a lot, I figured it may actually be smart to do it here with TP no kicker. I expected there to be a chance of him floating me with nothing. When the turn came, I realized I had to stack off with my hand. I actually love his cold call of my C/R since I have air so often there. I believe the hand played itself when the way the board was on the turn.