Scripture from the Book of The Chief: The Short Game - Heads Up

(Picture to right is the Chief Disciples image at Poker Stars and Bodog)

I've been thinking a lot about heads-up poker lately. Of course, I'm referring to one-on-one action. Most people are just happy to get there, and that's OK for the first time in a major tournament. However, if you keep playing heads-up and coming in second place, it can be a tremendous burden for a poker player.

I guess "just being happy to get there" may of happened to me when I lost to "Jokiebird" earlier this year in the Disciples of Poker Long Island Circuit.

Yeah, I was happy to be there and the $400 bucks was nice. But, first place was close to $800 because Jokie was the Bounty as well that night. Actually, my final hand was OK, but hers was a little better. My K/Q suited her A/10 off-suit. When all the cards turned over I was a loser. I think my only mistake there was not watching her as the cards were being dealt out. Perhaps I could have picked up on the Ace she was holding? Not sure. I was not able to grind and control the play. It was only our 3rd or so hand hands up, so I felt that move was pre-mature, even with K/Q suited.

Having said that, here are some heads-up tips from the Chief.

1. In a live game, you have to pay attention to your opponents in heads-up. The tells are everywhere. You must concentrate even more.

2. Don't be bullied. You will have to go over the top to stop aggression.

3. Don't be afraid to dump the small blind hand pre-flop. The other guy may be holding AA or KK. Nothing more frustrating to be holding a big hand heads-up only to have the other guy fold pre-flop.

4. Raise from small blind with marginal holdings. If you're on a rush of good hands, you have to keep the momentum going. If you mix up your play, you can pull off some nice steals. When your opponent is reeling, you must work hard to keep your run of cards "seamless" to your opponent.

5. Guard Your Stack - Give up as little of your stack as possible. Holding a chip lead is everything in heads-up.

6. Trap, Trap Trap. - Limp in with AA, KK or other holdings if you are dealt this in the small blind. When you flop that set, you check, check until your opponent bets just like Johnny Chan did in Rounders.

In conclusion, heads-up is like your short game; like your putter in golf. Your not going to win golf tournaments if you can't putt. That means you won't maximize your tournament victories if you can't play effective heads-up poker.

NBC will be running the 2006 heads-up championship in April and May on NBC and CNBC. I would encourage all of you to tune that in. Hopefully, the pros will back up some of the things that I stated today.

Also, the Disciples of Poker plays a monthly internet tournament on Ultimate Bet.
It's always the first Wednesday of the Month at 9:00pm EST.

For more information, contact the chief at the_disciples_of_poker@yahoo.com

Good Luck !

Chief.