Heads-up!

I recently discovered the heads-up mini tournaments on Full Tilt and am enjoying them greatly - and profiting in the process.

In any regular tournament or sit-and-go, you eventually have to play one-on-one to win first place. Playing with just a few players in the game is very different than playing at a full table. Full Tilt (and I suspect other poker websites) have put together a special one-on-one, winner-take-all tournament format. Each player starts with 1500 chips, and the one to take all chips wins the entire prize pool.

The game has been profitable for me because most players I encounter don't adjust their strategy for the heads-up game. In a normal game, it makes sense to wait for a good starting hand. Heads-up, if you try to wait for good cards the blinds will eat you up (since you post either the small bline or big blind every hand). It pays to play otherwise marginal hands strongly, and to bluff quite a bit.

I found that it works well to fold a few poor hands early on to give the other guy the feeling that it's OK to fold and that you are a soft player. Then, once that trap is set, I bet most hands pretty aggressively at least to the flop. If the other guy calls or raises you often, you will have to stop being quite so aggressive with poor hands. However, most players I meet online are intimidated and fold often enough for the bluff opening bets to be very profitable.

At first I had trouble getting people to call my bigger bets when I hit a really good hand. It turns out using their own aggressive tendencies against them works best for me. I simply let them bet when I have a really good hand, calling them down to the river where I suddenly reraise. This works well when I hit a straight or flush. I have also used the tactic with trips, but letting things go to the river sometimes backfires if they hit a straight or flush. Watch the board, and if there's a possibility of a straight or flush draw, bet trips hard to make the other guy's draw as expensive as possible.

Heads-up is an interesting way to play poker, one that replaces patience with heart-pounding aggression on amost every hand. Give it a try!