[sjay2k]

I was writing a small guide for my friend about how to play HU NL, but I thought it might be of interest to some of you guys too.

So far I've only written about game selection, preflop and playing the flop in position, but here it is...


Don’t play short-stacks. Against a minimum buy-in of 20BB, you become committed in every raised pot. You’re forced to make an all-in decision before you have an accurate read. I don’t play anyone with less than 40BB. If someone sits in with less, I’ll play my button, then sit-out and ask them to reload.

Don’t play good players. You can spot a good player after about 10 hands. They’ll raise often, they bet most – but not all – flops. They won’t defend their bid blind too much – but often 3-bet when they do. They constantly reload their stack and are playing multiple tables. You’ll come to recognize most of the good regular players quite quickly. When I realize that I’m playing a good player, I’ll sit out after my button. I often quit against players that I consider to be worse than me because I’d rather find an easy opponent. Don’t let your ego into the equation.

There are a few basic headsup concepts. Let LAGs bluff you, value bet against fish and constantly bet and raise against tight-weaks.

Preflop, on the button, raise any pair, any two cards nine or higher, any ace, any suited K/Q/J and any suited connectors or suited gappers (e.g. 75s). Against loose passive players, limp with the weaker hands in this range (e.g. 33, T9o, 68s, etc.). A lot of LAGs will never let you limp and will usually make massive (5BB) raises against any limp. If you notice your opponent does this, you should limp-re-raise the next time you get a premium hand (JJ/QQ/KK/AA/AK).

LAGs will 3-bet your button raises a lot. Most players who raise their button will always call a 3-bet. This is a huge error. While hands like A4o will often be ahead, lots of hands simply play awfully post-flop. Until I get a better idea of my opponent, I will call a 3-bet with KQ, QJs, JTs, 66+ and ATo+. Against particularly bad LAGs I may call with hands like 89s, A5s or KJo, but this is not a standard play. There is no nobility in defending your raises.

With premium hands (JJ+ and AK), I will call or 4-bet in approximately an equal ratio. Very rarely, and only against constant 3-bettors, I will 4-bet with suited connectors or small pocket pairs (assuming they have shown that they can fold to a 4-bet). However pre-flop bluffing becomes quite noticeable and people generally don’t like folding headsup. If the button shoves all-in, call with premium hands and possibly TT or AQ if your opponent is extremely LAG preflop.

Against a loose passive player’s 3-bet, I will fold everything except premium hands.

Preflop, in the big blind, fold (against a 3BB raise) everything except pairs, any Ace, suited connectors and gappers (56s or greater), any two Broadway cards and J8s/K8s+/Q8s+. I pretty much always 3-bet with premium hands because most players will always call. I often (probably 60% of the time) 3-bet with KQs, AQ, AJs, 77-TT and JTs. I sometimes (maybe 10%) 3-bet with suited connectors or small pocket pairs.

If a player consistently folds to your 3bets, then just call with your premium hands.

If the button 4-bets (usually for about a quarter of his stack), I’ll usually shove with QQ, KK and AK. With AA I’ll often just call and then check-raise all-in on any flop. With JJ and TT, I’ll usually just call the 4-bet and then check-raise all-in on any non-scary flop (i.e. if we have an overpair or better).

In my opinion, QQ and KK are too strong to fold in a big pot post-flop (we’re ahead too often), but seeing an Ace on the flop will either put our opponent ahead or scare off our action.

I like pushing with AK because many players will 4-bet with mid pockets and then fold to a push (i.e. we have good fold equity against coinflip hands). Secondly, if we see a flop with AK, we will either not get paid off when an A or K hits or the mid-pair will push all-in if it doesn’t. Thirdly, if our opponent knows that we push with AK, he’ll be more tempted to call our shoves with mid-pockets than if we only shoved with big pockets.

I prefer seeing a flop with AA because we’re able to get all-in much more often with relatively low risk. Since we hold two Aces, our opponent’s most likely hands are mid to high pockets and two picture cards. A lot of the time our opponent will fold these hands if we shove preflop. But give them a flop, and people will usually stack off if they can beat 2nd pair.

With JJ and TT, we’re not getting a pre-flop shove called very often by hands that we beat. If the flop is KQ4 or A98, we’re usually behind and we can safely check-fold.

A big advantage to calling a 4-bet rather than shoving is that is gives us bluff equity. We check the flop and our opponent will almost always continuation bet, even with the trashiest hands in his range. This is money that we would never get in the pot if we shoved pre-flop.

Flop

If we’ve raised on the button and the big blind checks, the standard play is to bet. I alternate between betting 2/3, 5/6 and full pot. While I try to randomize this as much as possible, there are a few basic reasons behind the amount.

I’ll generally bet more if my hand is strong and vulnerable. For example, holding JJ on a Td-9d-4c flop, I’ll bet the pot. I will bet less if I have a medium strength hand on a “blank” board. If I have AT on a 224 flop, I’ll usually bet 2/3 pot. Here I have some showdown strength – I want my opponent to fold, but I also want to keep the pot small enough so that I can possibly call a bet on the river assuming it goes check-check on the turn. Alternatively, if I have absolutely no showdown value, then my only goal is to win the pot – so I bet more. If I have 87s on a K53 flop, I’ll almost always bet 5/6 or full pot.

I always continuation bet the flop with monsters in order to build the pot. If I have QQ on a AQ3 flop, I will bet the pot because an Ace is never folding, a Broadway draw will usually call (moreover we don’t want to give free or cheap cards) and LAGs love to make plays on these sort of boards. Betting hard makes their attempted fancy play just that more expensive. Similarly I will lead strong with sets whenever there is a flush draw on the flop.

However, holding TT on a Ts-6c-6d flop, I will probably bet less because there are no draws and we want to get called by weak Ace-high or low-pocket hands. However, holding AA on a flop of A44, I will bet full-pot because it looks like a bluff and it’s tempting my opponent to make a play at me.

As stated, continuation betting on the button is the standard play. There are a few notable exceptions. Against a loose passive player, I will rarely bluff the flop without showdown value (but as stated preflop, I will limp against a loose passive player with weak hands, so this isn’t a big issue). Secondly, if you are consistently getting check-raised by a LAG, you should probably check more flops in order to give your bets more credibility (and you should probably tighten up preflop too). Thirdly, if you raised preflop with big pockets and the flop contains an overpair. In this situations, there’s not a whole lot that will pay you off, but you have good showdown value - so your best course of action is to check behind on the flop and let your opponent bluff into you. Finally, there are certain types of flops that you should not bluff at. Just give up with 66 or A4 on an 89T or a QJ8 flop.

Your continuation bets will get check-raised. Until I begin to see a pattern emerging (for example, our opponent check-raises every Ace-high flop), I assume that a flop check-raise is a relatively strong hand. I will fold unless I have top pair (or better) or a good draw (open ended straight or flush draw).

I generally do not fold top pair to a flop check-raise. If I have a weak top pair, I will usually call the check-raise. If our opponent leads hard on the turn, we can fold, and we can check behind if he checks.

If there are potential draws on the board (especially flush draws), then I am more likely to shove all-in with top pair against a flop check-raise.

If I get check-raised with a very strong hand that is not vulnerable, then I will just call. Please note that AQ on an A44 flop is not vulnerable, and the best play is to simply call the check-raise. Whereas JJ on a Jh-Th-8s flop is extremely vulnerable, and I would shove against a check-raise.