Heads Up No Limit Cash Games
Heads up no limit cash games are the toughest games to beat online today. The reason that they have become the hardest game to beat online is because only the best players sit in and play them every day. If you are one of the best players online today, you most certainly play heads up no limit cash games. These games are comprised mainly of regulars depending on which site and what limits you play, but often times the regulars just sit around and wait all day until a fish sits in with them. Once the fish sits them in a heads up cash game that is when you make money.
To make money in heads up poker you have to do a number of things correctly, but also you never want to give information away about your hand ranges. If you can avoid giving any betting patterns away and stick to the same bets pre-flop and post flop, you can exploit the differences in your opponent’s game. Putting in a minimum raise before the flop or a 3 times the blind raise is a standard for every game online today. Some player’s minimum raise from the button every time, and this is a great strategy to start with, but one that you don’t want all the time. The reason you don’t want to raise every hand all the time is because you will fold to a three bet a large amount of the time, and you are burning pre-flop raises with nothing to show for it. It all depends on the opponent you are up against as well as their aggression levels. If their aggression levels are really low then you should put in a raise before the flop every hand. If their aggression is very high then you should be more selective with hands pre-flop. Also branching from an aggressive opponent, you will get run over at times when someone is three betting you constantly, so, you will have to four bet with bad hands here and there to keep your opponent on an even keel. Once you feel that you have a solid grasp on how your opponent is playing against you, then you can exploit their weaknesses. If they three bet too much, then four bet every time. If they are calling off with weak hands then don’t bluff as much. If you recognize that they will call flops and fold to turn bets, then you should bet a bigger amount on the flop to swell the pot more. There are a ton of small things that turn into big things when relating to heads up no limit cash games. Often times the swings will crush the inexperienced players, and the players who don’t have a bankroll will definitely go broke when sitting in these games.
To make money in heads up no limit you have to be solid in the long run, and never be prone to tilt. Some of the great heads up players experience massive downswings because of a lack of confidence and tilt. It will come through your mind here and there and often times you know you are on tilt, and cannot stop. When you find that you have been put on tilt by a number of hands that didn’t go your way, the best thing to do is to quit right there. Take a few minutes to collect your thoughts and get back after it in a little while. If you take periodic breaks when you feel yourself losing some control over the game, this is the best way to go about it. If you try to hammer out large rake numbers and long hours, you will not play your best poker over the long run, and your results will hurt because of it. Ideally, you want to play a lot of hours and make a lot of money, but after you become an established name in the poker community, players will not sit you in heads up cash games anymore. This is a problem that some players use to have and still have today. The fact that when they make a name it follows them around, whether it is on forums or just known through regulars on the poker site. Once you are known as a solid player nobody will sit you except for clueless players here and there. There are always going to be the clueless fish that open sit heads up regulars in no limit cash games. This will always be the case and is a reason why if you are good, you will be around the longest. The best players always last in heads up no limit cash games, and the bad players go broke right away. It is a volatile game, and managing money is just as important as establishing a solid table image.