Online Poker : Poker Heads Up
Well after six weeks in Las Vegas, I needed 2 weeks off
to acclimatise to the real world again. Eventually I dragged
myself back onto the European Tour again, and flew down
to Barcelona (it is such a hard life). The major competition
of the week was the Worlds Heads Up Championship, with a
first prize of 100,000 euro. Not bad for a week's work,
but it wasn't to be.
Heads Up poker is completely different to 9 handed or even
6 handed poker. If you fancy a change, try it on the Bet365poker.com
1 v 1 tables.
My first round opponent was Daniel Holm, one of the young
Scandinavians that are changing the way poker is played
in Europe. Generally they play considerable more aggressively,
raising considerably more starting hands than I would. If
they suspect any weakness after the flop they will fire
away trying to pick up the pot. There have been players
like this in the past, but certainly not the same number.
Personally I dislike playing against this type of player,
because I much prefer to be the aggressor myself. I prefer
to be the one who dictates when I want to play a big pot
(preferably when I have position and good cards). I am not
quite so keen on playing big pots every third or fourth
hand. But this is inevitable against some opponents.
My strategy for playing against this opponent is to rarely
raise myself but to call with big hands and marginals such
as suited connectors or say K7. (King high is much stronger
heads up than you may think. The average starting hand for
Heads Up play being only Jack high). I would then tend to
do a lot of check calling until my opponent realises that
he can't steal too many pots from me.
The first round match went very much along these lines.
I took an early chip lead when I called a raise with A10.
I flopped an Ace, checked to my opponent and called his
bet (which turned out to be a bluff). After about 30 minutes,
I flopped top pair against his flush draw and the rest of
his chips went in. Fortunately for me, he missed his flush
and I progressed to the next round to face the intimidating
Rob Hollink.
In my opinion, Rob Hollink from Holland is one of the top
ten all-round players in Europe. He plays live cash games
and competition poker equally well. He is a prolific winner
on the internet, and is also one of a very few players who
repeatedly win Omaha competitions (myself and the great
Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliot being the only others who spring
to mind). He won last years online WCOOP Heads Up Tournament.
So I knew I was in for a Battle Royale….
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