| Limit Hold Em| Heads Up |
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Heads up Texas Hold Em Limit and No-Limit Poker are played with the basic thought processes in mind and that is to be aggressive. However there are some subtle differences to take note of. When in the small blind in limit poker it is important to raise the big blind more times than not when playing heads up. The reason for this is that you want to know where you stand before you see a flop. In no-limit the purpose for the raise from this position is that more times than not your opponent will fold from your raise allowing you to take pots uncontested. This is important especially in tournament play. In limit you can raise heads up from the small blind with any hand from Groups 1 through 4. Groups 1 and 2 are obvious to why you will raise, however, raising from Groups 3 and 4 you want to know continuously throughout the hand where you stand. For example you raise with pocket 44 and the flop comes 3, 7, J. If you follow your bet up with a continuation bet you will know whether your opponent hit the flop or not. And since 67% of the time your opponent will miss the flop a continuation bet should allow you to take the flop. However, if you hold the same pocket pair of 44’s and your opponent raises from the big blind you know can know with some degree of certainty that your opponent is holding over cards and possibly an over pair to which you can see a flop to determine how you will play the rest of the hand. So if the flop is the same 3, 7, J and your opponent is aggressive in betting you might have really think whether to proceed or not in investing into this pot. This will depend on your observations of your opponents betting habits from before. When playing from the big blind play with a little more caution. If your opponent raises from the small blind only call with hands that can legitimately catch the flop or give you a good amount of drawing outs. 10-2 is not one of the hands to play even if Doyle has one two tournaments with this hand. You can play Group Hands 1-4 however, Groups 3-4 have to be played with caution assuming you don’t hit the flop or get a number of draws out of the flop to give you the proper pot odds in order to continue in the hand. Remember the same concepts apply in heads up limit poker as to any limit strategy. So remember these key points; Flushes pay! Don’t Bluff! Draws are only as good as your outs in relation to pot odds! Play your stack appropriately! Take advantage of smaller stacks and respect bigger ones! |