| It's
that time of year again -- time for one of the most prestigious events
in the poker world, the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.
The
event aired on NBC for the first time last year and the ratings were
phenomenal. This season's first episode aired recently, and new shows
will be broadcast every Sunday until the final on May 21.
There
are some significant differences between playing heads-up poker and
more common poker games where six to nine players compete at a table.
The type of hands you should play, and the way you should play them,
are very different from a standard game.
Here are a few things to look for when you watch the show in the coming weeks.
Who
is the aggressor? In heads-up play, the player who employs a more
aggressive style will generally come out on top in the long run. The
reason is rather simple. Because it's so difficult to hit a flop, true
heads-up poker skills are shown when both players have absolutely
nothing after the first three community cards are dealt. The player who
consistently wins this trench warfare is the one who will usually win
the overall battle.
Who is the caller? When you continue to put
yourself in situations where you're facing an opponent's bet, it
becomes increasingly more difficult to make correct decisions. For that
reason, you want to be the bettor, not the caller.
Checking and
calling can be a viable strategy to trap a player. However, if you're
always in a situation where you're guessing the power of an opponent's
hand, you'll end up guessing wrong too often.
Who is the
trapper? World Series of Poker Champion Johnny Chan is well-known for
his ability to successfully trap opponents. In fact, it garnered him
the nickname Johnny "The Oriental Sand Trap" Chan.
Trapping an
opponent is an art form. It can be done many different ways using a
myriad of poker tools. One notable method is to slow play a hand. Slow
playing can be dangerous, though, because you might give your opponent
a chance to catch a lucky card on the river to beat you.
The key
to being a successful trapper is to not get caught in the trap
yourself! If your trap fails, you have to be willing to abort the
mission and change strategies quickly.
Let's say, for example,
in a heads-up match, you just call before the flop holding a pair of
kings. Now the flop comes As 7h 4c. Sure, you started with a very
powerful hand, but this flop is dangerous and puts your cowboys in
peril. If your opponent holds an ace, only two cards left in the deck
can save you.
While you tried to set a trap, it didn't spring as
you hoped. Proceed with caution. Don't let yourself lose a big pot
after that flop.
The other important element you should look for
during the heads-up telecasts is the escalating blinds. As the blinds
continue to increase, the quality of hands that players go all-in with
will diminish.
In the first round, for example, if two players
go all-in before the flop, you'll likely see a confrontation like K-K
versus Q-Q, or even A-A facing K-K. However, after about level five,
the blinds become so large that both players will gamble more loosely
in defense of their blinds. By that point, it's common to see all-in
pots where one player may hold a hand as weak as A-3 and the opponent
calls all-in with K-10.
In my opinion, heads-up poker is the
wave of the future. More and more people are playing it today than ever
before. You can even qualify for the National Heads-Up Poker
Championship by playing online at nbcheadsup.com. That's exactly what
Josh Lochner did, beating out 30,000 other hopefuls to win his spot in
this year's exclusive 64-player field.
By Daniel Negreanu |
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