You’ve finally made it! You’ve played Texas Hold’em for hours and hours, dodged some scary all ins, caught a couple of breaks and now you are sitting at the final table playing heads up poker. Once the joy of making the final table has subsided you will have to get down to business and stake out your opponent. Hopefully by now you have got a good read on the player, their tendencies, strengths and weaknesses. However, it may be important to know that poker players often switch modes when it comes down to heads up play. A poker players heads up play may be completely different than their regular play. Here are some tips to help you improve your heads up Texas Hold’em poker strategy.

Tip#1 – An Ace in the Hole

The #1 rule of heads up poker play is that when you have an ace as a hole card you will usually be in a dominant position pre flop. You should then raise/re-raise strong to see what the opponent’s reaction will be. Often times an opponent will fold (depending on the specific style of the poker player) for fear of the ace or a pocket pair. Sometimes you may get called but remember, in heads up poker players have a tendency to make loose calls. Odds are you will still be in a dominant position.

Tip #2 – Lower Your Expectations

While playing heads up Texas Hold’em poker, chances are that you cannot afford to wait on a good hand. A quality hand in heads up poker is not the same as when playing with a bigger group. You may have to settle with J-6 offsuit and just see what happens. The odds are that many times your opponent will have a bad looking hand as well.
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