Heads-up Poker: Don’t Panic
Although caution generally goes out the window when it comes to heads-up poker it may not necessarily be time to panic. It’s crucial to understand that your chip size in relation to the blinds is much more significant that your chip size in relation to your opponent. If you have 3000 chips and your opponent has 12,000 then the situation appears daunting, but it may not be desperate. Perhaps players have been dropping like flies and proceedings reached the heads-up stage unusually early. If this is the case then the blinds will reflect that and it’s up to you to capitalise on the situation by appreciating the true pace of the game.
Let’s say the blinds are 100-200. Given the chip ratio described above, your opponent is in a strong position but he would be wrong to think he has the game won. There is still plenty of poker to be played in this game. One mindset I might adopt is to evaluate what my prospects look like if I doubled up. I realise that if I achieve this before my stack drops below 2000 then I will then have a minimum of 4000 in comparison to his 11000 maximum. If I then double-up again before I drop below 3000 then I will have a minimum of 6000 chips compared to his 9000 maximum. In this scenario there would suddenly be all to play for and I would have the momentum. This may sound like basic wishful thinking but it’s important to realise that winning just two hands I commit to could turn the game on its head. On those terms the predicament seems less daunting.
The other crucial aspect of this mindset is that I still allow myself some scope to fold. When I have 3000 chips and the blinds are 100-200 I’ve decided that the situation only becomes critical if I fall below 2000. Too many players panic when they face a huge chip deficit regardless of the blind situation. The psychology of the situation must not be discarded either. Your opponent may expect you to be desperate and panicky; he may be thrown off-kilter if you remain calm and collected. For his part he may think the game is won and get impatient if it drags out.
It’s quite likely that a big stack will push his chips all-in on most hands in this situation with a very wide range of cards. Remember, he’s probably gained his big stack by bulldozing through the rest of the field with considerable success. He’s feeling confident and he’s on a roll. This can lead to complacency and loose aggression. But in effect every all-in push he makes risks 3000 of his own chips to win a likely 300. This may not sound too outrageous with 12000 chips behind him but one wrong move could transform the game. One successful call with your short-stack and the net-swing is 6000 chips. Suddenly the cavalier push with 9-3 off-suit looks a little rash.
So what cards do you chance your arm with against a big-stack bully? Well, if he’s all-in on every hand then we can allocate him a card range of any two. But obviously we want to call when we have an edge. I suggest a calling range begins at any ace, most kings, or any two high cards in this spot. If you succeed in doubling up to around 4000 chips before the blinds rise, you can then become more selective. It then doesn’t matter if you lose six hands in a row in blinds so long as you can triumph on the big showdown.
If your stack does recover enough to be threatening, then an aggressive player may refine his strategy from constant all-ins, to constant raising. If this happens at least you’re being taken a little more seriously. At this point you have gained an additional play option. With more chips at your disposal it is now possible to call a raise without going all-in. While this can be an advantage it will lead a weak player to ruin. For example, calling raises with decent heads-up hands like A-5 is generally ill-advised. Against an aggressive bully this is a re-raise all-in hand, because while it’s reasonable to think you’re ahead, it’s a lousy hand to see a flop with.
Having said all this, if the blinds are crippling in relation to your stack size then you really can’t hang about. I would suggest that your situation is critical if your chip stack represents 5 or 6 big blinds or less. In a SNG this means that if the blinds are 200-400 and you hold 2400 chips or less then you should push all-in on the small blind every time with any two cards. That really is no time to be choosy.
Simon Ballou writes for Oddschecker Poker