MY heads up guide:

I am really just writing this guide to pass some time, and also because there are no HU SNG guides really anywhere on the internet. I welcome all comments on people’s opinions and views of this article. The guide is primarily aimed at $6-20 HU SNG matches, I play a lot of these matches and have a proven record of around 2 in 3.

So here goes.

SB PLAY – Pre Flop

Any hand better then J7 off suit in the SB RAISE 3X the BB. Note – A range of blind raises between 2.5 and 4X is applicable. My reasoning for making these plays is that J7 off suit is statistically speaking the middle of both you and your opponents hand range that you are likely to be dealt in a heads-up match. Therefore if you are dealt this hand or better it makes sense to take the initiative and raise. (Note position when making this play.)

Any hand dealt much lower than J7o in the SB fold, hands slightly lower then J7o I tend to use my discretion when deciding whether to raise or fold these hands (rarely call)

BB Play – Pre Flop

Ok so the first obvious point I will make is that you should be nowhere near as loose/aggressive in the BB as I have stated that you should be in the SB. Simply put YOU ARE OUT OF POSITION. Because of the Huge disadvantage you are at by being OPP in heads up play I will tend to check most of the time in the BB if my blind is just called, the only exception being If I have a very strong hand Say pocket pairs 6+ and A10 up, then I will tend to raise 3X on top of the call.

If I am raised to in the BB I will tend to do 1 of 2 things, first and most commonly I will muck my hand secondly if I have a strong enough starting hand I will 3-bet my opponent. 3-bet ranges really do depend on the playing style of your opponent, If they are rarely raising pre-flop you will want to significantly tighten up your 3-bet range, but if they are raising your BB constantly you can loosen up your 3-bet range somewhat. As a general rule I would not recommend 3-betting with a lesser hand than 10-K off, and I would recommend 3-bets being in the region of 3-4x your opponents raise.

SB/Button – Flop play

So generally speaking if you have followed my advice on SB play you will be in the position where you have raised a hand and your opponent has flat called you. This situation occurs a lot in these low stakes HU games as players will rarely 3-bet back at you. In this situation I would almost always recommend a continuation bet whether you have hit or not, (board texture does come into this somewhat but it is a bit more advanced and lengthy subject to cover than I would like in this article.) There is a excellent link to an article on board texture written by poker player RIZEN which I will include at the end of this article. Ok so the c-bet is designed to take down a cheap early pot and given that 2 out of 3 times your opponent will miss the board on the flop completely there are a LOT of dead chips to be won by c-betting the flop. I also recommend c-betting the flop if you connect with the flop in anyway, exceptions being if you hit the board hard say trips or 2pair with no draws you may wish to try and trap for value. The reason for c-betting the flop when you connect with it is, you eliminate potential draws and you are building the pot for if u hit big, also when you are in position and c-bet you are taking control of the pot-size and since you have initiated the betting your opponent is more likely to just check or call back to you on the turn and river streets.





SB/Button – If you are 3-bet at.

I would quickly like to reiterate that the amount of dead chips you pick up by raising the blinds pre-flop with a wide range of hands will more then compensate for the hands in which your opponent 3-bets you.
If they do they probably have you beat and you should fold (Hand depending). However you may think they may have picked up on your loose/aggressive stratergy and are making a stand against it. Although this may be possible I have found through much game experience that in general players at these low stakes games do not have it in their arsenal to 3-bet without a strong starting hand. If however this situation occurs and you are holding a better hand then thier mid range of potential 3-beting hands say AQ suited up and pocket 10’s up I would encourage a 4-bet/all-in shove (depending). You may wish to just flat call and maintain position on your opponent with borderline hands.


Ok so this article is now getting fairly lengthy I will post this part so far and if responses are good I will follow up the article with part-2 containing

The BB flop play

Turn and River play

And maybe some other stuff if I think of anything lol

Anyway let me know what you think

ADAM