Shorthand / Heads Up Poker

Short/HU play is an extremely difficult subject to try and teach. Of course there are two distinct types, cash and tournaments - both of which are totally different.

In tournaments when the blinds are very high at the end and you are down to the last 2-4 players aggression is the key. You have to play here, you cannot sit and wait for good hands. High cards are of course paramount, either that or cards which probably will not be dminated if you are called (Hence 67s over K10 for reraising with as if you are called all in by AK the 67s has more chance). You must be the one making the moves rather than calling them. This way you can win in two spots by 1) Your opponent folding or 2) Having the best hand in a showdown. If you fall into the trap of calling you can only win with no 2. Use your stack as leverage, if you are reraising then make sure it is possible that your opponent can fold and he is not left with a clear call. Do not let yourself get so ground away that it is certain you will be called when you are all in. If you are just getting absolutely nothing then you still must play otherwise you will be letting yourself be pushed around. Remember if you even hold just a lone A in your hand it is hard to be less than 25% preflop...add to that the folding equity when reraising and you dont need much to start making some moves. Harrington on hold em (volume 2 i THINK) has some very good ratios for when to start moving in with non premium cards, taking into account your stack size in relation to the blinds and how many players are left behind you.

However the holy grail of HU/short play is deep stacked cash games. I am not talking about the 6 seater tables here I am talking about 4 handed max. This is where all the best players on the net ply there trade and how high stakes games almost exclusively run. Even a good competant TAG player will get run over playing in these games by the experienced LAGs. A good player in these games can absolutely cream it profit wise in the long run whilst a bad player will lose a fortune - everyone will go through massive swings that full ring players couldnt imagine.

There is no way anyone can "tell" someone how to play "correctly" in this style like you can with TAG poker. It can only come through experience. It's like driving a car - you can teach anyone how to drive in a basic manner but sheer excellence can only come through putting the hours in yourself. You will find no books that adequetly cover the subject of playing deepstacked shorthand/hu LAG - because its impossible to teach.

You must be both aggressive and tricky. By tricky I mean capable of playing almost any two cards and putting people to tough decisions, both when you have it and when you dont (you obv have to win a lot of pots SH when you dont really have much). You must make it very difficult for your opponents to be able to read your hands from the way you play but at the same time you have to be a master at reading what they have (you will be forced into a lot more trickier spots more often than full ring). This last point, if it is important to become good at it to become a good full ring player it is absolutely vital to even stand a chance SH against LAGs. Of course the whole time you must be aggressive as well and capable of making big calls as well as big laydowns.

Personally I would suggest that position is key as well, I literally like to play EVERY (well almost lol) button hand that I get SH from 46o to J2s - you can use your position to take down an awful lot of pots that are not rightfully yours as well as causing headaches for everyone when you do make a hand. If you are going to be the first to open a pot I would always come in for a raise.

The only way to try and improve your game in this respect is to play play play - try some lower stake SH games (lower than you would play full ring) and try and be a bit laggy with your play - post some of the hands up here and use them for discusssion - its the only way to become a good LAG player, you will find books sadly lacking.....


Jez