5 Odds Tips for Heads Up Play

In many ways facing just a single opponent at a poker table simplifies the use of poker odds. However understanding the particular heads-up dynamic involves thinking about odds in a slightly different way than in a 6 or 10 handed game. This article looks at 5 tips for adjusting your thinking about odds to suit heads-up poker situations.

Heads-Up Odds Tip #1 – Completing the Small Blind.

In heads-up poker the small blind is also the dealer button position, which means that player will act last on the flop, turn and river betting rounds. This advantage means that a wide range of hands are playable from the small blind. Unless your opponent is a very regular raiser you will be getting odds of 3-to-1 when completing the small blind. Together with your positional advantage this means there are very few (if any) hands that are not worth at least completing with.

Heads-Up Odds Tip #2 – Pair Against Pair

The chances of being dealt a hand before the flop in Holdem are 16-to-1 against, that is to say you will be dealt a pair once in every 17 deals on average. At a full table there is always a fair chance that you will be up against another pair, and depending on the rank of your pair it may well be a higher one.

Heads-up with only one opponent the chance that you are both dealt a pair is a huge (17 *17) or 289-to-1 against! Any time you are dealt a pair it can be played aggressively – the chances of a pair against pair showdown are very small indeed.

Heads-Up Odds Tip #3 – Dominated Aces

As with pairs the chances that your opponent holds a hand that dominates yours when you hold an ace is usually small. Domination refers to the scenario where you are less than 30% to win a showdown. Examples include your Ace-10 running into Ace-Queen or Ace-Queen in your hand running into a pair of kings in your opponent’s hand. While ultimately the chance of domination depends of the strength of your kicker the odds heads-up are very small and aces can be played strongly.

Heads-Up Odds Tip #4 – Playing Against Your Opponents Raising Range

Odds comparison charts will show you that a hand such as King-4 suited is favorite pre-flop against an opponent holding a truly random hand. However when you opponent raises before the flop they are stating that their holding is better than a random hand. The question you should think of in this situation is ‘how much better?’

If you are able to put your opponent on an accurate raising range (for example the top 30% of all hands) then you are in a position to work out the strength of your own holding in relation to this reduced range. Spending some time learning the relative odds as well as the absolute strength of starting hands against opponents raising (or calling) ranges will give you a long-term edge.
Heads-Up Odds Tip #5 – The Re-Raise

In the last example we saw an opponent who raised with the top 30% of hands. The next question to ask is what sub-set of these hands would this same opponent be willing to call a large re-raise with. The ratio of the two ranges will then give us some information about the profitability of re-raising him before the flop.

For example, if our heads-up opponent raised with 50% of hands but would only call a re-raise with the top 5% of hands then we have a potentially very profitable situation. For every 10 times we raise 3 times his bet before the flop he will fold 9 times. In this case we win (assuming his raise was 3* the big blind and our 9 times) 4.5 Big Blinds * 9 = 40.5. Our risk (assuming we fold when he 4-bets with that top 5% of hands) is the 9 big blind raise we put in before the flop.

The actual numbers will not usually be this extreme – however the point remains that the bigger the ratio between the hands our opponent raises and will call a re-raise with the more potential for profit we have.