Heads-up!

About 10 days ago, I decided to start playing some 5/10 NL heads-up matches on Full Tilt. I figured that even though I have little experience in heads-up play, I could still slowplay a bunch of donks into giving me their stacks.

I was right. These heads-up games sometimes feel as soft as the old NL25 on Party. Good times.

The thing is, it's always nice to think you can play the players and not the cards. But often, that's less and less possible as you increase the number of players at the table. You need to have better hands -- both preflop and at showdown -- in full ring than you do in six-handed games. The same goes for the difference between six-handed and heads-up.

My strategy is simple: Play almost every hand from the button. Limp the very worst and very best hands. Raise everything else. Out of position, I'll play fewer hands but still anything that looks reasonable: Q7s and Q9o and up, and any pair. With top pair, I'll either bet the flop or control the pot size by checking and letting my opponent bluff. With stronger hands, I'll more likely slowplay. With any pair on the flop, I'll either bet out or check-raise.

I know I'm going to get bluffed plenty in these games, but I don't worry about that. I just try to make sure my bluffs are successful at a higher rate than my opponent's.

I wasn't going to post any results because they're kind of a waste of space. But I did improve from a break-even month three days ago to being up eight buy-ins.

In addition, it's really fun to beat people heads-up. Their pent-up aggression won't work.

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $2,924 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Jd 8s As Jh 9h]
Seat 1: smizmiatch (small blind) showed [Ah Kc] and won ($2,923.50) with two pair, Aces and Jacks
Seat 2: Villain (big blind) showed [Kd Kh] and lost with two pair, Kings and Jacks

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $2,301 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Jc 3d 2d Qs Kh]
Seat 1: smizmiatch (big blind) showed [2c Qc] and won ($2,300.50) with two pair, Queens and Twos
Seat 2: Villain (small blind) showed [Kd 7d] and lost with a pair of Kings

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $2,228 | Rake $0.50
Board: [6d 7d Th 8h 3h]
Seat 1: Villain (big blind) mucked [Ts Js] - a pair of Tens
Seat 2: smizmiatch (small blind) showed [8c 9s] and won ($2,227.50) with a straight, Ten high

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $2,190 | Rake $0.50
Board: [5c Kc 8c Jd 6s]
Seat 1: Villain (small blind) showed [Ac Jh] and lost with a pair of Jacks
Seat 2: smizmiatch (big blind) showed [Kh 9c] and won ($2,189.50) with a pair of Kings

I could go on all day. I've got about 20 more hands just like those. People repeatedly go bust with top pair. What's more, they're really easy to read, and they don't understand that their silly bluffs out of position are going to fail miserably. I'd almost think I'm calling too frequently, except for that my reads have been frequently correct. On the other hand, I'm sure variance will prove to be high in heads-up games, so I'll get what's coming to me soon.

Regardless, these games are a gold mine. It'll be hard to pull myself away.